Sujuk

Sujuk
Parmak sucuk
Alternative namesSucuk, suxhuk, sudjuk, sudžuk, sudžuka, sudzhuk, sugiuc, sodjouk, soudjuk
TypeSausage
Region or stateCentral Asia
Main ingredientsGround meat (usually beef, lamb), cumin, garlic, salt, red pepper

Sujuk, sugou or sucuk (/suːˈd͡ʒʊk/) is a Turkish dry, spicy and fermented sausage which is consumed in several Anatolian, Balkan, Middle Eastern and Central Asian cuisines. Sujuk mainly consists of ground meat and animal fat usually obtained from beef or lamb, but beef is mainly used in Turkey, Egypt, Sudan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Georgia, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Etymology

The Turkish word sucuk is derived from Old Turkic suğut or sugut, a term attested in medieval Turkic sources. Later forms, such as Persian zijak, represent borrowings rather than the source of the Turkish term.

Sucuk was first mentioned in the 11th century by Mahmud al-Kashgari in his Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk as suɣut (as a sausage made by stuffing spiced rice and meat into intestine casing). Another mention was made by Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati in his early 14th century work titled Kitab al-'idrak li-lisan al-'atrak (كتاب الإدراك للسان الأتراك). The word "suɣut" itself means "sujuk, or dried thing" and derived from Turkic root -suɣur meaning to dry or to drain off and the suffix "-çïk/-çuk" is Turkic diminutive suffix (Suɣutçuk => Sucuk). Cognate names are also present in other Turkic languages, e.g. Kazakh: шұжық, shujyq; Kyrgyz: чучук, chuchuk. Franciscus a Mesgnien Meninski in his Thesaurus recorded the word sucuk (سجوق) in Ottoman Turkish in late 17th century.

The Turkish name has been adopted largely unmodified by other languages in the region, including: Gagauz: sucuk; Albanian: suxhuk; Arabic: سُجُق, romanized: sujuq; Armenian: սուջուխ, romanized: suǰux; Bosnian: sudžuk or sudžuka; Bulgarian: суджук, romanized: sudzhuk; Greek: σουτζούκι, romanized: sutzúki; Macedonian: суџук, romanized: sudzhuk; Azerbaijani: sucuq; Romanian: sugiuc or ghiuden; Russian: суджук, romanized: sudzhuk; Serbo-Croatian: sudžuk / cyџyк; Kurdish: benî, sicûq.[citation needed]

Origin

Sujuk is associated with Turkic meat-preservation traditions and is widely regarded as having developed in the Armenian world before becoming a prominent sausage of Ottoman and later Turkish cuisine. It is now produced and consumed in Turkey, the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Caucasus under a variety of related names.

Production

In Turkey, beef is the main raw material for sucuk production. At the beginning of the process the meat is preground in 14–16-millimetre (0.55–0.63 in) plates and tested for its fat content. Afterwards the meat is mixed with curing salt, which contains 0.5% sodium nitrite, and stored for 8–16 hours in 8–12 °C (46–54 °F) for further processing. Later the preground meat is mixed with frozen and ground tail fat, beef tallow, suet and additives like spices, ascorbate, dextrose and starter culture. The mixture is ground again in 1.6–5-millimetre (0.063–0.197 in) plates, which forms the mosaic structure of sucuk. Thenceforth the product is filled in casings made of collagen or fiber and these casings are twisted or tied to portion sucuk.

Sucuk is then prepared for ripening process, which consists of fermentation and post-fermentation stages. In the first day of fermentation stage the product is left in a high relative humidity (RH) environment around 22–23 °C (72–73 °F). After that the RH and the temperature is gradually dropped each day, resulting to 18 °C (64 °F) and 88% RH in the last and third day of fermentation. At the end of the stage pH of the product must be dropped to 4.9–5.0. In the post-fermentation stage sucuk is matured and dried until the moisture content of the sausage is under 40%.

Nutrition

It was reported that sucuk from Turkey on average contained 24.5% protein, 31.5% fat, 35.65% moisture and 3.80% salt. Fat content of sucuk is highly variable; some sucuk brands tested contained only 23% fat, meanwhile others exceeded 42%.

Dishes prepared with sujuk

While sujuk can be eaten raw, it is typically cooked before consumption. Thin slices of sujuk can be pan-fried in a bit of butter, while larger pieces may be grilled. Sucuklu yumurta, which literally means "eggs with sujuk", is commonly served as a Turkish breakfast dish. Sucuklu yumurta is a simple dish of fried eggs cooked together with sujuk, but sujuk may also be added to other egg dishes like menemen (which is similar to shakshouka but with scrambled eggs instead of poached).

Sujuk can be added to many dishes including bean stew (kuru fasulye), filled phyllo dough pastries (burek) and as a topping for pizza or pide.

Geographical indication

In 2025, Armenia applied for geographical indication (GI) registration for Armenian sujukh.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gregory-Smith, John (2018). Turkish Delights: Stunning regional recipes from the Bosphorus to the Black Sea. London: Hachette UK. ISBN 978-08-57-83596-3.
  2. ↑ Пальгов, Н. Н.; М. Ш. Ярмухамедов (1970). Казахстан (in Russian). Москва: Мысль. p. 138.
  3. ↑ Кадыров, Виктор (2019). Кыргызстан. Традиции и обычаи киргизов (in Russian). Москва: Litres. p. 53. ISBN 978-50-41-88963-0.
  4. ↑ Конски Суджук "Еленко" във верига магазини "T-Market" (in Bulgarian). Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "sucuk". Nişanyan Sözlük (in Turkish). Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  6. 1 2 Demirbulak, Ayşe (2020). "Dîvânü Lugat-it-Türk'te yiyecek ve içecekler". International Humanities and Social Science Review (in Turkish). 4 (2): 114–123. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 Yılmaz Topçam, Mahide Müge; Arslan, Betül; Soyer, Ayla (2024). "Sucuk, Turkish-Style Fermented Sausage: Evaluation of the Effect of Bioprotective Starter Cultures on Its Microbiological, Physicochemical, and Chemical Properties". Applied Microbiology. 4 (3): 1215–1231. doi:10.3390/applmicrobiol4030083. Retrieved 20 March 2026.
  8. ↑ ^ Clauson, Gerard (1972) “suğut”, in An Etymological Dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 806
  9. ↑ Hindoglu, Artin (1838) “سجوق”, in Hazine-i lûgat ou dictionnaire abrégé turc-français[1], Vienna: F. Beck, page 265a
  10. ↑ Kélékian, Diran (1911) “صوجوق”, in Dictionnaire turc-français[2], Constantinople: Mihran, page 771
  11. ↑ Eren, Hasan (1999). Türk Dilinin Etimolojik Sözlüğü (in Turkish). Ankara. p. 376.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ↑ Csató, Éva Ágnes; Isaksson, Bo; Jahani, Carina (2005). Linguistic Convergence and Areal Diffusion: Case Studies from Iranian, Semitic and Turkic. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415-30804-5.
  13. ↑ Kılıç, Birol (2009). "Current trends in traditional Turkish meat products and cuisine". LWT - Food Science and Technology. 42 (10): 1581–1589. doi:10.1016/j.lwt.2009.05.016.
  14. ↑ Gagaoua, Mohamed; Boudechicha, Hacène-Rabah; Hafid, Karim; Boudjellal, Abdelkader; Lorenzo, José M. (2018). "Ethnic meat products of the North African and Mediterranean countries: An overview". Journal of Ethnic Foods. 5 (2): 83–98. doi:10.1016/j.jef.2018.02.004.
  15. 1 2 Yılmaz, Ismail; Velioğlu, Hasan (2009). "Fermented meat products Figure 2. General Production Process of Turkish Sucuk". Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  16. ↑ Omurtag, A. Cemal; Orbey, M. Tevfik; Yıldız, Sulhiye (1973). "Yerli Sucuklarımızın Besin Değerleri Üzerinde Araştırma" [The Research on the Food Value of the Native Sucuk (Suchuck) in a Rational and Balanced Nutrition] (PDF). J. Fac. Pharm (in Turkish). 3 (71). Ankara.
  17. ↑ Yılmaz, Ismail (April 2009). "Determination of Fatty Acid Composition and Total Trans Fatty Acids in Meat Products". Food Science and Biotechnology. 18: 350–355.
  18. ↑ GmbH, Yayla Lebensmittelvertrieb. "Sucuk Garlic Sausage". Yayla.de. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  19. ↑ Emina, Seb; Eggs, Malcolm (14 March 2013). The Breakfast Bible. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4088-3990-4.
  20. ↑ "Sucuklu Yumurta Nasıl Yapılır?". Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  21. ↑ Khong, Rachel; Peach, Lucky (2017). Lucky Peach All about Eggs. Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-8041-8775-6.
  22. ↑ Rutherford, Tristan; Tomasetti, Kathryn (2011). National Geographic Traveler: Istanbul & Western Turkey. National Geographic Books. ISBN 978-1-4262-0708-2.
  23. ↑ Sarlık, E. Emel; Sarlık, Mehmet (1995). IV. Afyonkarahisar Araştırmaları Sempozyumu Bildirileri: 29-30 Eylül 1995, Afyonkarahisar (in Turkish). Hazer Ofset Matbaacılık Gazetecilik Limited Şti.
  24. ↑ Pelin Karahan'la Nefis Tariflerundefined (Director). Sucuklu Pide Tarifi. Event occurs at 869 seconds. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  25. ↑ "Applications for registration of geographical indications of "Armenian lavash," "Armenian basturma," "Armenian sujukh," and "Armenian matsoun" have been submitted". Ministry of Economy of Armenia. 17 April 2025. Retrieved 6 September 2025.