Sucuk — air-dried, heavily spiced Turkish sausage — is made from ground beef (or a mixture of beef and lamb) packed with fenugreek, garlic, cumin, allspice, black pepper, and red pepper into natural casings, then air-dried until firm. Used fried in its own fat for breakfast eggs and börek, or sliced and eaten cold. The fenugreek content is the defining spice note — its sotolone-maple character combined with the garlic and pepper produces the unmistakable sucuk flavour.
- **The fat content:** 20–25% — the fat is essential for both flavour and the meat's cohesion during the drying process. - **The spice level:** High. Sucuk uses more garlic and fenugreek than most cured meats. - **Air-drying:** 1–2 weeks at cool temperatures — the exterior firms while the interior remains slightly softer. - **Frying:** Sucuk releases its spiced fat when sliced and placed in a hot pan — this fat is itself a flavouring medium for eggs cooked in the same pan.
The Turkish Cookbook