Armenian Sujuk

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A cured meat recipe

Perfecting the base, perfects all

As part of my website relaunch, I am sharing with you very special recipes that fall under Mooneh (the pantry section of the kitchen), which we all know I love. Mooneh is after all what I do as my daily job. Besides giving you an array of recipes, I am now mostly focusing on Mooneh because I believe this section can single handedly transform your kitchen and cooking skills! The pantry is the base of the kitchen and the base of cooking, and as I have been telling you through the years, perfecting the base ensures all else is exquisite and outstanding. Everything is built on it in the end.

The whole idea is to give you recipes that bring back good food, good flavours and amazing food experiences to your kitchens. Recipes that bring back the passion for food and cooking. I always want to give real food knowledge and demonstrate real food making because, no matter what the trends are, a real cook must know real food and must actually know how to cook. This is the aim here.

Now some recipes are more complex, and others are simpler. But some recipes, such as this one are ones that are worth perfecting because they allow you to make and serve unique foods that are not just another version of your neighbour’s lunch! Yes be different, why not? And yes be absolutely impressive!

I have also included for you a video of another sausage, another cured meat recipe… Watching it you will be able to carry out the filling and hanging techniques mentioned below.

Enjoy

Ingredients

Sausage casings if you are going for making cured sausages

  • 500g ground beef (30% fat, large grind)
  • 500g ground lamb (30% fat, large grind)
  • 1 tbsp ground sweet paprika
  • 1 tsp ground allspice
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 1 tbsp ground fenugreek
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper powder
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground mustard seeds
  • 1/2 tbsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp DS Pink Himalayan Salt
  • 3tbsp DS Premium Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1/4 cup cold water

Mix all the ingredients together, without overworking them as that will result in tough meat.

You can shape the sujuk filling into patties and use them as is if you do not wish to fill them in casing and cure them. These patties can be BBQ’ed, shallow fried, or roasted and used in the making of sandwiches, or stews. Otherwise after cooking, they can be chopped up and used in the making of pastries, or with scrambled eggs…etc.

To fill and cure the sausages

Wash the sausage casings in cold water a few times, then soak them in fresh cold water for 1-2 hours.

Using the sausage attachment fill the cases with the prepared sausage filling. You can either twist them as you go, or keep them long and whole as in the picture above. Tie both ends firmly.

Prick the casing with a toothpick all over and press them lightly to release any trapped air. They are now ready to freeze if you do not wish to cure them.

If you do want to cure them, roll them in salt to coat then tie a string over at one end and hang the sausage in a cool dry place or in the fridge (or cold room) for 6 weeks.

It is essential that they are not subjected to any humidity or heat throughout. Also you will have to squeeze them slightly everyday to make sure that any trapped air is released and that they remain compact.

They are ready to slice in 6 weeks.

 

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