Sucuk is the most widespread delicatessen product in Turkish cooking. Its sliced form removes the one practical obstacle to using it.
Why is slicing a whole sucuk difficult?
Sucuk is fermented and dried; its outer surface forms a firm casing.
The knife slips as it enters that casing.
The angle of the cut breaks and the slices vary in thickness.
The fatty tissue inside sticks to the blade.
Sucuk fresh from the fridge cuts more easily, but then the casing cracks and the edges of the slices stay irregular.
The result is slices of different thickness in the same pan; the thin ones burn while the thick ones have not heated, and two different products appear on the plate.
| Measure | Sliced sucuk | Whole sucuk |
|---|---|---|
| Slice thickness | 2-3 mm | Variable |
| Preparation | 0 minutes | 3-5 minutes |
| Life after opening | 5-7 days | 2-3 weeks |
| Price per kilogram | Higher | Lower |
| Suited to | Toasties, pizza, eggs | Every use |
| Loss in cutting | None | 3-5% |
What is the standard for ready slices?
An industrial slicer holds the thickness to a tenth of a millimetre.
The standard for sucuk runs two to three millimetres.
That thickness is not a preference; it follows from how the product cooks.
A slice below two millimetres dries within seconds in a pan.
One above three stays cold at the centre.
A hundred-gram pack holds thirty-five to forty-five slices; the count is the most practical way of verifying the thickness.
How does thickness affect the cooking?
Sucuk is a fatty product; 30 to 40 grams of fat per hundred.
That fat melts on heating.
Most of it leaves a thin slice and the slice crisps.
The fat stays inside a thick slice and it remains soft.
Thin slices get preferred in a toastie; the released fat passes into the bread and the toastie turns more aromatic.
Thick slices get preferred on a breakfast plate; because the fat stays inside the slice stays fuller and juicier.
How does it work in a toastie?
A sucuk toastie is the most widespread use of the product.
Four or five slices of sucuk, one of kaşar and two slices of bread.
The order between sucuk and cheese matters.
The sucuk goes beneath and the cheese above.
That arrangement lets the melting cheese trap the fat of the sucuk.
In the reverse order the fat passes into the bread and the underside goes soggy; two or three minutes in a press suffice, and heating longer dries the sucuk.
How does sucuk behave on pizza?
Sucuk behaves like pepperoni on a pizza, though differences exist.
Sucuk carries more fat; it releases more in the oven.
Its casing differs too; a slice of sucuk does not curl as pepperoni does and stays flat.
That means the fat runs onto the dough.
The answer is placing the sucuk over the cheese and keeping the quantity limited.
Twelve to fifteen slices suffice for a thirty-centimetre pizza; more makes the pizza greasy and spoils the crispness of the base.
How does it cook with eggs?
Sucuk with eggs is a classic of Turkish breakfast, and the order decides.
The sucuk fries first; two or three minutes over a moderate heat.
It releases its fat.
The eggs break over that fat.
No further fat goes in; the sucuk provides enough of its own.
Where too much appears, some gets removed; a hundred grams of sucuk releases around fifteen to twenty grams of fat, and that is more than enough for three eggs.
How does the fat get managed?
Sucuk carries the highest proportion of fat among delicatessen products.
That is the source of both its taste and its calories.
Three hundred and eighty to four hundred and fifty calories per hundred grams.
Several routes exist to lowering the fat.
The first is cooking on a wire rack; the fat drips away.
The second is draining on kitchen paper; the fried slices wait a minute on paper and part of the excess comes off.
What portion of sliced sucuk applies?
Sucuk is a dense product and the portion follows from that.
Four or five slices at breakfast; around thirty grams.
Four slices in a toastie; twenty-five grams.
Three or four slices per head on a pizza.
A thirty-gram portion carries 115 to 135 calories and 9 to 12 grams of fat.
Sodium runs high too; 1400 to 2000 milligrams per hundred grams, and a thirty-gram portion brings 420 to 600.
What gets checked on a sucuk label?
Two pieces of information decide with sucuk.
The first is meat content; a quality sucuk passes 80 percent.
The second is fermentation; genuine sucuk gets fermented and the label carries the word "fermented".
Heat-treated sucuk carries no fermentation; those products are softer and less aromatic.
The third check is the fat; it approaches fifty percent in some products, and that markedly raises both the calories and the quantity of fat released in cooking.
How does sliced sucuk get stored?
A vacuum pack holds sliced sucuk to the printed date, generally two or three months.
Five to seven days once opened.
A whole sucuk keeps two or three weeks once opened.
The difference comes from surface area; it multiplies tenfold in a sliced product and oxidation accelerates.
It stays in an airtight container with paper between the slices, on the coldest shelf of the fridge.
Can sliced sucuk be frozen?
Sucuk suits freezing and the loss of texture stays limited.
Because its fat runs high the ice crystals stay small.
It keeps three months in a freezer.
The slices get frozen in portions with a breakfast's worth in each bag.
Paper goes between them.
Frozen slices can go straight into a pan; no thawing becomes necessary, and that is the most practical property of sliced sucuk.
