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Sucuk or sujuk is a semi-dry, spicy sausage with a high fat content, popular in Middle Eastern, Balkan and Central Asian cuisines. It is traditionally prepared with ground beef and spices such as cumin, salt, paprika, and garlic. The sausage should be dried for at least three weeks before consumption.
It can be served cold and sliced thinly, but it is more commonly fried and paired with eggs and vegetables. In Lebanon, it is often consumed with tomatoes and garlic sauce in a pita bread, while in Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Israel, sucuk is often used as a pastry topping.
Cârnaţi de Pleşcoi are popular Romanian sausages made with mutton, chili peppers, and garlic. They are one of the first Romanian products that will be part of the EU’s list of certified traditional products. Cârnaţi de Pleşcoi are produced in the homes of Pleşcoi village and the Berca commune, using the traditional recipe.
Most of the producers don’t have an official production license, so the sausages are available for purchase only in small quantities, directly from the producers. Some of the licensed producers founded the Plescoi Sausage Producer Association with a goal of promoting and distributing cârnaţi de Pleşcoi at the European level.
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The most famous cured meat product in Bulgaria is known as lukanka, a traditional, aromatic sausage made with a mixture of minced pork and veal. The sausage is usually heavily spiced with salt, black pepper, hot and sweet peppers, cumin, nutmeg, and coriander.
The choice and amount of added spices is highly variable and usually depends on the region. The casing for lukanka is usually made from cows' or pigs' intestines, and once completed, it is usually pressed on both sides to develop its traditional, flat shape.
Outside of Greece, loukaniko is typically described as a pork sausage that is generously seasoned with orange zest and fennel. However, in Greece and Cyprus, the term encompasses fresh, smoked, or cured sausages that are prepared with different types of meat such as pork or lamb, and a variety of regionally influenced ingredients such as leeks, red wine, coriander, and typically orange zest and fennel.
Most commonly, loukaniko is grilled and enjoyed as an appetizer or a meze dish.
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This classic Bulgarian sausage is typically made by combining ground pork meat with a mix of traditional Bulgarian spices, and then stuffing the mixture into a sheep casing. Typical spices include winter savory (chubritsa), paprika, black pepper, dried red peppers, salt, and cumin.
Various versions of the sausage exist in different parts of the country, with some calling for the addition of bacon, combining ground pork with ground beef for the sausage, or even enriching the sausage with garlic or leeks. Karnacheta is typically shaped into a coil, and it is usually consumed grilled, paired with hot peppers, garlic, and a cold beer on the side.
Sângerete is a type of traditional Romanian blood sausage, which is typically boiled. It consists of a mixture of pork blood combined with ground pork meat, fat, and spices. Often seasoned with garlic, thyme, allspice, coriander, or nutmeg, the sausage can also contain boiled rice as a filler.
Romanian blood sausages are also called cârnaţi cu sânge, from the Romanian sânge, meaning blood in English. Due to the pork blood, the sausages are very juicy and have an exquisite flavor. Although each region in Romania has its own version of blood sausages, they are especially popular in Transylvania.
Caltaboș is a Romanian liver-based pork sausage that is traditionally prepared and eaten during the winter holiday season. Due to the fact that caltaboș is primarily a homemade specialty, there is no single recipe for it. In addition to liver, caltaboș can include other types of offal, such as spleen, heart, lungs, and kidneys.
All the ingredients are boiled with garlic and bay leaves before they are minced and combined with meat, caramelized onions, spices, and (optionally) rice. Unlike other types of Romanian sausages, caltaboși are boiled instead of fried. They are traditionally served cold with bread and raw onions or pickles on the side.
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Bahur is a traditional sausage made with a combination of rice and trimmings and blood of pork (but sheep and beef offal can also be used). Onions, bay leaves, cumin, and allspice are also added to the mixture. The ingredients are sautéed before they're stuffed into thick pork intestines.
The sausages are pierced with needles a few times to let the air out, then boiled, drained, and either consumed straight away or left to dry in a cold and dry place.
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These traditional Cretan sausages are typically made with a combination of pork offal (usually liver, spleen, and heart), rice or trachanas (usually the local variety of sour trachanas called xinohondros), nuts, dried fruit, spices, and seasonings.
Omathies are traditionally flavored with currants, raisins, or sultanas, almonds, salt, pepper, and cumin, while some versions may also contain ingredients such as cinnamon, sugar, orange peel, a variety of herbs, onions, or leeks. Once boiled and chopped, the sausage mixture is typically placed into clean pork intestines, which have previously been soaked in lemon water, vinegar, or wine.
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