Kazy or sujuk: what is the difference

Kazy is made from horse rib meat left whole, sujuk from minced beef with mutton fat. We look at what goes in, how they taste and how to serve them.

The short answer

Kazy is a sausage of horse meat, filled with a whole strip of meat from the ribs. Sujuk is a firm sausage of minced beef or mutton with a lot of spice. They are different products that happen to share a shape.

If you want to taste the meat itself, take kazy from the salami and sausages section. If you want a bright, spiced flavour and a firm slice, take sujuk.

What kazy is made of

Real kazy uses the rib section of the carcass: a strip of meat with its layer of fat goes into a natural casing whole, never minced. That is why the cut is so recognisable — you can see the muscle fibre and the white line of fat.

Salt, black pepper, garlic — that is the whole spice list. The point is not to cover the taste of horse meat but to bring it forward. After that the meat is either air-dried or boiled, depending on what is wanted.

This is also why kazy costs more: horse meat is dearer than beef, and a whole cut yields little finished product. The three ways of curing meat are covered separately.

What sujuk is made of

Sujuk is mince. Beef is chopped, mutton or beef fat added, then salt and a generous hand of spice: fenugreek, red pepper, garlic, cumin. The mix is packed into casing and pressed, which is why the sausage comes out flat.

Then it dries for at least two weeks. Finished sujuk is hard, slices thin and smells of spice before you have even cut it.

Telling them apart at the counter

Kazy is always round in section, with a visible whole piece of meat and a band of fat. Sujuk is flat, often bent into a horseshoe, and evenly minced inside.

Smell is the other giveaway. Sujuk is immediately spicy; kazy is quieter and meatier.

How to serve them

Kazy is traditionally boiled and served warm with beshbarmak, though air-dried kazy is excellent sliced. Cut it at an angle, in slices of medium thickness.

Sujuk is cut thin and served cold — with cheese, olives, dry wine. Warm it up and it loses shape and renders its fat. There is a separate note on pairing with wine.