Hisham Assaad's Armenian Spicy Sausages (Soujok)

Armenians expelled from their homeland over a hundred years ago took refuge in the Levant, between Syria (mainly Aleppo), Lebanon and Palestine.

While they preserved their culture and language, they started to merge their cooking with the produce from the lands they settled in. This cultural marriage created the Aleppo-Armenian style of cooking that in Lebanon we know as Armenian food.

Bourj Hammoud is one of the neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Greater Beirut and home to a large Armenian population.

There’s a small shop there called Mano that makes the most popular Armenian cured meat products: soujok (a large spicy sausage), maqaneq (small sausages flavoured with warm spices and pine nuts) and basterma (spiced air-dried cured meat). I’ve loved it since I used to visit with my aunt when I was about fourteen and it was always one of the places to stop at to grab the best soujok sandwiches, along with its nearby rival, Bedo.

Prepare this recipe by mixing the meat with the spices and leaving it in the refrigerator, covered, to marinate – the longer the better for the best flavour. Use the sausages for these hot-dog-style sandwiches or serve with French fries, fried eggs or roasted vegetables.

ARMENIAN SPICY SAUSAGES RECIPE(Soujok)Makes 12

800g finely minced beef3 garlic cloves, minced3 Tbsp red pepper paste*

For the Soujok Spice Mix½ tsp allspice1½ tsp white pepper1 tsp black pepper1 Tbsp ground cumin2 tsp salt¼ tsp ground nutmeg1½ Tbsp garlic powder1½ Tbsp paprika1½ Tbsp dried chilli (red pepper) flakes1½ Tbsp ground fenugreek

To serveHotdog buns, splitTomatoes, slicedGherkins or wild cucumber pickles, sliced

1. In a large bowl, combine the beef, garlic, red pepper paste and spice mix and work with your hands until well combined. Leave to marinate in the fridge for a few hours, or ideally overnight, even up to 36 hours, to develop the flavour. Shape the soujok mixture into 10cm (4 in) sausages.

2. Heat a splash of olive oil in a shallow frying pan (skillet) over a medium-high heat. Fry the sausages until browned on all sides and cooked through.

3. To serve, lightly grill (broil) the hotdogs buns on a grill pan, so that they have some lovely grill marks on them. Fill the buns with the cooked soujok and slices of tomatoes and pickles.

* A mixture of red capsicum and tomato, available from Turkish and Mediterranean grocers

Recipe extracted from 'Bayrut: The Cookbook' by Hisham Assaad, $65, Smith Street Books.