Oblong cumin-and-garlic beef kofta brought to Greece by refugees from Smyrna in 1922, briefly fried then simmered in a red-wine tomato sauce. They straddle the line between kebab and stew and are almost always served over rice or fries.
Also known as soutzoukakia smyrneika, σουτζουκάκια, sutzukakia.
Reference video
Ingredients
- 500 g beef mince
- 60 g stale bread, crusts removed
- 80 ml dry red wine, divided
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1.5 tsp ground cumin
- 1 egg
- Flour, for dusting
- 700 g tomato passata, 1 tsp sugar, 1 bay leaf, 1 cinnamon stick
- 60 ml olive oil plus 20 g butter
- Salt and pepper
How to make it
- 1
Soak the bread in 50 ml of the red wine, squeeze lightly, and knead with the mince, garlic, cumin, egg, salt and pepper.
- 2
Form oblong torpedoes, dust with flour, and fry in olive oil until browned on all sides but not cooked through.
- 3
In the same pan, simmer the passata with the remaining wine, sugar, bay, the cinnamon stick and a little salt for 10 minutes.
- 4
Nestle the soutzoukakia in and cook gently 20 minutes, turning once, until the sauce thickens around them.
- 5
Melt in the butter at the end and serve over rice or fried potatoes.
Pro tip: Wine-soaked bread, never milk-soaked, is the Smyrna signature that dates to 1922: the crumb carries the wine's perfume into the meat and marks these apart from every other tomato meatball in Greece.
Where Soutzoukakia comes from
Soutzoukakia are refugee food that became national food. They came to Greece in 1922 with the population exchange, carried by Greeks expelled from Smyrna — modern İzmir — which is why they are properly called soutzoukakia smyrneika. The name descends from the Turkish sucuk, the spiced sausage.
They are cumin-and-garlic beef kofta, briefly fried and then simmered in a red-wine tomato sauce, and they sit exactly on the line between kebab and stew. In Greek homes they are weeknight cooking; in tavernas they are the dish that tells you the kitchen has an Asia Minor lineage.
How Soutzoukakia is cooked
Bread soaked in wine or water and squeezed is worked into the minced beef along with an egg, garlic and a great deal of cumin. That soaked bread is doing real work: it holds moisture through the frying and the simmering, and without it the kofta tighten in the sauce.
They are shaped into oblongs, floured lightly, and fried briefly — only to colour, not to cook through — then transferred into a tomato sauce built with red wine and a cinnamon stick, and simmered for twenty to thirty minutes. The frying is for flavour and structure; the actual cooking happens in the sauce.
Ingredients and shopping
Minced beef, or beef with a little lamb, at around 20 percent fat. Cumin is the defining spice and it should be assertive — this is one of the most cumin-forward dishes in Greek cooking, and holding back on it produces something generic.
Stale bread, crusts removed, soaked in red wine rather than water if you want the fuller version. A dry red wine for the sauce. A cinnamon stick in the sauce is traditional in Smyrniot versions and adds a warm background note that most people cannot identify but would miss.
How Soutzoukakia is served
Over rice pilaf or with fried potatoes, with the sauce spooned over generously and bread on the table. A dry Greek red. Feta and a simple salad alongside. It reheats very well and Greek households routinely make double.
Common mistakes
Skipping the soaked bread
It keeps the kofta tender through frying and simmering. Without it they tighten and go dense in the sauce.
Cooking them through in the pan
Fry only to colour. They finish in the sauce, which is where they absorb the flavour.
Under-doing the cumin
Cumin is the signature. A cautious hand produces a generic meatball in tomato sauce.
A thin sauce
It should coat, not flood. Reduce it before the kofta go in if necessary.
Soutzoukakia: questions and answers
Why is the bread soaked in wine?
It keeps the kofta tender through frying and simmering, and the wine adds depth. Water works but the wine version is fuller.
Should I cook them fully before adding the sauce?
No. Fry only until coloured, then simmer them in the sauce for twenty to thirty minutes to finish.
What spice defines soutzoukakia?
Cumin, in quantity, with garlic behind it. A cinnamon stick in the sauce is traditional in the Smyrniot version.
Sources and further reading
- Soutzoukakia Smyrneika — Diane Kochilas
- Authentic Soutzoukakia Smyrneika — Kopiaste..to Greek Hospitality
