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Meat from Nepal and India

Suka ko masuसुकाको मासु

Suka ko masu is Nepali dried meat. Strips of goat or buffalo meat are mixed with turmeric, mustard oil and salt and hung above the earthen kitchen oven for 7 to 10 days until they are smoke-dried. Rai et al. (2009) say the strips can be stored at room temperature for several weeks. They are fried as a curry or grilled over charcoal. It is a smoke-dried meat rather than a planned ferment, though lactic acid bacteria and yeasts have been isolated from it.

Fully documentedMeat7 days – 10 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedHome practice with no fixed amounts; no source gives quantities. Rai et al. (2009) note that the leftover meat from goats killed at the Dasain festival is smoked in this way.
Red meat of buffalo or goatCut into strips up to 25–30 cm long[rai2009][teixeira2020]
Turmeric powder, mustard oil and saltMixed thoroughly into the strips before they are hung[rai2009]
Mustard oil, onion, ginger, chilli powder and salt, with coriander leavesFor the curry made from the dried strips[rai2009]

Total time across the recorded steps: 7 days – 10 days

Start
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What changes: Red meat of buffalo or goat is cut into long strips

Step 1 of 5
Cut the meat into long strips
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Suka ko masu is Nepali dried meat. Strips of goat or buffalo meat are mixed with turmeric, mustard oil and salt and hung above the earthen kitchen oven for 7 to 10 days until they are smoke-dried. Rai et al. (2009) say the strips can be stored at room temperature for several weeks. They are fried as a curry or grilled over charcoal. It is a smoke-dried meat rather than a planned ferment, though lactic acid bacteria and yeasts have been isolated from it. Made in 5 steps over 7 days – 10 days. The longest step, hang above the kitchen oven, takes 7–10 days (Rai A.K 2009).

Key numbers
Main step7–10 daysReported[rai2009][teixeira2020]Hang above the kitchen oven

What makes this one different

Suka ko masu is dried and smoked over the kitchen fire rather than fermented in a casing like the Himalayan kargyong sausages. Lactic acid bacteria have been isolated from it.

Related ferments

Safety

The strips are raw meat that is only salted, smoked and dried, then kept at room temperature. Staphylococcus aureus is among the bacteria isolated from it. CDC says cooking can kill Staph but does not destroy its toxin, so frying cannot rescue a bad batch. In one study no isolate from the Himalayan meat products made biogenic amines, but that test covered the isolates, not the strips. Fry or grill the strips through before eating.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus (among the isolates listed for suka ko masu).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Rai, Palni and Tamang (2009) record that after goats are ritually sacrificed at the Nepali festival of Dasain, the leftover meat is smoked into suka ko masu to keep for later.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Temperature, salt and pH
The sources we found give no temperature, salt or pH figure for any of its steps.
  1. [rai2009] Rai A.K., Palni U., Tamang J.P. 2009, Traditional knowledge of the Himalayan people on production of indigenous meat products, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 8(1):104-109 (Table 1, section Suka ko masu, Fig. 4)paper
  2. [rai2010] Rai A.K., Tamang J.P., Palni U. 2010, Microbiological studies of ethnic meat products of the Eastern Himalayas, Meat Science 85(3):560-567 (abstract)paper
  3. [tamang2016] Tamang J.P., Watanabe K., Holzapfel W.H. 2016, Review, Diversity of microorganisms in global fermented foods and beverages, Frontiers in Microbiology 7:377 (table of fermented meats, citing Rai et al. 2010)paper
  4. [teixeira2020] Teixeira A., Silva S., Guedes C., Rodrigues S. 2020, Sheep and goat meat processed products quality, a review, Foods 9(7):960 (citing Rai, Palni and Tamang 2009)paper
  5. [cdc-staph] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, About Staph Food Poisoninggov