Kazy (Қазы)
Horse flank sausage, stuffed into the horse’s own intestine. What goes into the casing is not minced meat but a long strip of ribs with its layer of fat, rolled on itself.
| Horse flank with its fat (kazy) | 800 g |
| Fine salt | 25 g |
| Fresh garlic, crushed | 15 g |
| Ground cumin | 8 g |
| Ground black pepper | 4 g |
| Red chilli powder (optional) | 3 g |
| Horse’s (or ox’s) small intestine | — |
- Preparing the meat: Choose a horse flank with a good thickness of fat: it is the fat that gives the kazy its characteristic flavour and texture. Cut into one long strip 5 to 6 cm wide, following the ribs. The meat should remain in a single piece as long as possible.
- Seasoning: Rub the strip of meat with the salt, the crushed garlic, the cumin and the black pepper. Leave to marinate for 12 to 24 hours in the cold. Some producers add red chilli for a hotter version.
- Cleaning the intestine: Turn the horse’s intestine inside out, scrape it and rinse abundantly in cold salted water. Rinse several times until the water runs clear.
- Stuffing: Introduce the strip of meat into the intestine, rolling it lightly on itself. The intestine should be well filled but not overstretched. Tie both ends securely.
- Poached option (fresh version): Plunge the kazy into a large pot of cold water. Bring to the boil, skim carefully, then cook at a gentle simmer for 2 hours. The kazy is cooked when a needle is pushed into it and comes out without resistance.
- Smoked option (keeping version): Cold-smoke (20–25 °C) over saxaul wood (an endemic hardwood shrub) or apricot wood for 12 to 18 hours. This version keeps for several weeks in a cool place.
- Cooling: Leave to cool completely in the cooking broth or at room temperature. Refrigerate before slicing.
- Serving: Slice thinly on the bias to show off the spiral of meat and fat. Serve cold as a starter with flatbread (nan), raw onions, and vinegar, or hot in beshbarmak (sliced kazy served in broth with noodles and onions).
The kazy is the centrepiece of Kazakh charcuterie. Traditionally, there can be no Nauryz (the New Year festival) without kazy, no wedding without kazy, and no funeral meal without it. What goes into the horse’s small intestine is not minced meat but a long strip of flank taken along the ribs, with its adjoining layer of fat, rolled on itself after marinating in salt, crushed garlic and cumin. The slice reveals, at the cut, a spiral of dark meat and cream-coloured fat, a cross-section with no visual equivalent in the charcuterie of any other zone of this book.
The horse, in the civilisation of the steppes, is an animal of transport, war and prestige before being a food resource. Its consumption at the great festivals is a communal act to which the accounts of Arab, Persian and Chinese travellers have testified for several centuries. The dried or smoked meat could keep for weeks in the saddlebags or the yurts, a necessity for nomadic peoples exposed to the extreme heat and cold of the continental steppes. The flank is the only cut that will do: its fat is softer and more fragrant than that of the back, and it melts progressively during cooking, permeating the meat. The herders select their animals in autumn, after the grazing season, when the horses have laid down enough fat. The winter slaughter, the soğım, takes place in November or December: it is a collective event at which families and neighbours work the carcass together, preparing the kazy, the shuzhuk and the karta simultaneously to build the store for the months ahead.
The regional variants bear on the seasoning. In the south, around Almaty and Shymkent, the kazy is spicier and more garlicky; in the north and west, around Astana and Aktobe, cumin dominates alone. Some families add dried barberries, others pomegranate juice, to tenderise the meat. A version cold-smoked over saxaul or apricot wood keeps for several weeks and constitutes the traditional form of winter storage.
It is served cold, sliced on the bias to show off the spiral, with flatbread (nan), raw onions, and vinegar, or hot in beshbarmak, the stew of meat and flat noodles that is the Kazakh national dish. In that setting, the kazy holds the place of honour on the shared platter.
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