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Pastırma

Pressed under weight and then coated in çemen, a fenugreek paste that is most of what it tastes of.

Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef.

Ingredients

the cure

the çemen paste

Method

  1. IT IS PRESSED UNDER WEIGHT AND THEN COATED IN ÇEMEN, a fenugreek paste that is most of what it tastes of. Two separate stages and the second is the one people recognise. First the beef is salted, rinsed and then pressed flat under a board and weights for a couple of days, which drives out moisture and gives the dense close-grained texture a slice of pastırma has. Then it is painted all over in a thick paste of ground fenugreek, raw garlic and paprika and hung again. Fenugreek is assertively bitter and faintly maple-ish, and it is not a coating so much as the dominant flavour -- a pastırma without çemen is just air-dried beef.
  2. THE PASTE IS MIXED AND RESTED BEFORE IT GOES ON. Ground fenugreek and water left to stand an hour or two first. It swells considerably and goes from a gritty slurry to a thick smooth paste that clings; applied immediately it is thin, runs off the meat, and continues swelling on the surface where it cracks and falls away in sheets.
  3. THE PRESSING IS WHAT MAKES IT PASTIRMA AND NOT BILTONG. Between two boards with a few kilos on top, in the fridge, turned daily for two days. It changes the shape and the grain: the meat comes out flattened to about half its thickness and the fibres compressed, which is why it can be sliced paper-thin without falling apart.
  4. THE SALT IS RINSED OFF PROPERLY BETWEEN THE STAGES. Three hundred grams of salt is a cure and not a seasoning. Rinsed thoroughly under cold water and patted dry, or the finished pastırma is inedible -- and unlike the Cypriot tsamarella, this one is not soaked before eating, so there is no second chance to correct it.
  5. IT IS HUNG IN COOL MOVING AIR AND NOT IN A WARM KITCHEN. Twelve to fifteen degrees with air moving past it, two to three weeks. Warmer than about eighteen and the surface spoils before the middle dries; in still air it goes mouldy at the contact points. A cool larder with the door ajar, or a fridge with a fan, and it is checked every few days.
  6. The beef trimmed of sinew and cut into long pieces about 5 cm thick.
  7. Buried completely in the coarse salt in a non-reactive tray and refrigerated 3 DAYS, turned daily. Liquid poured off as it collects.
  8. RINSED THOROUGHLY under cold water and patted dry. It is not soaked before eating, so the salt must come off now.
  9. Laid between two boards with 3 or 4 kg of weight on top and refrigerated 2 DAYS, turned daily. It will flatten to about half its thickness.
  10. Hung in COOL MOVING AIR, 12 to 15°C, for 1 WEEK.
  11. The fenugreek mixed with the water and LEFT TO STAND 2 HOURS, until it swells to a thick smooth paste.
  12. The garlic, both paprikas and the salt beaten into it.
  13. The meat painted all over with a thick even coat of the paste.
  14. Hung again in the same cool moving air 2 to 3 WEEKS.
  15. CHECKED every few days: the coat should dry hard and stay attached. Any mould wiped off with vinegar.
  16. TESTED: it is ready when the meat is firm right through with no soft centre. Sliced PAPER-THIN across the grain.
  17. Keeps 2 months wrapped in the fridge.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes