Dried Beef Pastarma

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   For some time now, Ron and I have been discussing "pastrama" of the dried beef variety, for it's importance as human civilizations' expansion and development, as well as for its culinary importance as one of the ancient, basic foods that today still maintain their importance. 

Here's a quote from Ron and his wonderful post on the subject (Traditional Romanian Pastrama)- "traditional romanian pastramă is a cured, semi-dry smoked meat, hisorically made from sheep but also made from pork, beef or presumably any other animal that produces sizable cuts of meat. it is not to be confused with pastrami, which is cured and prepared in a very different way and has a very different flavour." The post generated lively discussion and is a must-read for anyone interested in the subject.

Mrs Rivet discovered a wonderful little store that specializes in European foods, aptly named The European Market. It is here that I discovered Pastrama for sale, along with many other tasty things.

Pastarma, Pastirma, Pastrama, Basturma……..whichever way you call it, it's Eastern European dried meat. Sounds exceptionally tasty; definitely an Ur-Meat, and Ur-Food, carried by the ancients across the lands as they migrated, herded, campaigned and traded…all activities requiring lightweight portable food that didn’t spoil.

This from WIKI:

 The name pastırma is from Turkish: pastırma et (pressed meat) Pastırma is a noun derived from the verb pastırmak (bastırmak in modern Turkish), which means "to press". The word is used with minor variants in the various languages of the region: Albanian: pastërma, Armenian: պաստուրմա (basturma), Azerbaijani: basdırma, Bosnian, Croatian, Macedonian and Serbian: pastrma, Bulgarian: пастърма (pastărma), Greek: παστουρμάς (pastourmás) or παστρουμάς (pastroumás), and Romanian: pastramă.

Wind-dried beef has been made in this region for centuries. Pastırma itself is usually considered Turkish, though it is produced and consumed in a wide area of Eastern Europe and the Middle East

One legend recounts that Turkic horsemen of Central Asia used to preserve meat by placing slabs of it in the pockets on the sides of their saddles, where it would be pressed by their legs as they rode

Though beef is the most common meat today, various meats are also used, including camel, pork, lamb, goat, and water buffalo with camel being the most prized.
Pastırma is prepared by salting the meat, then washing it with water and letting it dry for 10-15 days. The blood and salt is then squeezed out of the meat which is then covered with a cumin paste called çemen (lit., 'fenugreek') prepared with crushed cumin, fenugreek, garlic, and hot paprika, followed by thorough air-drying. Depending on the variety of the paprika, it can be very spicy but not quite as hot as, for example, hot chili.
Sliced it up a bit and tried it. Not hot at all like chili, but the gentle spice of the paprika came through...it was definitely sweet paprika that was used. No fenugreek here, nor cumin. This was a very tasty mild coating-

In Egypt, pastirma is used for breakfast, with fried eggs. It is also used as a topping for pizza, and a filling for a variety of oven prepared stuff dough dishes, whether they are made from regular bread like dough, or a flaky multilayered puff pastry like dough. I could see this easily....it was flavourful, moist, and tender...nothing like the chewy, tough, jerky-like consistency some say it has. This was top-quality beef and made well-

The Lebanese-Armenians introduced pastirma to Lebanese cuisine, and it is usually served as a mezze in thin slices, usually uncooked, but sometimes lightly grilled. It may be added to different dishes, the most famous of which is a bean dish, and various pies.
In Turkey the spiced version, often called Kayseri pastırması, is most common. The less-common Rumeli pastırması "Balkan pastırma", is simply salted. This one had no salt in the rub/coating and carried no saltiness in the meat either...it was truly and properly air-dried. Lots of good, meaty, beefy flavour with a hint of sweet paprika to round it out.

The coating was not very thick at all. Well made, traditional and historical beef here! Very glad to have the chance ot try some and the quality is triple-A. I called the number on the label and spoke with a very helpful man from the company. He said this was Bulgarian style pastarma, which is traditionally beef or pork and very mild with sweet paprika and not much else. He said they also make a hot and spicy pastarma, which he said was Bosnian or Serbian style, however he preferred the milder Bulgarian style that I had bought. (Unfortunately The European Market doesn't carry any other types- I'd like to try the spicy version!).