Pastırma

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Pastırma is a highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef in the cuisines of the former Ottoman countries. The name pastırma is Turkish and it evolved from its original form, "bastırma et", meaning "pressed meat" according to the official TDK dictionary. The word is used with minor variants in the various languages of the region: Albanian pastërma; Armenian բաստուրմա (basturma), Azeri bastırma; Bosnian, Croatian, Macedonian, Serbian pastrma; Bulgarian pasturma; Greek παστουρμάς pastourmás or παστρουμάς pastroumás; Iraqi باسطرمة basṭurma ; Romanian pastramă. The word "pastrami", although used for a differently prepared type of meat, also goes back via Yiddish pastrómeh to pastırma.

Wind-dried beef has been made in this region for centuries. Andrew Dalby mentions its use in Byzantium.^[1] Pastırma itself is usually considered a Turkish or Armenian dish.^[2], although it is produced and consumed in the above mentioned region including many countries from the 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. This pressed meat was the forerunner of today's Pastırma.^[3]

Though beef, preferably young, is the most common meat today, various meats are also used, including camel, lamb, goat, and water buffalo.^[4]

It is prepared by pressing the meat to squeeze out its water, then covering it with a cumin paste called çemen (lit. 'fenugreek') prepared with crushed cumin, fenugreek, garlic, and hot paprika, and air-drying it.

It can be served as a mezze in thin slices, usually uncooked, but sometimes lightly grilled; or may be added to different dishes, the most famous of which is a bean dish.

The spiced version is most common, and is often called Sivas pastırma. A less common kind of pastırma called Rumeli Pastırması from the Balkans, prepared with salt and no spices.

The word and the food pastrami come from pastırma via the Balkans and Eastern European Jews.

[edit] References

^ Andrew Dalby, Siren Feasts as cited in Regional Cuisines of Medieval Europe: A Book of Essays, Melitta Weiss Adamson, p. 11
^ Leslie Chamberlain, The Food and Cooking of Eastern Europe as quoted in Davidson
^ TurkishCulture.org - Pastırma
^ Kaneva-Johnson, p. 62

[edit] Bibliography

Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food. ISBN 0-19-211579-0.
Maria Kaneva-Johnson, The Melting Pot: Balkan Food and Cookery, Prospect, 1995. ISBN 0-907325-57-2.