Pastirma

From Chaldeans Wiki

Pastırma is a highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef in the cuisines of the former Ottoman countries. The name pastırma is Turkish and means 'pressed'; it is used with minor variants in the various languages of the region: Albanian pastërma; Armenian bastırma; Bosnian, Croatian, Macedonian, Serbian pastrma; Bulgarian pasturma; Greek παστουρμάς pastourmás or παστρουμάς pastroumás; Romanian pastramă.

Wind-dried beef has been made in this region for centuries. Andrew Dalby mentions its use in Byzantium.<ref>Andrew Dalby, Siren Feasts as cited in Regional Cuisines of Medieval Europe: A Book of Essays, Melitta Weiss Adamson, p. 11</ref> Pastırma itself is usually considered a Turkish or Armenian dish.<ref>Leslie Chamberlain, The Food and Cooking of Eastern Europe as quoted in Davidson</ref> The word's etymology beyond Turkish is unknown<ref>OED</ref>.

Though beef, preferably young, is the most common meat today, various meats are also used, including lamb, goat, and water buffalo.<ref>Kaneva-Johnson, p. 62</ref>

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 Kayseri 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.

Chaldeans usually cook it with eggs for breakfast.

Bibliography

• Alan Davidson (food writer)|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.

Possible spellings: pasturma, basturma or basturma