Pastirma
Pastirma or Pasterma,
Etymology and history
Basturma existed in ancient Armenian cuisine, where it was known as aboukh' (Armenian: աբուխ).[12][full citation needed][13] The word abookhd (Classical Armenian apukht) was already used in the Armenian translation of the Bible, in the fifth century AD, meaning “salted and dried meat”.[14]
Pastırma is mentioned in
The English word pastrami may be a Yiddish construction that combined salami with pastırma or one of the similar linguistic variations of the word (pastramă in Romanian, pastromá in Russian and basturma in Armenian).[23]
Preparation and usage
Pastirma is usually made from water buffalo or beef, but other meats can also be used. In Egypt, known as Basterma is made not only with beef, but with water buffaloes as well.[24] Some pastirmas are made with horsemeat.[25] Different cuts of meat may be used; a single cow can produce 26 different "types" of pastirma. Fillet, shank, leg and shoulder cuts are used for the best quality pastirmas.[16][15] It is usually made during the months of October and November.[26]
To make pastirma, the meat is rinsed and salted before being dried and pressed. After the first drying period, the meat is cold pressed for up to 16 hours. This aids the process of removing moisture from the meat. After the first pressing, the meat is dried for several days, during which the fats melt and form a white layer. The second press is a "hot press".[27] Finally, the dried and pressed meat is covered with a spice paste called cemen. Cemen is made from a paste consisting of caraway, paprika, blue fenugreek, fenugreek, black pepper, allspice, cumin, cayenne, salt[28] and mashed garlic.[29][30][31][32] The dried product is covered with the wet paste and left to dry again. The entire process takes approximately one full month.[15] Pastirma is classified as an "intermediate moisture food". Lowering the moisture level is a form of food preservation that hinders the growth of microorganisms, and the cemen paste "is used to control surface mold growth during storage".[29] Other functions of the cemen include improved flavor, characteristic red coloring, prevention of further drying, and antimicrobial effects.[33]
Cuisines
Today, pastirma is present in the cuisines of Armenia, Egypt, Turkey, Bulgaria and the Levant.[34][35][36]
Armenia
The cured meat, which resembles Italian bresaola, is called basturma (բաստուրմա) or aboukht (ապուխտ) by Armenians.[37] Some Armenian pizzerias in cities like Yerevan, Boston and Los Angeles serve basturma topped pizza.[37] Armenian restaurants also serve basturma topped burgers,[38] basturma can be added to salads,[39] and basturma with omelette is also a common breakfast item in Armenia.[40] Basturma, or a basturma omelette can also be wrapped inside a lavash, alongside other ingredients like coriander, chechil cheese, and garlic matzoon.[41]
According to Nigol Bezjian, Armenians who survived the 1915 genocide brought basturma with them to the Middle East. Bezjian recalls that his grandmother used to prepare "basturma omelets fried in olive oil with pieces of lavash bread". He notes that Armenians from Kayseri were particularly renowned basturma producers.[37]
Arabs mocked Armenians with phrases like "It smells like there is basturma here", referring to the strong smell of basturma that is produced by the garlic and fenugreek mixture that the meat is coated in during preservation.
In
Bulgaria
Pastarma (as it is called in Bulgaria) arrived in Bulgaria in the 7th century. Specific products include Пастърма говежда / Pastarma Govezhda, which was registered as a
Turkey
In
Pastırma can be used as a topping for hummus,[47] pide bread,[48] hamburgers,[49] and toasted sandwichs with either cheddar cheese or kasar cheese. It can be as a filling for a börek that is made with kadayıf instead of the traditional filo dough.[50] It may be combined with potato to make a filling for traditional böreks as well.[51]
It is also a common addition to many of the traditional vegetable dishes, especially the tomato and
Production
Turkey produces around 2041 tons of pastirma each year.[16] The pastirma from Kayseri is particularly well known, Armenians (before the Armenian genocide) from Kayseri were particularly renowned basturma producers.[56][57] In their 1893 report the British Foreign Office note that Kayseri, which they call Cesarea, "is specially renowned for the preparation of basturma (pemmican)".[58]
See also
- Biltong – Form of dried, cured meat from southern Africa
- Cecina – Salted and dried or cured meat
- Jerky – Lean meat dried to prevent spoilage
- Montreal-style smoked meat – Style of smoked meat corned beef created by Jewish immigrants in Montreal, Quebec
- List of dried foods
- Pastrami – Meat preserved by partial drying, seasoning, smoking, and steaming
References
- ISBN 978-1-4822-2308-8.
- ^ a b "Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1106 of 21 June 2017 entering a name in the register of traditional specialities guaranteed (Пастърма говежда (Pastarma govezhda) (TSG))". Official Journal of the European Union. 2 June 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-55832-227-1.,
- ISBN 978-1-62414-104-1.
- ISBN 978-0-7818-1190-3.
- S2CID 60894880.
- ^ "How Do You Say Basturma in Armenian?". The Armenian Prelacy.
- ^ PASTIRMA Also known as pasterma, pastarma or pastourma. Mutton, beef or goat meat marinated with strong taste, pastirma forms part of Turkish and Greek mezze and is eaten like dried ham. For more see: New Larousse Gastronomique, Hachette UK, 2018, ISBN 0600635872, p. 562.
- ^ The Bulgarians and Serbs call it pastarma; the Greeks, pastourmas; the Azerbaijanis, bastirma; the Arabs, basterma; and the Romanians, pastrama. For more see: Robert Sietsema, New York in a Dozen Dishes, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015, ISBN 0544454316, p. 112.
- ^ The stuffing consists of what the Greeks call pastourma, known to the Turks as pastırma and to the Arabs as basturmā. For more see: Clifford Wright, Little Foods of the Mediterranean: 500 Fabulous Recipes for Antipasti, Tapas, Hors D'Oeuvre, Meze, and More, Harvard Common Press, 2003, ISBN 1558322272, p. 291.
- ^ The Greeks of Cappadocia have contributed in modest but distinct ways to the general food culture of modern Greece, reinforcing and adding their own nuances to the special foods of the major Christian festivals. They also claim pastirma as one of their specialities. In spite of such Byzantine precursors as apokti, it is true that the pastirma tradition has deep roots in the nomadic culture of the medieval Turks. It is highly probable that they transmitted the idea to the Cappadocians alongtime before Constantinople was conquered, and, although Constantinople knew all about pastirma from the seventeenth century onwards, it is certain that after the population exchanges of 1923 modern Greece acquired its knowledge of pastirma from the Capadocians. For more see: Gifts of the Gods: Andrew Dalby, Rachel Dalby, A History of Food in Greece, Foods and Nations, Reaktion Books, 2017, ISBN 1780238630, p. 149.
- OCLC 1187870747.
- ISBN 978-0-429-15146-0, retrieved 2022-06-06
- ^ "How Do You Say Basturma in Armenian?". The Armenian Prelacy.
- ^ PMID 23608196.
- ^ ISSN 0023-6438.
- ISBN 978-0-19-973496-2. Archivedfrom the original on 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
When the Ottomans settled in Istanbul they also adopted a number of Byzantine dishes, one of which was a form of cured beef called paston and which the Turks called pastirma […] It became and remains a specialty of Kayseri in Cappadocia in west central Turkey.
- ISBN 978-0-429-15146-0, retrieved 2022-06-06
- ISBN 978-0-7546-6119-1.
- ISBN 978-0-85771-731-3.
- ISBN 978-1-136-06626-9. Archivedfrom the original on 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
- ISBN 978-0-19-280681-9. Archivedfrom the original on 2018-06-03. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
"This is certainly true of Byzantine cuisine. Dried meat, a forerunner of the pastirma of modern Turkey, became a delicacy."
- S2CID 60894880.
- ISSN 2352-6181.
- S2CID 33867859.
- ISBN 978-1-118-52267-7.
- ISBN 978-1-4398-5022-0.
- ^ Nazilli Ticaret Odası. Kurutulmuş Toz Biber Üretimi - Bozdoğan. Archived from the original on 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-12-227055-0.
- PMID 22062846.
- ^ "Armenian Chemen". The Spice Merchant.
- ^ "Armenian Spice Recipe - "Chaimen"". The Gutsy Gourmet.
- ISBN 978-1-119-23784-6.
- ^ "Osmanlı/İstanbul mutfağı üzerine". 7 May 2015. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
- ISBN 978-0-8052-1224-2.
- ISBN 9780123847348
- ^ a b c d Bezjian, Nigol (2009-08-18). "Bezjian: Travels with Basturma". The Armenian Weekly. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
- ^ "$25 and Under; The Tastes of Armenia With a French Accent". The New York Times.
- ^ "Make your own Armenian charcuterie". Popular Science.
- ^ "Basturma Omelette Recipe – Apukht Omelette". Heghineh.
- ^ "Basturma Omelette, A Great Armenian Breakfast". Phoenix Tour.
- ISBN 978-1-57965-727-7.
- ^ "Panem et Circenses - This Week in Palestine". Archived from the original on 2018-11-19. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
- ^ Arda'nın Mutfağı. Yumurtanın En Lezzetli Hali - Eggs Benedict Tarifi - Arda'nın Mutfağı. Archived from the original on 2018-07-31. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
- ^ Migros Türkiye. Pastırmalı Yumurta Tarifi. Archived from the original on 2018-07-31. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
- ^ "Pastırmalı Menemen". Sabah. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
- ^ Pastırmalı Humus Tarifi. Nursel'in Evi. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
- ^ Pastırmalı Pide Tarifi. Nursel'in Evi. Archived from the original on 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
- ^ Pastırmalı Hamburger ve Lahana Salatası Tarifleri. Arda'nın Mutfağı | 1.Bölüm (01.11.2015). Retrieved 2018-07-18.
- ^ Pastırmalı Kadayıf Böreği Tarifi. Pelin Karahan'la Nefis Tarifler. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
- ^ Migros Türkiyeundefined (Director). Patatesli Pastırmalı Rulo Börek. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
- ^ Migros Türkiyeundefined (Director). Pastırmalı Kuşkonmaz Tarifi. Event occurs at 119 seconds. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
- ^ Gurme Tarifler-Pastırmalı Ispanaklı Sote. TV Kayseri. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
- ISBN 978-975-95525-1-0.
- ^ Migros Türkiye. Pastırmalı Kaşarlı Somun Ekmek Tarifi. Event occurs at 99 seconds. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
- ^ Show TV. Turgay Başyayla ile Lezzet Yolculuğu Kayseri'de. Archived from the original on 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
- ^ Bezjian, Nigol (2009-08-18). "Bezjian: Travels with Basturma". The Armenian Weekly. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
- ^ Office, Great Britain Foreign (1894). Diplomatic and Consular Reports: Annual series. p. 5. Archived from the original on 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2018-07-18.
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-19-211579-0.
- Maria Kaneva-Johnson, The Melting Pot. Balkan Food and Cookery, Prospect Books, 1995. ISBN 0-907325-57-2.
External links
- Media related to Pastirma at Wikimedia Commons