Everything about Past Rma totally explained
Pastırma or
bastırma is a highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef in the cuisines of the former
Ottoman countries.
Etymology
The name
pastırma is
Turkish, from "bastırma et" 'pressed meat'. The word is used with minor variants in the various languages of the region:
Albanian pastërma,
Arabic باسطرمة
basṭurma,
Armenian պաստուրմա (
basturma),
Azeri bastırma,
Bosnian,
Croatian,
Macedonian and
Serbian pastrma,
Bulgarian пастърма,
Greek παστουρμάς
pastourmás or παστρουμάς
pastroumás and
Romanian pastramă. The word "
pastrami", although used for a differently prepared type of meat, also goes back via
Yiddish pastrómeh to
pastırma.
History
Wind-dried beef has been made in this region for centuries. Pastırma itself is usually considered Turkish, though it's produced and consumed in a wide area of Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Andrew Dalby also mentions its use in
Byzantium.
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.
Usage
Though beef, preferably veal, is the most common meat today, various meats are also used, including camel, lamb, goat, and water buffalo.
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.
In Turkey, the spiced version, often called "
Kayseri pastırması", is most common. The less-common
Rumeli Pastırması '
Balkan pastırma', is simply salted. The spiced variety, when consumed in more than minuscule quantities, imparts its spicy scent to breath and body fluids (sweat, urine) for several hours after consumption.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Past Rma'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://past__rma.totallyexplained.com">Pastırma Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
