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Pastirma or bastirma is a highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef in the cuisines of the former Ottoman countries.
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The name bastirma is from Turkish: bastırma et (pressed meat).[1] bastırma is the gerund of the verb bastırmak (bastırmak in modern Turkish), which means "to depress, restrain". The word is used with minor variants in the various languages of the region: Albanian: pastërma, Arabic: بسطرمة (basterma), Armenian: բաստուրմա (basturma), Azerbaijani: basdırma, Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: pastrma, Bulgarian: пастърма (pastărma), 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: פּאַסטראָמע (pastrómeh) to pastırma.
Wind-dried beef has been made in this region for centuries, since at least Byzantine times.[2]
There are various stories about the origin of pastirma, none well documented. One story gives its origins as the city of Caesarea Mazaca (modern Kayseri) in Anatolia, where there was supposedly a dish called pastron;[3] but this is not supported by standard Greek dictionaries.[4]
Pastırma is now produced and consumed in a wide area of the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Though beef is the most common meat today, various meats are also used, including camel, lamb, goat, and water buffalo,[5] with camel being the most prized especially in Syria, another big pastırma producer. 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.[6] In the Ottoman Empire, the best known craftsmen for the making and the curing of pastırma were the from Central Anatolia.
In Turkey, where it is eaten as a breakfast with eggs and as a meze with rakı, there are more than 22 kinds of pastırma.[7] Generally speaking, the mainstream spiced version from Central Anatolia, often called Kayseri pastırması, is most common. The less-common Rumeli pastırması "Balkan pastırma", is simply salted and dried.
The basturma made by Armenians is particularly renowned.[8] After 1915, the Armenians popularized pastirma in their host countries, most notably the Lebanese-Armenians in Syria and Lebanon, where it is usually served as a mezze in thin slices, usually uncooked, but sometimes lightly grilled or added to eggs for breakfast. It may be added to different dishes, the most famous of which is a bean dish, and various pies.
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.
Palestinians eat the pastirma sliced in thin slices and fried in olive oil. The pastirma/bastirma is served not only in the mezze table but also as breakfast food eaten with freshly baked pita bread.
Cypriots eat the pastirma whole and grilled.