Saturday, February 24, 2007

Pastirma ( Pastrami )

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 Pastirma.
Beef, preferably young, 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 cemen , prepared with crushed cumin, fenugreek, garlic ( lots of garlic as Emeril says) and hot paprika and air-drying it.
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23 comments:

Chuckeroon said...

Turkish food....yum,yum!!!

BuJ said...

YUPPPPPIEEEEE
Thanks very much, it's as if you read my mind (and stomach :)
The food is so close I can almost touch it!
Yummy :)
teshekur ederim!

Oya said...

Buj, Bishey deil :) Njoy. That was for your special request after all :)

Deb said...

this isn't the other half of that guitar shop is it??? :)
very colorful...and yummy!

Andrew said...

Wow, thats alot of meat.

isa said...

In New York City, pastrami (piled 2"thick) is served on seeded rye with mustard and a pickle on the side. How is it served in Turkey?

Btw Oya - could you bring some along to my 100th post party today? I knew I forgot something ;-)

angela said...

That looks so delicious.
Angela

Anna said...

Turkish food is my favorite...

Lately I have been eating a lot of lachmachun...did I spell that right...

Now I am having a craving...thanks! :)

Monica said...

Wow! What a feast to the eyes!

photowannabe said...

Beautiful picture. So much meat and very interesting information on the preparation of it.

Dad of 4+1 said...

Oya, you are really making me hungry now despite a heavy lunch!

pennyblack said...

looks good!

thanks for your visit!

John Roberts said...

This photo reminds me of a place in the French Quarter of New Orleans called Maspero's that had the best pastrami sandwiches! I don't think they used the "saddle press" method to prepare their meats, but maybe that's what made them so good.

alice said...

Not so easy to take a good photo of meat, you did it!

BuJ said...

hehe, seems this foto went down well.. and literally perhaps.. hehe

now there's one thing on my mind.. but i'm not going to ask for a post as that would be too much..

ahh, the word is mangal

JM Vigil said...

My absolute favorite sandwich meat is pastrami. The best pastrami sandwich I've had was in a little take-out only place called The Hat in Alhambra (Los Angeles County), California (where I grew up). I've been trying to find a replacement ever since moving to Michigan, but no luck.

In California beef is big, but Michigan seems to prefer pork. It's very rare to find beef bacon in the stores, so when I do my freezer gets happy.

Oya said...

Isabella, it depends. Some people eat it on sandwich, some people put it on beans (like bacon ). Normally, we eat that as a starter, like salami...Since it is alot of spicy, we do not eat that much. Because it is not pleasent for the people that have not eaten it but sit next to us, or work with us, ride with us:) do you know what I mean?:) As far as the party, I was there but you did not see me...I could not manage to post my comment. There was an error. Will try now...
Anna, it is lahmacun:) where did you find it? Is there a Turkish restaurant?
Buj, don't push it :)

Anna said...

Yes, an authentic restaurant here in London. It is called Kebabland and I LOVE it.....

:) Sorry for the mispelled word. Still learning!

Kala said...

I dont know where you always get you interesting info from but that is a realllllly neat story!!!

BuJ said...

oh.. lahmachun and before that mangal and pasturma this can end badly hehehe

this is the first blog i've been to that makes me hungry!

Anonymous said...

My husband and I just saw lahmacun Saturday at the store where we bought dried mantı. To make the mantı, which doesn't have meat in it (this dried version we found), we cook up ground meat separately with onion and parsley, then serve it together with the pasta, yogurt with garlic, and melted butter with red pepper and tomoato.

Oh man, I miss Turkish food, especially the meat. I don't know how they make it so tender and delicious.

Anonymous said...

I've often wondered how my favourite spiced meats were made!

Thank you!

Oya said...

Ruth, you did it right. Interesting, how you know the way to serve it, exactly like a Turkish person...