Pastırma: Cured and Spiced Beef

Pastırma (from the Turkish word for pressing) is documented in Anatolia from the Byzantine period. The production method — salting, pressing, drying, and coating with the spiced çemen paste — is one of the oldest preservation techniques in the region. The word itself may be the origin of pastrami (through Eastern European Jewish culinary traditions encountering the Ottoman preparation).

Pastırma — heavily spiced, air-dried cured beef — is one of the most ancient cured meat preparations in the world, predating European charcuterie traditions. The characteristic spice coating (çemen) — fenugreek, garlic, red pepper, allspice, cumin — forms a crust on the dried meat that flavours the surrounding air of any room where it is hung. Used thinly sliced in eggs (pastırmalı yumurta), in flatbreads, and as a garnish, it provides an intensity of flavour that no other cured meat matches.

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