Seminar on “Pastirma” was held at YESAM - Culinary Arts Center

Prof. Dr. Artun Unsal, who is an author of many books on food culture of Turkey, gave a seminar on pastirma the traditional cured beef of Turkish cuisine. Prof. Unsal was also accompanied by pastirma producers from Kastamonu, who use traditional methods for producing their pastirma. 

The seminar started with Prof. Unsal’s speech on the history of the beef.

He shared the following comments:

“When we look into history, the word ‘pastirma’ does not exist. Instead the word ‘basmak’ (to press down) was used more widely. In Divanü Lügat’it-Türk (A Dictionary of Turkish dialects, written by Mahmoud from Kashgar in the 11th century) we still don’t see the word ‘pastirma’ but there is ‘basturmak’; which means to put something underneath a heavy substance. In the dialects of Middle Asia, there is also the use of other words like ‘kakac’ or ‘kedhirilmek’. ‘Kakac’ basically means dry meat, and the root of the word ‘kak’ is used for any kind of dried foodstuff. There are many ways to use these words in a sentence in the Middle Asian dialect, which can be seen in the book of Mahmoud from Kashgar.

In Middle Asia, there were two kinds of dried meat. One, made by a process similar to that of today’s pastirma, is called kak. The other is the type of meat dried in the wind, called sür-et. According to Mahmoud from Kashgar’s statement, ‘the meat is cured with spices and dried outside during the fall, then consumed during spring; as during spring, animals get really skinny and don’t yield much meat. Therefore those who have pastirma eat good meat during spring. This method is similar to goose is preserved in Kars: there, goose is salted and buried in the snow.

This method of making Pastirma was invented because of the unavailability of refrigeration in the old days. It was a smart way to keep meat from getting spoiled. With today’s technology this method may seem unnecessary, but ‘pastirma’ is now considered a cultural artifact and that is why we still make it today.”

Following Prof. Unsal’s speech, Sultan Karaosmanoglu, who has been a pastirma producer with her husband for 20 years, took the stage with her son to explain how pastirma is made.

“I learned the trade from my father-in-law who has trusted me to work on my own after 7 years of working under his guidance. This business was founded by my husband’s grandfather in 1924. He was a butcher at first, and then moved on to pastirma business and ever since then the trade has been passed from father to son. The season for us usually starts by the end of September or beginning of October. We get the animals from the plateaus as those animals yield tender meats. The most delicious parts of the animal are hind legs, rib steaks, and the saddle parts; these are the pieces that we use when making pastirma. The front parts of the animal are used in making a thinner type of pastirma, called bread pastirma and this type is usually used for cooking. We buy the meat as a whole and trim it off its excess fat and connective tissues. Then we hang the meat to rest. After resting, we salt the meat and rest the pieces on top of each other to flatten, which also helps cook the meat. Salt gets washed off the meat after resting for a certain amount of time and then it is hung to dry in the sun and wind for about 1 to 1 ½ months. It is important to keep track of the drying time, as it should not be very dry but should not remain wet. After the drying stage, we prepare a mixture called cemen. Cemen is a wet mixture of fenugreek flour, garlic and red pepper. This mixture is smeared all over the dried meats, giving the pastirma its ultimate flavor. At this stage, pastirma hangs for 3-4 more days and then it is ready for consumption. The crucial point of our pastirma is the way we cut it. We never use a slicer.”

After her speech Mrs. Osmanoglu, gave a recipe for famous Kastamonu bread that contains pastirma. The seminar was followed by pastirma dishes including pastirma with eggs, bread with pastirma, dried bean stew with pastirma, and pastirma en papillote. The participants also got a chance to watch Ayberk Karaosmanoglu’s special pastirma slicing method.

06 March 2013

Lecture video is in Turkish.