A thin piece of jerky is a great snack to go with a glass of cold beer and more. Why buy ready-made if you can make it yourself? So, here’s a recipe for how to make homemade basturma.
Description of preparation:
For cooking you can use lamb, beef, venison, goat meat. The better the quality of the meat, the tastier the basturma you will get. Moreover, your health depends on freshness, because meat cannot be cooked. This delicacy has many names: for example, pastrami or pastirma.
Ingredients:
- Lamb – 1.8 Kilograms
- Salt - 1 glass
- Paprika - 1/3 Cup
- Fenugreek – 1/4 Cup
- Cumin - 1 tbsp. spoon
- Garlic – 1 piece
- Water - 0.5-1 glasses
Number of servings: 15
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How to cook “Homemade basturma”
1
Wash the meat and trim as much fat as possible. Cut the meat in half lengthwise and rub salt thoroughly on all sides.
2
Place the meat in a sealed bag, remove the air and refrigerate for 5 days until the meat is firm.
3
After the required time, remove the meat and rinse it under running water, then soak in cold water for several hours.
4
Wrap the meat in gauze, folded in several layers, place it under a press, and put it back in the refrigerator for 2 days.
5
Remove the meat and wrap it in clean gauze, hang it in the refrigerator for 10-14 days at a temperature of about 10 degrees.
6
Place all the spices in a bowl, add cold water and stir until a thick paste forms.
7
Remove the meat and unfold the gauze, rub it well on all sides with the prepared paste, then hang it at a temperature of 15 degrees in a humid room for another 14 days.
8
After two weeks, remove the meat and cut it into thin slices, serve the appetizer with a glass of cold beer.
The history of its origin begins several centuries ago, during the era of the Ottoman Empire. Basturma is endless steppes, the measured clatter of hooves, the scorching sun. In other words, this is the food of real men, warriors and protectors. Cooking meat is not difficult, but it takes time and patience. Main stages: salting, aging in spices, pressing, final drying. When cut, the finished slices are distinguished by their uniform dark color, lack of moisture and dense structure.
The five most commonly used ingredients in recipes are:
The thinnest, transparent cuts are served cold as a separate appetizer, and also in combination with vegetables, herbs, bread, sauces, and low-alcohol drinks. An exquisite gourmet dish or a means of survival for nomads? It is impossible to answer this question unequivocally. In ancient times, dried horse meat became indispensable on long hikes. It kept well in the heat and saved us from hunger. Modern basturma recipes are very diverse in terms of preparation technology and composition of ingredients. Beef, pork, lamb and even chicken and fish are used as the base. Paprika, coriander, cumin, cumin, nutmeg and others were added to the spices. The meat delicacy has turned into a delicacy, the taste of which, once tasted, cannot be forgotten.
A term that different peoples of the Caucasus apply to completely different types of meat. In Azerbaijan, this is the name for raw meat pre-marinated with onions and spices before frying it into a shish kebab. In Armenia this is called... ... Culinary dictionary
basturma- pastrami Dictionary of Russian synonyms. basturma noun, number of synonyms: 4 tenderloin (14) dish... Synonym dictionary
Basturma- and. A dish of coarsely chopped pieces of meat, marinated with spices and then fried. Ephraim's explanatory dictionary. T. F. Efremova. 2000... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language by Efremova
basturma- s, plural no, w. (... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
basturma- s; and. [Turk. bastyrma]. In Central Asia and Transcaucasia: a dish of coarsely chopped pieces of meat, marinated with spices and then fried... encyclopedic Dictionary
basturma- the name of the female family... Spelling dictionary of Ukrainian language
basturma- basturm a, s... Russian spelling dictionary
basturma- (1 f) ... Spelling dictionary of the Russian language
Books
- , P. N. Malitikov. On the pages of the book you will find the best recipes for oriental dishes. Traditional pilaf with lamb, tasty and healthy couscous, spicy basturma, hearty manti and samsa, rich shurpa,... Buy for 204 RUR
- Cooking of the East. Dishes for every day and masterpieces for real gourmets, P. N. Malitikov. On the pages of the book you will find the best recipes for oriental dishes. Traditional pilaf with lamb, tasty and healthy couscous, spicy basturma, hearty manti and samsa, rich shurpa,…
The recipe for making basturma is lengthy, but quite simple. A whole piece of meat, previously salted to remove excess moisture, is covered with a layer of an aromatic mixture of garlic, red and black pepper, and blue fenugreek (chamana), and then hung to dry. Served as sliced meat or placed on sandwiches.
On this page I have collected 3 recipes: beef basturma at home (recipe with step-by-step photographs), pork basturma and chicken basturma (chicken breast). You will also learn where and how to dry and where and how long to store basturma, and other details of preparing homemade basturma.
Beef basturma
Traditionally, basturma is made from beef. Take a large piece of beef tenderloin (or fillet), about 5 cm thick, and dry it for a long time, from 4 weeks or more, at a temperature of +8°C.Meat can be salted either dry or by soaking in a salt solution. The first method is simpler and faster, since you do not need to keep the beef under pressure. Salt will do all the work - it is poured onto a piece of tenderloin and draws out all the moisture from it. For the first three days, the beef is dehydrated, then the piece is coated with spice paste and hung in a draft to dry. We will cook for about 4 weeks, that is, about a month (in winter you can speed up the process to 1 week if you dry it in an apartment near the window).
Total preparation time: 1 month
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Yield: 420 g
Ingredients
- beef tenderloin – 800 g
- coarse rock salt – approximately 2 kg
- chaman (blue fenugreek, utskho-suneli) – 2 tsp.
- ground sweet paprika – 2 tsp.
- red pepper – 1 tsp.
- black pepper – 1 tsp.
- ground garlic – 1 tsp.
- khmeli-suneli – 1 tsp.
- dried dill – 1 tsp.
- whole grain wheat or rye flour – 2 tsp.
- water or dry red homemade wine – 50-70 ml
- vegetable oil – 2 tsp.
Note. The required ingredient is chaman. It is used as a coating thickener and insect repellent.
How to cook beef basturma
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Red beef is best suited for basturma - it is mature meat, it has a rich taste and aroma. You shouldn't take veal. Ideally, buy a tenderloin; this cut is the most tender, with virtually no connective tissue and no fat. If you take not a tenderloin, but a beef fillet, then try to choose an even piece, with a minimum amount of tendons (all of them need to be trimmed).
As a rule, there is a whitish film on the surface of the tenderloin, which must be carefully removed with a sharp knife. For the basturma, I did not use the entire tenderloin, but only the middle part. I divided the meat into two pieces, each came out to about 400 grams, a total of 800 g. (You can take absolutely any amount of beef; I gave the weight for the convenience of calculating the spices that will be used for coating; they are enough for 1 kg of meat.) “Host” and the “head” of the tenderloin can also be dried if desired, the main thing is that the pieces are more or less the same thickness and weight for uniform salting. Cut the pieces so that their diameter is no more than 4 cm, otherwise the basturma will take a very long time to dry.
So, let's move on to the first stage - dehydration. Take a bowl or mold of a suitable size so that the meat can fit into it freely. Pour coarse table salt onto the bottom and level it with your hands - it should cover the bottom by 0.5 cm and lie in one even layer. Non-iodized salt is suitable, without any impurities or additives.
We place pieces of meat on a layer of salt - they should lie freely and evenly, without any bends or creases, otherwise during the dehydration process the meat will remain uneven, with bends.
Sprinkle generously with salt on top. There is no need to spare salt; it should cover the meat completely. Place on the refrigerator shelf for 1 day. After a day, the salt will absorb moisture from the meat and become wet to the touch. We remove it, just scrape it off the meat (no need to rinse it!) and add new salt. The procedure must be repeated 3 times (that is, within three days). Every day you need to change the salt with a new one to prevent the formation of brine, otherwise the meat may be over-salted.
After three days, we finally remove the beef from the salt. The pieces will become darker in color and harder to the touch as the salt draws out the moisture from them. Don’t be afraid that so much salt will go away, the meat won’t take on excess, it will be salted evenly and will absorb as much as it needs. The meat needs to be washed - rinse well before coating so that no large salt crystals remain. And be sure to dry it. I immediately thread it onto the ropes - they will serve as a suspension for us.
The second stage is coating the meat. First, prepare the spice mixture. Combine chaman, sweet ground paprika, red and black pepper, ground garlic, suneli hops and dried dill in a bowl. For viscosity, I add a little coarse flour (preferably rye) and sunflower oil, which makes the coating more elastic and prevents it from crumbling when drying. You can add another pinch of natural cherry or pomegranate dye for a more presentable look. Pour all the spices with boiled cold water or dry red homemade wine - you will need 50-70 ml, add gradually, stirring until smooth. You should get a creamy mixture. Let it brew for 1 hour. Please note that there is no need to add salt!
Coat the pieces on all sides. The layer should be generous, but do not overdo it too much, otherwise after a couple of weeks of drying our basturma it will simply fall off. We send it to the balcony for 1-2 days so that the top layer dries and some of the spices are absorbed into the beef.
Next you need to “swaddle” it in gauze or regular white cotton fabric. And leave the basturma to hang for 2-3 weeks, until it is completely ready. Then all that remains is to cut into thin, translucent slices and enjoy this delicious homemade delicacy.
Where and at what temperature should you dry basturma?
It should be dried in a well-ventilated and dark place, somewhere in a draft, the temperature should not exceed +10°. Make sure the room is dry, otherwise mold may appear.In autumn and spring, as a rule, there are no problems with temperature conditions for drying meat. You can hang it on the balcony or outside under a canopy. In the summer, when it is very hot, you have to put it in the refrigerator for a day (with a “no frost” system, where there is constant convection).
In winter, there is no need to “swaddle” basturma, since there are no insects, but maintaining the optimal temperature is very problematic. What to do? If you have a glassed-in loggia and there is no severe frost outside, you can dry it there. Or try the express option for winter - 1 day in the cold and 7-8 days at room temperature no more than +18 degrees. Readiness is determined by touch - the basturma should harden (but there is no need to bring it to the state of “stone”), when pressed it should look like raw smoked sausage.
Pork basturma
Instead of beef, many people use pork to prepare basturma at home. As for the choice of meat, pork tenderloin or fillet is ideal. Be sure to cut off all the fat, otherwise it will harden and the basturma will turn out tough.
The cooking technique here will be different - in a salt solution (you can salt beef in the same way). The meat is first rubbed with salt and sugar, then left in the refrigerator for several days, put under a press and only then dried.
Ingredients
- pork tenderloin – 1 kg
- salt – 6 tbsp. l.
- sugar – 7 tbsp. l.
- water – 50 ml
- chaman – 1 tbsp. l.
- ground black pepper – 1 tsp.
- red hot pepper – 1 tsp.
- sweet ground paprika - 2 tbsp. l.
- mustard seeds – 1 tsp.
- dry garlic – 1 tsp.
Rub the pork tenderloin with salt and sugar. Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate for 3 days. During this time, the pork will be salted and release a lot of its own meat juice. Drain it, wipe the pieces dry and cover with gauze. We place a weight on top (to allow the liquid to drain, you can fit a grate underneath). We leave the structure for another 2 days in the refrigerator. During this time, it will become flatter and harder to the touch. Coat the pork with spice paste, swaddle it in gauze and dry it in a cool place in a draft for 2-3 weeks.
Chicken breast basturma
Chicken basturma, unlike beef and pork, cooks very quickly. You can expect full readiness after two days. It tastes unlike any other basturma and rather resembles dried fish.Only breast is suitable for cooking - choose light pink meat, without foreign odors, with a shiny top film. First, you should prepare the marinade, soak the meat in it for 24 hours, then coat it with spice paste and dry it in a ventilated area for 2 days (you can dry it longer, up to 1 week, if you want the piece to be hard, like beef basturma).
Ingredients
- chicken breast – 1 pc. large (600 g)
- salt – 2 tbsp. l.
- sugar – 1 tbsp. l.
- ground sweet paprika - 1 tbsp. l.
- hot pepper – 0.5 tsp.
- ground coriander – 1 tsp.
- Utskho-suneli – 1 tsp.
- granulated garlic – 1 tsp.
- cognac – 25 ml
We clean the fresh chicken breast from films and fat, wipe it dry with a towel, and cut it lengthwise into two parts. Sprinkle with salt and sugar. Place in the refrigerator for 12 hours. During this time, you need to turn the meat several times for more even salting. Then we take it out and rinse it to remove excess salt. Wipe and lubricate with cognac or vodka (to prevent the development of bacteria). Roll the fillets in a mixture of spices and garlic. Wrap it in a couple of layers of gauze, press it down with a weight and put it in the refrigerator for a day. Then you need to hang the chicken bastruma in a ventilated area for two days. If you prefer thicker meat, dry it for 6-7 days.
Where and how long should you store basturma?
The snack should be stored in a cool place with good ventilation. Ideally, it should remain hanging in a pantry or closet. In apartment conditions, there is only one option left - a refrigerator. Jerky doesn't like plastic bags, so it's best to store it in a linen bag.
In ideal conditions (cool temperature and ventilated room), the shelf life is from 2 months, but not more than six months.
