In this post, I’ll show you how to make your own pastirma. It takes a little time to prepare, but it’s definitely worth it!
Pastirma is a traditional meat specialty from Turkey, consisting of a beef nut rubbed with a spicy paste of garlic, paprika, fenugreek and other spices. It is then air-dried to develop an intense flavor.
Pastirma is often served in thin slices as a starter or in various dishes such as salads or sandwiches.
But enough chatting now…
Here you can find the complete pastirma recipe as a video or to read through.
Have fun and good luck making it!
Table of Contents
Pastirma – What do you need to make it?
Ingredients per 1 kg
- 100 % lean piece of beef for example beef round (1000 g)
Spices per KG mass
For dry curing:
For the paste:
- 125 g water
- 25 g paprika
- 25 g fenugreek
- 10 g garlic powder
- 5 g salt
- 5 g allspice
- 5 g cumin
- 3.5 g black pepper
- 3.5 g cayenne pepper
The equipment to make Pastirma
For the stress-free “curing in vacuum” method you need a vacuumizer. If you don’t have one yet, you can check out my recommendation here.
Alternative: “Real dry curing” doesn’t require a vacuum sealer, read my article on the subject of curing.
Place to dry and mature the sausage
To age this raw sausage, you need an environment where both humidity and temperature are relatively constant. There are several possibilities for this. I have already matured cured sausages in the fridge or cellar without any problems.
Optional: If you want to be on the safe side, then a ripening cabinet is the best choice. My recommendation: Dry Ager DX 500
Make Pastirma – Step-By-Step Instructions
1. Cure your beef nut. To do this, add your salt and cure #1 to the beef. Make sure that the meat is covered at every point.
2. Put the beef nut in a vacuum bag. Make sure that all the salt and cure #1 ends up in the bag.
3. Vacuum the meat.
4. For the pastirma, we want a uniform piece of meat. To do this, place something heavy on the piece of meat.
5. Place the bag in the refrigerator for the minimum curing time (1.5 days / cm meat thickness). Turn the bag occasionally. You can also cure your piece of meat for longer, but not shorter.
6. Pat the meat dry with a kitchen towel. Then insert a hook into the piece of cured meat.
7. Now hang the meat in the fridge/cellar/maturing cabinet to dry. It is important that the humidity is approx. 80 % and the temperature remains below 15 °C (59.0°F). My piece lasted approx. 1 week. Important: The better the humidity can be controlled, the more evenly the Pastirma will dry. If it dries too quickly, this can lead to a dry edge.
8. Put all the spices and water in a bowl.
9. Mix everything into a paste. The paste should still be easy to spread.
10. Spread the paste on the piece of meat. Make sure that everything is covered with the paste.
11. Optional: If you want the paste to be smooth on your meat, you can smooth it out with a little water.
12. Now hang the meat up to dry again in the fridge/cellar/maturing cabinet. It is important that the humidity is around 80 % and the temperature remains below 15 °C (59.0°F). My piece took approx. 2 – 3 months.
13. Your pastirma is ready 🙂 Enjoy it.
How long is the shelf life of the Pastirma?
Your pastirma will keep for approx. 2 – 3 months. However, it will gradually lose more moisture and eventually dry out completely. It therefore makes sense to store it in a vacuum in the fridge.