Beef basturma at home

History and modernity

Basturma was first prepared according to a special recipe with spices and aromatic herbs in Turkey and Armenia. But a semblance of such meat appeared back in the era of Genghis Khan, when nomadic Turkic tribes ate mainly dried horse meat. Such meat had a long shelf life and was nutritious. It was prepared quite simply - pieces of horse meat were thickly sprinkled on all sides with salt and placed in canvas bags, which, in turn, were placed under the horse's saddle.

Dried meat was in demand not only among nomads, but also sailors, cattle breeders and hunters - everyone for whom the long shelf life of food was important.

The best meat for basturma

Which meat is the most delicious basturma? Gourmets believe that it is made from beef, but in practice this appetizer can even be made from chicken and pork, the main thing is to carefully trim off all the fat, otherwise the basturma will become too hard. If you take chicken, then choose the breast. However, chicken basturma tastes like dried fish, so don’t be surprised!

The ideal meat for basturma is fresh red beef, but in no case frozen. It should be free of films, veins and fat; it is best if it is the flesh of the back of the thigh or the flesh of the back, that is, fillet. If there are small veins on the back, then it’s not a big deal.

Take 1.5 kg of beef, rinse it well, remove all excess (films and fat), dry the meat with a paper towel, and then cut it into pieces weighing no more than 0.5–0.7 kg and about 4 cm wide, otherwise meat will not be salted. So, from this amount of meat you will get 3 pieces for making basturma.

The magical power of salt

Place the pieces of meat in a bowl with salt, sprinkle it with salt on top too. You will need a pack of salt or more. Don’t feel sorry for it - only what is needed will be absorbed anyway. The meat must be completely covered with salt! Place the container in the refrigerator for three days and periodically turn the meat, draining the released juice. Do not leave the juices in the bowl, otherwise the meat will be too salty. At the end of salting, the salt will become moist as it will draw out all the juices from the meat. Some Eastern cooks do this procedure three times, completely scraping off the old salt and covering the meat with new salt. In other words, this stage can last up to three days.

Rinse the salted meat well with running water and dry with a paper towel. It will become denser and darker, because there will be almost no moisture left in it. If you oversalt the meat, soak it in cold water for three hours, remembering to change the water every hour.

Homemade pork basturma

On winter evenings, pork basturma will satisfy your hunger and give you a feeling of summer warmth. If you use tender meat from young piglets, you can get by with a minimum of seasonings, but it’s better not to skimp on boar fillets. Any herbs with a strong smell, for example, Provençal or Azerbaijani, are recommended. No homemade recipe can capture all the flavor of these seasoning mixtures.

Ingredients:

• 500 grams of pork tenderloin;
• 2 tbsp. l black pepper;
• 2 tsp brown sugar;
• 0.5 tsp rosemary;
• 1 tsp ground coriander seeds;
• 5-6 cloves of garlic;
• 1 tsp hot chili pepper;
• 150-200 grams of salt.

Step by step recipe:

1. We start preparing basturma by cutting the pork. We cut it along the fibers and remove the veins. If this is not done, the finished basturma will taste bitter.
2. Pour half the total volume of salt into a deep bowl, place a piece of pork in it, and pour the remaining salt on top. Place in the refrigerator for three days. To prevent the tenderloin from absorbing water from the refrigerator, cover the dish with a lid or wrap it in plastic.
3. Remove the salted piece and rinse with running water. To get rid of excess salt, place the piece in a bowl of water and leave for half an hour.
4. Preparing a meat press. We take a plastic box, for example, from a store-bought cake, and pierce it in several places. We place a cup in a large container and place our drawer on it.
5. We take the meat out of the refrigerator, dry it with napkins and put it in a drawer. Place a wooden board and a jar of water on top. This design should be placed in the refrigerator for a day.
6. Prepare the breading mixture. Pass the garlic cloves through a garlic press and add seasonings. Roll a piece of pork in this breading mixture. Using a fork or knife, make a puncture in the meat. We pass a piece of thread or twine through it.
7. Wrap the pork in cheesecloth. We make a hook from the tails of threads and hang our semi-finished product in a well-ventilated area. In two weeks the dish will be ready.

Under pressure

The meat has been salted, all that remains is to make it beautiful, that is, to give it a shape. Wrap the pieces in clean cotton cloth and place something heavy on top - a weight, bricks or a huge water bottle, for example. The basturma should be under pressure for a day, and in the cold. When the cloth becomes damp, change it. By the way, this stage is not necessary in the process of preparing basturma at home - at least some cooks do without pressing the meat, which does not affect the quality of the final product.

Now you need to dry the basturma. Pierce each piece of meat in the corner with an awl and thread either a plastic tie or stainless steel wire through the hole. You can pierce the meat with wooden skewers and hang it on a metal wire. The pieces of meat should hang indoors at room temperature for about three days. Room temperature is 15–25°C, it all depends on individual conditions, climate and weather. In some manuals you can find recommendations to dry meat at a temperature of 8–10 ° C and avoid drafts, while in others, on the contrary, drafts are recommended. But everyone is unanimous that direct sunlight should not fall on the meat, otherwise the basturma will be covered with a thin and not very appetizing crust. You can even dry meat on the balcony if it is not very cold there.

Beef basturma in Armenian style

Products:

• Meat tenderloin – 1 kg;
• A glass of salt;
• Fenugreek 70 gr;
• Water glass;
• Hot pepper - to taste;
• Garlic about 8 cloves;
• Ground pepper (ground).

Preparation:

1. Wash and dry the piece of meat thoroughly, and then prick it with a fork.
2. Sprinkle salt on all sides in a container and refrigerate for two days.
3. Then rinse the salt under the open tap for 15 minutes.
4. Dry, cover with a cloth and put under a press. It should stay like this for two days.
5. Pass a thread through the carcass and leave to dry for 4 days.
6. Two days before the end of drying, start preparing the rubdown mixture.
7. Dissolve all mixtures in warm water until a thick paste forms. The mixture should stand in the refrigerator for a day.
8. Then add pepper and garlic, stir and rub the meat with it.
9. Place in the refrigerator for 10 days.
10. Then remove and dry on a string for 4 days.
11. Slice thinly and serve.

Spicy aroma

It's time to prepare the coating mixture by mixing the spices for the basturma. This mixture should contain 0.5 cups of ground chaman (also called fenugreek and shamballa seeds), 3 tbsp. l. ground paprika, cumin, coriander and chili powder. In other recipes for basturma, chili is sometimes replaced with Georgian adjika, and garlic, ground bay leaf, mustard, cloves and juniper are also added to the seasoning mixture; you can add a little sugar for piquancy.

Pour boiled or bottled water at room temperature into the spice mixture, constantly stirring and rubbing the aromatic mass. You should get something similar to thick sour cream; for this you will need about 1.5–2 glasses of water. If you want to get a more interesting taste of basturma, use cognac or wine instead of water. You can beat the mixture in a blender until smooth and homogeneous.

Homemade basturma - preparing food and dishes

Kitchen equipment you will need is a bowl or pan for marinade and preparing a mixture of spices, a form for meat and a cutting board. Among other things, you need to prepare a heavy load (oppression), hooks for hanging, thick thread for winding and clean gauze.

Preparation of basturma begins with processing the meat: wash the fillet, cut off all excess (films, skins, fat), dry the meat with paper napkins. The meat is then rubbed with a mixture of salt and sugar and left to salt. Then the process of preparing basturma begins. To do this, you need to make a mixture of the spices used with the addition of water, cognac or wine. The thickness of the mixture should resemble sour cream.

Homemade basturma recipes:

Finishing touch

Now coat the pieces of meat with the spice mixture and hang them again to dry. When the spicy crust dries, you can apply a second layer of seasonings to make the basturma more tasty and piquant. If you find a crack in the crust, moisten it with water and smooth it out - until the basturma is completely dry, this is quite possible. Let the meat dry for about 3-5 more days, although this all depends on the air temperature, room humidity and the thickness of the meat.

Squeeze the basturma - if it resembles dry-cured sausage in elasticity, then it seems that you can be congratulated on finishing the preparation of the meat delicacy. Now you know how to dry basturma and can improve your skills. As you can see, nothing complicated!

Classic recipe for beef basturma at home

This is a traditional way to prepare beef jerky. Ingredients:

• 2 kg rock salt;
• 1 spoon of ground black pepper;
• 800 g beef (it is advisable to cut the meat across the grain );
• a spoonful of ground red pepper;
• 2 tbsp. l. whole grain wheat flour;
• 1 tsp. ground garlic;
• 70 ml water;
• 1 tsp. dried dill;
• 1 tbsp. l. vegetable oil;
• 1 tsp. khmeli-suneli;
• chaman – at your discretion.

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27 Oct 2021 at 2:23 PDT

If desired, water can be replaced with red homemade wine

Sequencing:

1. Take the beef tenderloin and carefully remove the white membrane from it with a sharp knife, divide the meat into two parts. Cut the pieces so that their diameter does not exceed 4 cm , otherwise the basturma will dry for more than a month.
2. Take a large bowl so that the meat can be mixed in easily. Fill the bottom of the container with coarse table salt and level it evenly with your hands: it should cover the bottom by about 0.5 cm in one even layer.
3. Place the pieces of beef in a bowl, sprinkle the meat generously with salt: it should completely cover the workpiece.
4. Place the meat in the refrigerator for a day - during this time the salt will absorb moisture and become wet to the touch.
5. After the time has passed, remove the product from the refrigerator and use a knife to carefully scrape the salt from the meat.
6. Add more salt to the beef. This procedure must be repeated three times - the salt must be changed every day with a new one, otherwise a brine will form and the meat will become over-salted.
7. After three days, finally remove the beef from the salt - the meat should become darker in color and firm to the touch.
8. Rinse the pieces thoroughly so that no large salt crystals remain, then dry them before coating.
9. Thread the ropes that will serve as a hanger for the basturma.
10. Start preparing the spice mixture by mixing all the spices in a bowl. It is also recommended to add a little flour and sunflower oil to the mixture. Fill the bowl with boiled water and stir the contents.
11. Coat the pieces of meat evenly with a mixture of spices and send the preparation to the balcony for a couple of days. After a while, wrap the meat in gauze and leave the basturma for another 2-3 weeks.

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Jul 27, 2021 at 5:56 PDT

Like the apple of my eye

How to store homemade basturma so that it does not dry out and retains its taste and aroma? After the basturma has dried sufficiently, wrap it in cling film and keep it in the refrigerator for 3 days. This exquisite delicacy will finally ripen, moisture will be distributed inside the meat, its texture will become more elastic, and its taste will be deeper and richer. Actually, you can store basturma like this for three to six months. Sometimes it is advised to keep this product in vacuum packaging, which is quite justified. Armenians store basturma wrapped in damp cloth, periodically moistening it, because there were not always refrigerators for storing perishable foods. There is another way - to hang pieces of meat in a well-ventilated area, but not everyone has this opportunity.

Properly prepared basturma, under a crust of spices, hides tender meat with a spicy or piquant taste. Serve it as a meat snack with good wine and enjoy this exquisite combination!