Homemade basturma - general principles preparations
Basturma is a dish of Armenian, and according to other sources - Turkish, cuisine. Basturma is nothing more than aromatic dried meat, for the preparation of which various spices and seasonings are used. Basturma is cut into thin slices and served as a cold appetizer. Basturma is a delicacy, and prices for it in stores are outrageous. Why spend money on buying such an expensive treat when you can easily prepare it at home? There is nothing complicated about this, but you will have to reserve enough time. On average, the cooking time for basturma is from two to four weeks.
Basturma is prepared by salting and drying. For such purposes, it is better to use the meat of young animals. Most often, basturma is made from beef, but you can also take pork, lamb, horse meat, and even chicken. Spices usually include ground red pepper, savory, suneli hops, garlic, paprika and coriander. All spices are mixed in a bowl and then diluted with water (you can also use a little cognac or wine). The thickness of the mixture should be similar to sour cream. Salted pieces of meat are rolled in this mixture and dried for two to three weeks.
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:
Recipe 1: Homemade basturma
Homemade basturma is usually made from beef. Thick pieces of meat are dried in the refrigerator, the curing time is several weeks. It took a long time, but what a result!
Required ingredients:
- Beef tenderloin;
- Garlic;
- Fenugreek;
- Sea salt;
- Sugar;
- Ground chili pepper;
- Bay leaf (ground);
- Coriander seeds;
- Juniper berry;
- Carnation.
Cooking method:
Let's take it beef tenderloin, wash, cut in half. Large sea salt mix with two teaspoons of sugar. Dip the meat generously in this mixture, wrap it in gauze, and leave for 6 hours at room temperature. Then we put the beef in the refrigerator. We leave for 12 hours, after which we turn the meat over and leave for another 12 hours. After the specified time has passed, remove the beef, rinse it from salt, and dry it with paper towels. Leave to dry at room temperature. We wrap the beef again with gauze and tighten it tightly with ropes. We put a load on top and leave it for one day. Now we prepare the deboning: pass the garlic through a press, mix with chaman (fenugreek), chili pepper, ground bay leaf, coriander seeds, cloves and juniper berries. This mixture is diluted in cold water, mix. The deboning should look like thick sour cream. There should be enough mixture to cover both pieces of meat. Roll the meat in this mixture, leave for 3 hours in the open air (at room temperature), repeat this operation two more times. After the last deboning, we hang the beef in a draft and leave it to dry for 2 weeks. After this time, homemade basturma will be ready. The meat can be cut into pieces and served.
Recipe 2: Homemade basturma with cognac
Why buy expensive basturma in the store when you can easily prepare it at home? Of course, it takes a long time to prepare, but it’s worth it! To prepare basturma according to this recipe, you will need any spices and cognac.
Required ingredients:
- One and a half kilograms of meat;
- Salt;
- Any seasonings;
- Chaman;
- Cognac (you can take wine).
Cooking method:
We wash a piece of meat (you can take pork or beef tenderloin) and make cuts with a knife. Rub salt generously so that it gets into the cuts. Leave it in the refrigerator to cure for two days. After that, we take it out, wrap it tightly in gauze, put a weight on top and leave it for another two days. Then we hang it and leave it to dry for one week. We take our favorite seasonings, be sure to add chaman (fenugreek), dilute it all with wine or cognac (you can add a little water) so that you get a creamy consistency. Coat the dried meat with the resulting mixture and put it in a cool place for a week. After 7 days, remove the meat from the marinade, wrap it in cloth and hang it for a week.
Recipe 3: Armenian basturma
Try making delicious Armenian basturma using this recipe. The cooking technique is not much different from other recipes, but there are some subtleties.
Required ingredients:
- Beef;
- Garlic;
- Salt;
- Saltpeter;
- Ground red pepper;
- Caraway.
Cooking method:
We wash the meat fillet thoroughly, dry it and cut it into pieces 6 centimeters thick, 10 centimeters wide and about 30 centimeters long. We take a large wide container, place pieces of meat in it in even rows, add salt and saltpeter. Mix everything so that the pieces of meat are evenly covered with this mixture. Cover the beef with clean gauze, leave for 3 days, then turn over and leave for the same amount of time. After the specified time has passed, we take out the meat, rinse it under water, and put it out in the open air to dry. Now we spread a clean cloth on the table, lay out the meat in rows, pull the cloth tightly and tie it. We place a board on the meat and a weight on it. We leave it in this state for 6 hours, then we change the fabric and keep it under pressure for another two hours. After this, we hang the pieces of meat and leave them in the air for 12 hours. The beef should be thoroughly dried. We wash the cumin seeds and crush them. Finely chop the garlic or pass it through a press. Mix garlic, red pepper and cumin in a bowl, add a small amount of water and stir. The consistency of the mixture should resemble liquid sour cream. Rub the dried meat with the resulting mixture, place it in rows in a container, and leave for 4 days. This procedure We repeat two or three more times, after which we hang the meat for 10 days. After the specified time, basturma can be served.
Recipe 4: Beef basturma
Beef basturma according to this recipe turns out very tasty! The meat is perfect for any feast and will be an excellent snack for alcoholic drinks. You can use any seasonings, but for this recipe you definitely need to add suneli hops.
Required ingredients:
- Beef pulp;
- Iodized salt;
- Sugar;
- Paprika;
- Khmeli-suneli;
- Cognac;
- Garlic;
- Pepper mixture;
- Coriander.
Cooking method:
Cut the meat into large layers, wash and dry. Prepare the marinade: mix 50 ml of cognac, one and a half tablespoons of coarse iodized salt, half a tablespoon of sugar, four tablespoons of paprika and two tablespoons of suneli hops. Place the meat in a pan, pour in the seasoning mixture, mix, thoroughly rubbing the marinade into the meat and place under pressure. Place the beef in the refrigerator for one day. The next day, take out the pan with the meat and drain the juice. We wash the meat itself in running water and dry it. Now let’s prepare a mixture of seasonings for deboning: finely chop the garlic (or take dried garlic), add the mixture of pepper, coriander and suneli hops. Roll the pieces of meat thoroughly in a mixture of spices. We hang the pieces of beef on hooks and leave them to dry for four days (if using an electric dryer). If the meat is dried in the usual way, the drying time increases to ten days. Beef basturma is ready.
Recipe 5: Chicken basturma
Usually basturma is prepared from beef, but contrary to popular belief, such an appetizer can also be made from chicken meat. Give free rein to your imagination, experiment with different spices and eventually find the perfect cooking option. And you can use ready-made recipe presented below.
Required ingredients:
- Half a kilo chicken fillet;
- 3 tablespoons of salt;
- 3 spoons of sugar;
- 2 spoons of savory;
- 2 teaspoons coriander;
- Spoon of paprika;
- Red pepper.
Cooking method:
We wash the pieces of chicken fillet, remove the films from them, and dry the fillets with paper towels. In a bowl, mix salt and sugar and rub the resulting mixture onto the fillets. Place the chicken under a press and put it in the refrigerator for 3 days. After this time, take out the fillet, rinse it from salt, and dry it. Now we wrap the chicken in gauze, place it under pressure, and leave it for one day. Next, mix savory, coriander, paprika and red pepper. Add enough water to the spices to form a creamy mass. Dip the chicken pieces in the resulting mixture, hang them on a hook, and leave them in a cool place for 3 days. After this, we wrap the fillet again in gauze and hang it to dry for another two weeks.
Recipe 6: Homemade pork basturma
Basturma can also be made from pork. It turns out no less tasty than if the appetizer was made from beef.
Required ingredients:
- Pork tenderloin;
- Five tablespoons of brown sugar;
- Four tablespoons of coarse salt;
- Three spoons of savory;
- Coriander - teaspoon;
- Sumac - slightly smaller than coriander;
- Paprika;
- Garlic;
- Ground red pepper.
Cooking method:
Mix sugar in a bowl with salt. Thoroughly rub pieces of washed and dried tenderloin with this mixture. Place the tenderloin in a mold and refrigerate for 3 days. After this time, the meat should become denser and tougher. Now mix savory, coriander, sumac, paprika, ground garlic and red pepper. Add water to the seasonings and mix. The mass should turn out like thick sour cream, i.e., such that the mixture can be easily applied to the meat and distributed. We tie the tenderloin with a rope and roll it in spices. We hang the pork out in the open air and leave it for three days. Then we remove the pork, wrap it in gauze, tie it tightly and hang it out for two weeks.
Homemade basturma - secrets and useful tips from the best chefs
To prepare basturma, it is best to take the meat of young animals - it can be tenderloin, fillet or a wide edge with a layer of fat. The meat can be cut into long strips or layers several centimeters thick. If basturma is prepared with wine, then take about a liter of the drink per kilogram of beef. The pieces of meat should be completely covered with wine. The fillet must stand under pressure, so you need to put a board or plate on the meat, and place pressure on top. In this form, the meat is infused for 3 to 7 days. If the delicacy is prepared from chicken fillet, the wilting time is significantly reduced, since the chicken itself cooks faster than beef or pork.
It is considered a meat delicacy, although this snack is not for everyone. If we briefly describe the process of preparing basturma at home, it is salting meat in a spicy marinade, rolling it in spices and drying - all stages take 2-4 weeks and require not only skill, but also patience. Basturma is added to scrambled eggs and omelettes, to salads and fillings for pita bread. And sometimes it is simply served on the table as a meat appetizer, and it is incredibly tasty!
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.
It 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.
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.
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 ground pepper Chile. 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 more interesting taste basturmas, use cognac or wine instead of water. You can beat the mixture in a blender until smooth and homogeneous.
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 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 basturmu and you can improve your skills. As you can see, nothing complicated!
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 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 spicy or spicy taste. Serve it as meat snack To good wine and enjoy this delicious combination!
A term that different peoples The Caucasus is applied to completely different types 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... Dictionary of synonyms
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
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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. Gourmet dish foodies 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 recipes Basturmas 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. The spices were added paprika, coriander, cumin, cumin, nutmeg and others. The meat delicacy has turned into a delicacy, the taste of which, once tasted, cannot be forgotten.
