Ingredients
Meat and cure
- 1.2 kgbeef eye of round or tenderloin, in one clean piece, all silverskin removed
- 300 gcoarse salt, roughly enough to bury it
- 3 gcuring salt number 2 per kilo, optional but recommended for a long dry
Chaman paste
- 100 gground fenugreek (chaman)
- 60 ggarlic, crushed to a smooth paste
- 40 gsweet paprika
- 10 ghot paprika or cayenne
- 10 gground cumin
- 5 gground allspice
- 5 gblack pepper
- about 250 ml cold water, added slowly
Equipment
- a tray, a board and a 3 to 5 kg weight
- butcher’s twine and a hook
- a cool airy space at 10 to 15°C (60°F) and 70 to 75 per cent humidity
Directions
- Trim the meat into a neat, even log; anything thicker at one end will dry unevenly and stay wet in the middle.
- Bury it completely in coarse salt in a non-reactive tray, cover, and refrigerate for 3 to 5 days, pouring off the liquid and renewing the salt at the base each day, until the meat is firm all the way through.
- Rinse the salt off thoroughly and soak the meat in cold water for 2 to 4 hours, changing the water twice, to pull the surface salt back to an edible level.
- Dry it, wrap it in a clean cloth and press it between two boards under a 3 to 5 kg weight in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. Pressing is what gives basturma its flattened shape and dense texture.
- Hang it in a cool, airy place at 10 to 15°C (60°F) for 5 to 7 days, until the surface is dry and leathery and it has lost roughly 20 per cent of its weight.
- Make the chaman: whisk the fenugreek with the water a little at a time until it swells into a thick, sticky paste, then beat in the garlic and spices and rest it in the fridge overnight. Fenugreek absorbs far more water than you expect and the paste stiffens as it sits.
- Coat the meat in a 3 to 5 mm layer of chaman on every surface, working it in with wet hands, and hang it again for a day so the coating sets, then patch any cracks with more paste.
- Hang for a further 2 to 4 weeks until the total weight loss reaches 40 to 45 per cent and the log is firm with no give in the centre. Slice paper-thin against the grain and serve with lavash, tomatoes and raw onion, or with eggs.
Technique
- Basturma is defined by the chaman coat as much as by the cure. The fenugreek is bitter and slightly maple-scented, and it also seals the meat, slowing the dry and keeping mould off.
- Weight loss, not calendar time, tells you when it is done. Under 35 per cent it is still wet enough to spoil; over 50 per cent it turns to shoe leather.
- Use curing salt for a dry this long unless you can guarantee steady airflow below 15°C (60°F). Whole-muscle cures are lower risk than sausages, but nitrate is cheap insurance against botulism in still, humid conditions.
- The garlic smell genuinely comes through the skin of anyone who eats it, which is the source of endless Armenian jokes about eating basturma before a date.
Substitutions
- No cool cellar: a wine fridge at 13°C (55°F) with a small fan works, or the salted, pressed meat can be finished in the fridge in a loosely closed box, which takes longer and gives a softer result.
Variations
- Kayseri-style basturma, made in the Armenian communities of Anatolia, uses a hotter, redder chaman with more cumin.
- A quicker home version cures a thinner strip for 2 days, presses it 1 day and dries it 10 days, giving a softer, less concentrated slice.
History
Cured beef pressed flat and coated in chaman paste of fenugreek, garlic and paprika; Armenian and Anatolian butchers share the craft.
Frequently asked questions
What is Basturma?
Basturma is a charcuterie & cured from Armenia: air-dried beef coated in fenugreek-garlic paste, sliced paper-thin. Cured beef pressed flat and coated in chaman paste of fenugreek, garlic and paprika; Armenian and Anatolian butchers share the craft.
How long does Basturma take to make?
Basturma takes 1 hr over several days of preparation and 4 to 6 weeks curing and drying of cooking. The recipe makes about 700 g of cured beef. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Basturma?
Yes, within limits. No cool cellar: a wine fridge at 13°C (55°F) with a small fan works, or the salted, pressed meat can be finished in the fridge in a loosely closed box, which takes longer and gives a softer result.
