Pastirma

[Paul Kribs]

Whilst idly browsing, I found a page on simple techniques for drying meat. It had a few procedures on it, one of which was Pastirma.. the whole piece of meat version, as opposed to the fresh/dried sausage.

Pastirma

(Turkey, Egypt, Armenia)
Pastirma is salted and dried beef from not too young animals. In some areas camel meat is also used. The meat is taken from the hindquarters and is cut into 50 to 60 cm long strips with a diameter of not more than 5 cm. The strips are rubbed and covered with salt and nitrate. The dosage of the nitrate in relation to the meat is 0.02 percent, that means 2 g of nitrate for 10 kg of meat. Several incisions are made in the meat to facilitate salt penetration.

The salted meat strips are arranged in piles about 1 m high and kept for one day at room temperature. They are turned over, salted again, and stored in piles for another day. Thereafter the meat strips are washed and air-dried for two to three days in summer and for 15 to 20 days in winter. After drying the strips are piled up again to a height of 30 cm and pressed with heavy weights (approx. 1 tonne) for 12 hours. After another drying period of two to three days the meat pieces are again pressed for 12 hours. Finally the meat is again air-dried for 5 to 10 days.

After the salting and drying process, the entire surface of the meat is covered with a layer (3 to 5 mm thick) of a paste called cemen, which consists of 35 percent freshly ground garlic, 20 percent helba (i.e. ground trefoil seed), 6 percent hot red paprika, 2 percent mustard, and 37 percent water. Helba is used as a binder of the paste; the other ingredients are spices, but garlic is the most important as it is antimycotic. The meat strips covered with cemen are stored in piles for one day, and thereafter are dried for 5 to 12 days in a room with good air ventilation, after which the pastirma is ready for sale. Thus, the production of pastirma requires several weeks. However, not much energy is required since most of the salting and drying is done at room temperature. The final product has an average water activity (aw) of 0.88 (see Chapter 5). The aw should not fall below 0.85 or the meat will be too dry. The salt content should range between 4.5 and 6.0 percent. The product is mould-free for months at ambient temperature even in summer. Pastirma thus has a better microbiological stability than biltong.

If anybody wishes to read the whole page, this is the link:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6932e/X6932E02.htm

Regards, Paul Kribs