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20-SEP-2003

Kayseri 2570

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Pastirma is the name of this type of cured meat. It's very dry and tasty, and I have always wondered if it gave its name to "pastrami". To complicate matters the Wikipedia has it: "The etymology is from Romanian Pastramă, probably from the verb "a păstra" (to preserve, to keep), being brought to the English language via Yiddish." Maybe the Turks got it from the same source.

In my insatiable quest for knowledge I pushed on and found: Pastırma is a kind of Turkish deli meat. Its name comes from bastırma, meaning "being pressed", for the beef is squeezed between stones to lose all of its water content. Then it is covered with a paste called çemen, prepared with crushed fenugreek seeds, garlic, and hot paprika and left for drying. It can be served as a cold hors d'oeuvre or may be added to different dishes, the most famous of which is bean dish. The most competent producers of pastırma are from Kayseri. There is also a less common kind of pastırma called Rumeli Pastırması originated from the Balkans, prepared without çemen, which is possibly related to pastrami. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastirma". So there you have it.

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Celica 06-May-2008 22:44
Dear Dick Osseman,
looking at this picture of pastirma I began wondering if the mysterious objects that adorn Diana (Cybele) of Efesus torso might not be pieces of pastirma, represented there as a symbol of plenty and well-being...Cappadocia was famous for this type of meat since antiquity (I found it mentioned in a work by Gregory of Nazianzus, 4th c, A.D.).