ABOUT

Pastırma is a delicious cured, air dried and spiced beef made to a middle eastern recipe. It is named after Kayseri, the city in central Turkey where it has been produced for centuries, taking advantage of the temperature, humidity and breeze. Although little known in the west, pastırma is widely available throughout the middle east and north Africa.

In those countries you may see a different spelling: pastourma, pasterma, bastirma, bastourma, basturma and more. And, there are subtle regional differences in the recipe too, but they are the same delicious cured beef that share the same heritage.

Pastırma is not pastrami, bresaola, cecina, bündnerfleisch, jerky or biltong. They are quite different beef products made using very different methods. They too are delicious, but the end product is quite different.

Pastırma takes about eight weeks to make in five key stages using whole muscle lean beef:
1. cured in salt
2. compressed in a press
3. air dried
4. smothered in cemen (pronounced chemen), a paste of garlic and middle eastern spices
5. air dried for a second time.

The result is an umami packed, mouth-watering addition to any charcuterie board or a distinctive ingredient to many recipes. It also makes a delicious high protein snack.

Beef traceability/provenance

Our pastırma is made in London with 100% British beef that can be traced to the very farm and animal so that procurement systems, practices and standards can be audited.