BASTURMA | MIDDLE EASTERN CURED MEAT

beef

🥗Healthier: chicken

💰Cheaper: pork

Chicken is leaner and pork is often less expensive.

olive oil

🥗Healthier: avocado oil

💰Cheaper: vegetable oil

Avocado oil is healthier while vegetable oil is more budget-friendly.

Trim the beef to remove silver skin and sinew.

Weigh the trimmed beef to determine the amount of salt needed for curing.

Rub 38.5 grams of sea salt onto the beef, ensuring it's well coated.

Wrap the salted beef tightly in plastic wrap, minimizing air exposure.

Place the wrapped beef in a pan and weigh it down with a heavy object, such as a cast iron pan, for seven days in the fridge, flipping daily.

After seven days, rinse off the salt from the beef with cold water and pat dry.

Mix fenugreek, cumin, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne, Aleppo pepper, allspice, and black pepper to create a spice paste, adding distilled water to achieve a thick consistency.

Apply the spice paste generously onto the dried beef, ensuring no gaps are left exposed.

Tie the beef with twine and hang it in the fridge to dry for another week, ensuring it's loosely tied to avoid cutting into the meat.

Monitor the drying process until the beef loses about 30% of its original weight, which may take around four weeks.

Cooking Techniques

Equipment Needed

Spice Level: