Among the various meat delicacies, basturma stands out especially. If a person is not a vegetarian in principle, occasionally he always allows himself to enjoy this wonderful dish. One misfortune: it costs very, very expensive. In addition, the taste of the consumer does not always coincide with the opinion of the manufacturer. And disappointment after taking a sample from a tidbit can be very painful. However, there is comforting news: delicious beef basturma can be cooked at home! The recipe will require the cook to be patient. But the result will be exactly the same as the cook planned.
Step One: Salting
To get the correct, at the same time tender and firm beef basturma , the recipe prescribes meat to salt for starters. There are two ways to do this.
First method. Beef is sprinkled with plenty of salt; you can even put it on a pillow of salt and pour a snowdrift on top. The excess meat will not be taken, so you can not be afraid to salt. The container is covered and put in cool. How much homemade beef basturma will be salted out, the recipe does not specify: the time strongly depends on the size of the slices, the age of the slaughtered animal and the desired degree of salinity. At least three days. But many stand up to a week. The basic rule is to remember to flip regularly.
Second method. Preparing a brine at the rate of two tablespoons of salt per liter of water. In a cold form, they are poured chunks of meat, crushed on top and also put in a cool place. With this method, beef is salted faster - in a day or two you can proceed to the next stage.
we recommend using the first option. The brine method is bad because the meat after it becomes loose. And the next steps in its processing will take more time.
Step Two: Dry
The corned beef is taken out of the pickling tank after the allotted time and is carefully washed in running water. The salt crystals that are not cleaned will spoil the meat very much: firstly, in some places it will be more salty, and secondly it will be hard and dry. If for some reason running water is unavailable, the beef is soaked in a basin for five hours with a frequent change of water in it.
After washing, the meat gets wet with napkins, wrapped in a clean chopper, placed between two planks (can be chopped) and pressed down by oppression. This procedure will allow you to squeeze the remaining water out of the beef to a drop. Under oppression, the future basturma should lie for 2 to 4 days. Do not forget to regularly change the napkin.
Step Three: Drying
Any recipe for cooking beef basturma requires at least a week (and usually much longer) to salty salted meat. To do this, it is rubbed with spices. Their choice may be individual; the most common is pepper. After that, a hole is made in a piece of future basturma, through which twine or a thick thread is pulled. Beef is wrapped with gauze (to avoid dust and "gatherings" of insects) and suspended in a secluded place. Certain requirements are imposed on him:
- The room should not be wet.
- Basturma needs to be constantly aired. So look for a corner where a draft walks.
- Meat should not be exposed to the sun. In general, it would be nice to keep it in a dark room, but not everyone can find it. So at least pritenite suspended delicacy.
The signal that you already have ready-to-eat beef basturma in your hands, the recipe suggests considering the dryness of the outer layer and the darkening of the meat in the middle. This usually takes from 10 days to two weeks.
Important: Chaman
If you like Armenian beef basturma the most, the recipe recommends the use of a shaman. This is the name of the spicy mixture in which the drying should take place. For its preparation, a glass of fenugreek is dissolved in a glass of warm water, a spoonful of sugar, crushed garlic to taste, ground allspice, red, black pepper, chopped bay leaf and cumin (in a spoon) interfere. The mixture should be very thick, viscous. She insists under a napkin for half a day, after which the beef is coated with a chaman. Further actions - as in the preparation of other varieties of basturma. The only difference is that after three days of drying the chaman, you need to scrape off and apply a new layer.
Secrets of Basturma
- The salt used must be a coarse fraction. Otherwise, it will dissolve too quickly and the beef will become stiff.
- It is advisable to buy meat from a young animal - it produces a more tender beef basturma. The recipe also insists on using clippings. But this is just not necessary: the delicacy is excellently obtained from other parts of the carcass.
- Do not try to wrap a piece of beef in one piece: for a long time and does not guarantee success. It is necessary to cut it along the fibers into long narrow strips.
- If you use a chaman, pay attention: it includes garlic. With this spice, basturma turns out to be more fragrant and spicy, but all the time you dry you will have to put up with a stable garlic aroma throughout the house. In addition, the appearance of basturma from garlic is somewhat worse. Experienced chefs recommend that at the "almost ready" stage, change the old layer of the chaman to a new one with garlic added, and before that use the mixture without it.
Beef basturma at home: a recipe with wine
To some, this delicacy seems harsh and a little dry. For them, an alternative way to cook it. A kilogram of beef is divided into strips, copiously, from all sides, rubbed with salt and hidden in a closed container in the refrigerator for five hours. Then the beef is dried from the emerging liquid, poked in a couple of places with a fork, rubbed with salt again, only now - mixed with red pepper, garlic and fenugreek, and returned to the pickling bowl. Meat prepared in this way is poured with dry red wine so that it does not appear anywhere - it will take about a liter and a quarter. Above is oppression - and for a week in the refrigerator. After basturma, it is dried, wrapped in cotton fabric - and under load, in the refrigerator, for a couple of days. It is then suspended for four days in a suitable place for initial withering. And finally, smeared with a mixture of black pepper, salt and flour, taken one spoonful and blotted in half a glass of wine. You can also enter coriander and caraway seeds. After ten days of drying you can try.