Lavash
Paper-thin unleavened flatbread, blistered and scored in the tradition of the hearth.
Step-by-step →Cured · Kayseri & Aintab
BASTURMA
Բաստուրմա
Air-dried beef pressed under weight and sealed in a red paste of fenugreek, garlic and paprika.
3 weeks
Total time
Makes 1 kg
Yield
5
Steps
Step by step
HOW IT IS MADE
- 01
Salt for three days
Bury the trimmed meat in coarse salt in a tray, refrigerate three days and pour off the liquid daily.
- 02
Rinse and press
Wash the salt off, dry the meat, wrap it in cloth and press it under a board and weights for two days until flat and firm.
- 03
Dry in cold air
Hang it in a cool, airy place for about a week, until the surface is dry to the touch.
- 04
Coat in chaman
Mix fenugreek, paprika, garlic and spices with water into a thick paste and cover the meat in a layer a few millimetres deep.
- 05
Hang again, then slice thin
Dry another week to ten days until the paste sets hard. Slice as thinly as your knife allows — thick basturma is wasted basturma.
At a glance
- Difficulty
- Advanced (patience, not skill)
- Energy
- ≈ 240 kcal per 100 g
- Preparation
- 5 days salting and pressing
- Cooking
- No cooking — 2–3 weeks air-drying
- Season
- Late autumn and winter, when the air is cold and dry
- Occasion
- Holiday tables, breakfast with eggs, glasses of oghi with guests
Cook's notes
GET IT RIGHT
- Choose a lean, even cut — fat does not cure and will spoil.
- Cold, dry, moving air is the whole recipe; humidity is the enemy.
- Press hard between salting and coating; a flat piece dries evenly.
- Fenugreek is bitter raw — the paste mellows as it sets.
Variations
Apokht
The older highland form, salted and dried without a chaman coating.
Turkey basturma
A lighter modern version used widely in the diaspora.
Questions
ASKED IN THE KITCHEN
Is it safe to make at home?
Yes with cold conditions, a lean cut and full salting time. If anything smells sour rather than nutty, discard it.
Why is mine too salty?
It sat in salt too long, or was not rinsed properly. Soak slices briefly in water before serving.
History & Culture
WHY THIS DISH
Basturma comes from the old Armenian cities of Anatolia, above all Kayseri and Aintab, where whole streets were given to curing and the winter air did the work. The word comes from the pressing — the flattening under weight is the defining step.
It travelled with the diaspora to Aleppo, Beirut, Istanbul and the United States, where Armenian delicatessens still hang it in windows. Eaten with lavash, tomato and egg, it is breakfast; on a plate with oghi, it is hospitality.
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