Project Pastramă

[TasunkaWitko]

the thread is going to contain a lot of links, pix etc. and i am unable to copy/paste from one to the other without having to re-do the links and pix, so please click here if interested:

http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards...._topic917.html

please feel free to post questions, commets etc. here on this thread and i will reply as i can.

thanks!

ron

[ALX]

Great thread and pictorial so far Ron.....Good to see you again man...I forgot all about that killer website of yours....

[Fishawn]

Will be watching this.... Thanks for sharing the link!

[Slanted88]

I'm liking this!

[Richtee]

You have my attention, sir! Nice parting out work... it takes some time for sure!

[TasunkaWitko]

thanks, guys - i might copy the original post from there (with links etc.) over to the original post here if i can when i have time, and will be sure to post any future posts here as well with updates etc.

alx (and anyone else) - drop in any time! as you can see, we've really expanded on our international library, with something new almost every week! would love to see anyone there who is interested in historic, international and other cooking along those lines.

fishawn - no offence intended, but what the hell is that? looks like some sort of meat pudding made from organ meats?

richtee - click some of those links, i do believe you will find some interesting stuff within!

to all: please note that pastramă and pastrami, though distantly related, are two different meat products, both historically and as we know them today. anyone interested in the differences and similarities can click here. included is research i have done as well as comments from some folks who actually live over there. where the origins of the name etc. are concerned, they are probably more correct than i was in my original post on that thread. as for other matters about origins etc., i am inclined to believe that all opinions are probably at least partially correct, meaning that the ultimate answers are usually an amalgam of the differing opinions.

on a side note, i am getting ready to think about starting a pastrami project as well, using a corned beef as a base. my wife has recently become rather fond of pastrami and what can a good husband do but encourage such a liking? unfortunately, she is not a big fan of smoked meats, so i will probably do one beef pastrami smoked and one for her that is unsmoked.

then, oh bother, we will have to buy a meat slicer in order to get the full potential, right? ;)

[Checkered Past]

Very nice diagram on the cuts!! I have been cutting up my on deer for awhile and never new the specific cuts so this is very cool.

I will be visting your site to see the difference in pastrama and pastrame.

I will follow your adventure since I have vinison in the freezer and hopefully I can follow your lead

[TasunkaWitko]

hey, CP - i think you will enjoy the process as i have seen you have an interest in curing meat. if you take a look at this link:

http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards...._topic283.html

you can see a discussion on pastramă that includes quite a bit of history etc. from a gal who is from romania. the translations are a little clunky in places, but her writing is good at getting the important parts across to the reader. also, the post over at FOTW that i linked to in the original post here has quite a few links to provide some great information on this and other similar meats across the world.

i have been butchering my own deer since i was 12 and i must say it is something i very much enjoy to do. when my son got his antelope this year i wrote in pretty good detail about the process we went though in butchering it. you can follow that discussion here if interested:

http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards...._topic872.html

and i will probably copy/post it in the wid game section here at S-M as well.

as for project pastramă, i am eager to get it started and will post updates as they happen!

[Checkered Past]

I will check out the site when I find some time today, I may need to thaw out some vinney and start another project as my smoking season is just starting here. We may get down to the 60's next week.

[curious aardvark]

interesting article - the second recipe the romanian posted is extremely similiar to biltong.

I think I like the look of the spice mix that had nutmeg in. Now that's something I hadn't thought of - despite putting it in much of my sausage.

So how you planning on drying this stuff ?
I;m guessing not in a trough in a field

[TasunkaWitko]

hey CA - good to see you again!

my plan is to simply hang the pastrama from the ceiling of a shed that will be closed to animals and insects but upen to a good deal of air movement. this should work very well, i think!

[curious aardvark]

hopefully - you going to wrap it in muslin or something semi permeable ? :-)

[TasunkaWitko]

but of course! i will follow the same basic procedure as outlined in the post we have on greek pastourma, which i closely related and follows the same general principles with differing flavours. this method employs wrapping the meat in cheesecloth during the curing process, and that works for me! :)

[TasunkaWitko]

hey, all - i havn't forgotten about this, just ran into a delay in getting butchering started for the deer. no worries, our deer usually age about 2 weeks and things are, relatively speaking, only a little behind schedule. meat quality is very important to me, and there has been no problem in that department thanks to our cold climates up here.

as of today, we've finished the loin portions of all deer and the hindquarters of the smaller one - and are looking to do the hindquarters from the two larger deer tonight and/or possibly tomorrow night. i had originally intended to use the sirloins, but due to the connective tissue (silverskin) that runs through that muscle group, i've decided that the bottom round will be a better choice. this is a slightly thinner cut, but wider, so that may affect curing and drying times.

[TasunkaWitko]

Obviously, this project was de-railed last year, due to a couple of issues we had with availability of good cuts of the right size. This year, i should have a hindquarter roast to save for this project.

Based on the recipes given and further reading, I'll attempt to make a fairly representative version using this formula, which is an amalgem of my reading for traditional and venison Romanian pastramă:

Pastramă Rub (per kilogram (2 to 2.5 pounds) of meat:

Morton's Tenderquick (recommended amount for weight according to package directions)
4.5 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
2 tablespoons crushed and minced garlic
1 heaping teaspoon hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon summer savory
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

For this first attempt, I've decided to use a commercial cure; however, in the future may choose to try a more-traditional salt cure. Since my measurement for the salt are jsut a guess at the moment, I plan to mix the cure, the garlic and the spices first, then add the salt a little at a time until i get a well-rounded blend. If any adjustment is needed, I'll edit the formula.

My plan is to butterfly the roast as necessary to a thickness as recommended by morton's instructions, then coat it well with the rub, roll it, secure it and cure it for the recommended length of time. from there, i'll follow the basic procedure, as close as i can, including wrapping it tightly in some sort of porous material such as a cheesecloth or a tea towel etc. and hanging to dry. Alternately, I may give it a light, cool smoke while it is drying.

Let's see if we can make this happen!

More to come........