and then the meat is hung out to dry, not in the refrigerator, but the good old sun. and, lastly, chaman a paste made from a mix of spices is lathered onto the meat. the precise recipe is closely guarded, but the extra special ingredient here is the human touch. it s a dying art ahmet tells me there are very few chaman masters coming through the ranks. such a recurring theme across the board in food, when you have a delicacy such as this, there s only a handful of people left that really are perfecting the art of making it. the rest of it s just becoming commercialised. 0k, down the hatch. flavourful and spicy. yet in recent times, pastirma s fallen out of fashion. so, i m taking some
to istanbul, to a chef who wants to change that. i m at the newly renovated galataport home to some of the city s best restaurants. chef umut is taking traditional turkish classics and reinvigorating them, giving them a bit of a modern upgrade in the form of small tapas. chef umut! yes. lovely to meet you. how are you? welcome. great to meet you. this is for you it s the pastirma. for me? what s on the menu? this is baklava pastirma. wow! sweet dessert pastry mixed with salty, meaty beef? the beefy baklava crackers will be topped with hummus, mushrooms and more pastirma. we re also pickling pastirma and serving it with a fig chutney. i ve never had pickled beef before. watch your fingers. wow, look how green it is! your dishes are so colourful. it reminds me of roald dahl s george s marvellous medicine. cheers.
and, lastly, chaman a paste made from a mix of spices is lathered onto the meat. the precise recipe is closely guarded, but the extra special ingredient here is the human touch. it s a dying art ahmet tells me there are very few chaman masters coming through the ranks. such a recurring theme across the board in food, when you have a delicacy such as this, there s only a handful of people left that really are perfecting the art of making it. the rest of it s just becoming commercialised. 0k, down the hatch. flavourful and spicy. yet in recent times, pastirma s fallen out of fashion. so, i m taking some to istanbul, to a chef who wants to change that. i m at the newly renovated
in this region. and it s still prepared here the old fashioned way. pastirma is as important to this area as parma ham is to italy, and it s mount erciyes, which towers over the city, that creates the perfect climate to cure the meat. i can t wait to taste it for the first time. hello, how are you? lovely to meet you, i m nick, how are you? taking me behind the scenes is hulya, whose granddad started this factory back in the 50s. and the way they prepare pastirma here is still true to tradition. vegetarians, you may want to look away. this is the first stage of the process where they put loads of salt onto the beef. and this is an entire bath of beef. the salt kills the bacteria and then the meat is hung out to dry, not in the refrigerator, but the good old sun.
galataport home to some of the city s best restaurants. chef umut is taking traditional turkish classics and reinvigorating them, giving them a bit of a modern upgrade in the form of small tapas. chef umut! yes. lovely to meet you. how are you? welcome. great to meet you. this is for you it s the pastirma. for me? what s on the menu? this is baklava pastirma. wow! sweet dessert pastry mixed with salty, meaty beef? the beefy baklava crackers will be topped with hummus, mushrooms and more pastirma. we re also pickling pastirma and serving it with a fig chutney. i ve never had pickled beef before. watch your fingers. wow, look how green it is! your dishes are so colourful. it reminds me of roald dahl s george s marvellous medicine.