Different prices appear under the same product name at a pastırma counter. That difference comes from a grading invisible on the packaging.
What does pastırma grading rest on?
Grade in pastırma follows the cut the meat comes from.
A beef carcass gets divided into around fifteen cuts for pastırma.
The fat, grain and texture of every cut differ.
Kuşgömü and ribeye form the upper grade; their fat is balanced and their texture soft.
Sırt and bohça form the middle grade.
Shoulder, leg and flank form the lower grade; fibrous and dense.
That order formed in tradition and works on the same logic today; the name of the cut directly determines the price segment.
| Grade | Cuts | Fat | Texture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upper | Kuşgömü, ribeye | 10-18% | Soft |
| Select | Kuşgömü and sırt mixed | 8-14% | Balanced |
| Middle | Sırt, bohça | 5-9% | Dense |
| Standard | Shoulder, leg | 3-6% | Fibrous |
| Mixed | Variable | Variable | Variable |
| Lower | Flank, brisket | 2-5% | Very fibrous |
What does select mean?
That word describes a process of sorting.
The pastırma from every cut gets assessed in production.
Appearance, texture and the quality of the cross-section get checked.
Those meeting the standard get set aside as select.
Those that do not go into a lower segment.
Select therefore describes a threshold of quality rather than a single cut.
It generally consists of kuşgömü and sırt mixed and sits just below the upper grade; its price follows accordingly.
What advantage does the block form provide?
Block pastırma is a whole cut cured and coated with çemen.
Unsliced.
That brings three advantages.
The first is freshness; there is no cut surface and the product makes no contact with air.
The second is shelf life; two or three months in a fridge against four or five days for sliced product.
The third is inspection; the buyer can see the marbling and colour in the cross-section themselves.
The disadvantage is the labour of slicing; the product has to be cut at every use, and that requires a thin knife or a slicer.
What does the curing time change?
Curing is the stage that creates the identity of pastırma.
The total runs twenty-five to thirty-five days in the traditional method.
Salting, pressing, drying and coating follow in order.
That period falls to ten or fifteen days in accelerated methods.
Water loss is low under short curing; the product is softer but its aroma weaker.
Water loss is high under long curing; the product is denser and more aromatic.
Long curing gets preferred in select pastırma, and that is the source of the difference in both price and taste.
What does the thickness of the çemen show?
Çemen is the spice crust wrapping the product.
Its thickness gets read as an indicator of quality.
A thin crust means confidence in the quality of the meat itself.
A thick crust sometimes hides faults.
A thick coat goes onto meat pale in colour or irregular in texture.
The layer runs thin in select pastırma: two or three millimetres.
The boundary between crust and meat shows clearly in a cross-section; a blurred boundary shows the çemen has penetrated too far and the meat is loose.
What gets checked in the cross-section?
The cross-section of a block gives the most direct information about quality.
Four indicators get checked.
The first is colour; it should be deep red and uniform.
Grey areas show the curing was uneven.
The second is marbling; fine, scattered veins of fat are a good sign.
The third is texture; the cut face should be glossy and firm.
The fourth is voids; no air pockets should appear, since those show the pressing was insufficient.
How is block pastırma sliced?
Block pastırma gets sliced before use.
The product gets cut cold.
A block fresh from a fridge cuts more easily.
A thin, sharp knife gets used.
Cutting across the grain is obligatory.
A millimetre and a half to two millimetres; because the fat is balanced in select pastırma, that thickness chews comfortably.
Where a slicer gets used the block goes into a freezer for twenty minutes first; slightly firmed, the product slices more cleanly.
Where does the difference in price come from?
Three items determine the price.
The first is the cut; kuşgömü and ribeye are raw materials twice the price of shoulder and leg.
The second is the curing time; long curing brings a cost in both time and storage space.
The third is loss; the weight lost during curing runs 40 to 50 percent.
That loss is higher under long curing.
A kilogram of raw meat yields five to six hundred grams of pastırma; that rate of loss explains on its own why pastırma sits in its price segment.
How is block pastırma stored?
Block pastırma keeps two or three months in a fridge.
It comes out of its packaging and gets wrapped in a clean cloth.
Cling film can serve too, though cloth works better; it balances the moisture and lets the product breathe.
The çemen cracks in a very dry environment.
Mould can form in a very humid one.
The vegetable drawer of a fridge is a suitable place; the humidity is balanced and the temperature fluctuates little.
It keeps six months in a freezer, though the çemen draws moisture during thawing and its texture softens.
Does the place of production make a difference?
Climate counts as decisive in pastırma production by tradition.
Kayseri is the city historically associated with it.
The reason is its dry, cool climate.
That provides suitable conditions for natural drying.
Most production today happens in climate-controlled rooms.
That reduces the dependence on geography, though a difference still exists in products made by the traditional method.
Humidity and temperature fluctuate through the day in natural drying; that fluctuation creates a layer of aroma no controlled room reproduces.
