Steve Wertz wrote:

Is it better to wet cure or dry cure a brisket or other cut?

To some extent, it depends on what you are going to do with the meat
afterwards. Are you going to smoke or cook it further, or are you going
to eat it as is? Anyway, how about basturma, an ancient Armenian dish
from which the Turkish bastirma and the Jewish pastrami variously
derive? It is a rather involved recipe, needing about a month for
completion. The meat is served as is. Here is a recipe from an
Armenian cookbook I posted some seven or eight years ago.

Basturma

10 kg (22 lb) of boneless beef fillet (tenderloin)
600 g (21 oz) garlic
1 kg (2.2 oz) salt
13 g (0.5 oz) saltpeter
500 g (1.1) cumin seeds
paprika to taste

Cut a beef fillet (tenderloin) in 30 cm (12 in) long, 12 cm (5 in) wide
and 6 cm (2 in) thick pieces. Place the meat in a dish in layers, with
each of them sprinkled with a mix of salt and saltpeter. Cover with a
cloth and leave for 2 days. Then turn the meat, so that the top layer
is on the bottom, and leave for 2 more days. Rinse the meat lightly
with cold water and let dry on a wooden grate. Arrange the meat thus
prepared on a table covered with a porous cloth, tie the cloth edges
tightly together, place a plank of wood on top and press down with some
weight. Leave for 12 hours. Tie the pressed pieces of meat with a
string and hang them out to dry in a shade, after which the meat should
feel dry on touch.

Rinse and pound some cumin seeds. Peel and pound some garlic. Mix
together pounded cumin seeds and garlic with paprika and add some water
to reach a consistency of thin sour cream. Cover the dried pieces of
meat with the mixture, layer them in a receptacle and let stand for 4
days. Then take out the meat, cover each piece with the mixture again
and let stand for 3-4 days again. Repeat this operation 3 times. Take
out the meat pieces and hang them out to dry for 10 days.

Victor

"Steve Wertz" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 2 Dec 2006 23:55:12 +0100, Victor Sack wrote:

It is a rather involved recipe, needing about a month for
completion. The meat is served as is. Here is a recipe from an
Armenian cookbook I posted some seven or eight years ago.

Basturma

This is one of those things you have to try first, then make it
if you liked it.

Interesting recipe. Can't say I'm going to try it anytime soon.
Some of the measurement conversions didn't quite work, though.
(salt, cumin).

10 kg (22 lb) of boneless beef fillet (tenderloin)
600 g (21 oz) garlic
1 kg (2.2 oz) salt
13 g (0.5 oz) saltpeter
500 g (1.1) cumin seeds

paprika to taste

I'd have no idea what "paprika to taste" would be in this dish
;-)

-sw


13 grams of saltpeter, or potassium nitrate to 1000 grams of NaCl is 1.3%,
compared to the 4% NaNO3 in Prague powder #2, or Insta Cure #2. As well the
Insta-cure #2 has 6.4% NaNO2, which results in an immediate curing effect.
The nitrate must break down to nitrite before the cure takes place. That's
why it's used for dry curing for a long time. The nitrate metabolizes to
nitrate, and you get a constant cure for weeks, rather than days.
I think saltpeter is pretty much off the market for use in foods. I haven't
heard of any other source for nitrates alone.
Morton's Tenderquick is .5% nitrate and .5% nitrite. This might be an ideal
agent to cure
filet.
Although, at $12-$18/lb here in N. Cal, even the thought of that is painful.

Kent, a certified tightwad.

"Kent" wrote in message
...

"Steve Wertz" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 2 Dec 2006 23:55:12 +0100, Victor Sack wrote:

It is a rather involved recipe, needing about a month for
completion. The meat is served as is. Here is a recipe from an
Armenian cookbook I posted some seven or eight years ago.

Basturma

This is one of those things you have to try first, then make it
if you liked it.

Interesting recipe. Can't say I'm going to try it anytime soon.
Some of the measurement conversions didn't quite work, though.
(salt, cumin).

10 kg (22 lb) of boneless beef fillet (tenderloin)
600 g (21 oz) garlic
1 kg (2.2 oz) salt
13 g (0.5 oz) saltpeter
500 g (1.1) cumin seeds

paprika to taste

I'd have no idea what "paprika to taste" would be in this dish
;-)

-sw


13 grams of saltpeter, or potassium nitrate to 1000 grams of NaCl is 1.3%,
compared to the 4% NaNO3 in Prague powder #2, or Insta Cure #2. As well
the Insta-cure #2 has 6.4% NaNO2, which results in an immediate curing
effect. The nitrate must break down to nitrite before the cure takes
place. That's why it's used for dry curing for a long time. The nitrate
metabolizes to nitrate, and you get a constant cure for weeks, rather
than days.

The nitrate breaks down to nitrate. Nor does it metabolize.

I think saltpeter is pretty much off the market for use in foods. I
haven't heard of any other source for nitrates alone.
Morton's Tenderquick is .5% nitrate and .5% nitrite. This might be an
ideal agent to cure
filet.
Although, at $12-$18/lb here in N. Cal, even the thought of that is
painful.

Kent, a certified tightwad.

Sorry for the error.

"Steve Wertz" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 3 Dec 2006 10:30:10 -0800, Kent wrote:

Morton's Tenderquick is .5% nitrate and .5% nitrite. This might be an
ideal
agent to cure filet.
Although, at $12-$18/lb here in N. Cal, even the thought of that is
painful.

When I can find it, it's $3.99 for 2lbs. Even online, you can't
find it as high as $30/bag - $7 max (for 2lbs).

-sw

I was referring to the cost/lb of filet, which here, at least, has skyrocked
in the past 24 mos.

If you've used Tenderquick what have you done with it?
I'd appreciate your experience. I have found precious little about that
specific
product, and I'm too much of a tightwad to drop $6 + shipping on a 45 page
pamphlet.
The one brine recipe they have on their package is for 1/2 cup
Tenderquick/quart of water. That much salt is twice the maximum used by most
of us.

Again, thanks for any ideas.

Kent

Steve Wertz wrote:

On Sat, 2 Dec 2006 23:55:12 +0100, Victor Sack wrote:

It is a rather involved recipe, needing about a month for
completion. The meat is served as is. Here is a recipe from an
Armenian cookbook I posted some seven or eight years ago.

Basturma

This is one of those things you have to try first, then make it
if you liked it.

Yes, of course one doesn't usually spend a month making something
totally unknown... but still... I'm not aware of any Armenian
restaurants in Texas. However, I notice that Czar's brand basturma is
sold on Amazon and also he
http://www.rususa.us/apf4/store.cgi-Operation-ItemLookup-ItemId-B000E88GHW.
I have no idea if it is any good, but it is surely not exactly
inexpensive ($34/lb).

Interesting recipe.

It is one of the greatest - why do you think pastrami has become so
popular? Answer: Because it is an easy-to-reproduce imagined
approximation of a mass-produced recipe of something really good, namely
basturma.

Can't say I'm going to try it anytime soon.

Try it if you have time and inclination, it is worth it, as far as I am
concerned - it is way more interesting than the usually insipid - and
anyway different - pastrami.

Some of the measurement conversions didn't quite work, though.
(salt, cumin).

Mea culpa, sorry! See corrections below...

10 kg (22 lb) of boneless beef fillet (tenderloin)
600 g (21 oz) garlic
1 kg (2.2 oz) salt

Should be 2.2 pounds salt

13 g (0.5 oz) saltpeter
500 g (1.1) cumin seeds

should be 1.1 pound cumin seeds

paprika to taste

I'd have no idea what "paprika to taste" would be in this dish
;-)

I'd say start with about 1 kg (2.2 pounds) paprika, even if it is one of
the "hot" varieties.

Victor