"One of mankind’s earliest techniques for preserving meat, salting and drying is encountered in all the culinary cultures of the world today. But the process is slightly different in Turkey: as it begins to dry, the meat is coated in a paste of finely ground spices called çemen to produce the legendary taste of pastırma. Pastırma is traditionally made during the mild days in early November known as “pastırma yazı” (“pastırma summer”).
Pastırma worthy of sultans used to be made in Kayseri from the meat of stags and roe deer hunted by the Janissaries in the Istranca Mountains. Cured in the temperate air of the Yeniköy meadows above the Bosphorus, it graced the dining tables of the Ottoman sultans. Among the varieties of pastırma described by Evliya Çelevi, this pastırma made from deer meat was the closest to the çemen-coated pastırma we know today."
SKYLIFE ARTICLE SOURCE
Mavi Boncuk |
Salam: salted [1] salami[1] fromIT salame tuzlanmış et oldLATsalamen tuzlanmış LAT salare tuzlamak LAT sal tuz E sal-d-
Sucuk: sucuk fromPE zīcak veya zīçak زيجك/زيچك "bumbar dolması" sözcüğünden alıntıdır. Farsça sözcük Farsça zīç زيچ "germe, çekerek uzatma, şerit, kordon" sözcüğünden türetilmiştir.
Oldest source:
[ Ebu Hayyan, Kitabu'l-İdrak, 1312]
suçuk: an-naḳāniḳ [sucuk]
[ Meninski, Thesaurus, 1680]
sucuk سجوق: Lucanica, botulus. Kan sucuğı, ciger sucuğı
[ Ahmed Vefik Paşa, Lehce-ı Osmani, 1876] "bağırsak" [ Codex Cumanicus (1300) ] "bağırsak dolması" [ Danişmend-Name (1360) ] şeker sucuğu, pestil sucuğu
Sosis: sausage[3]
Oldest source: [ Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar (1922) ]
Pastırma: fromTR bastırma bas ; pressEN pastirma[4] basturma (Armenian)
Oldest source: asdurma [ Danişmend-Name (1360) ]
pasdırma/pastırma "bastırılarak kurutulmuş et" [ Filippo Argenti, Regola del Parlare Turco (1533) ]
[1] salt (n.)
Old English sealt "salt" (n.; also as an adjective, "salty, briny"), from Proto-Germanic *saltom (source also of Old Saxon, Old Norse, Old Frisian, Gothic salt, Dutch zout, German Salz), from PIE root *sal- "salt."
Modern chemistry sense is from 1790. Meaning "experienced sailor" is first attested 1840, in reference to the salinity of the sea. Salt was long regarded as having power to repel spiritual and magical evil. Many metaphoric uses reflect that this was once a rare and important resource, such as worth one's salt (1830), salt of the earth (Old English, after Matthew v.13). Belief that spilling salt brings bad luck is attested from 16c. To be above (or below) the salt (1590s) refers to customs of seating at a long table according to rank or honor, and placing a large salt-cellar in the middle of the dining table. Salt-lick first recorded 1751; salt-marsh is Old English sealtne mersc; salt-shaker is from 1882. Salt-and-pepper "of dark and light color" first recorded 1915. To take something with a grain of salt is from 1640s, from Modern Latin cum grano salis.
salami (n.)
"salted, flavored Italian sausage," 1852, from Italian salami, plural of salame "spiced pork sausage," from Vulgar Latin *salamen, from *salare "to salt," from Latin sal (genitive salis) "salt" (from PIE root *sal- "salt").
[2] Sujuk is a dry, spicy sausage which is eaten from the Balkans to the Middle East and Central Asia.The Turkish name sucuk has been adopted largely unmodified by other languages in the region, including Albanian: suxhuk; Arabic: سجق, romanized: sujuq; Armenian: սուջուխ, suǰux; Bulgarian: суджук, sudzhuk; Greek: σουτζούκι, sutzúki; Macedonian: суџук, sudžuk; Romanian: sugiuc; Russian: суджук, sudzhuk; Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian sudžuk /cyџyk. Cognate names are also present in other Turkic languages, e.g. Kazakh: шұжық, shujyq; Kyrgyz: чучук, chuchuk.
[3] sausage (n.)
mid-15c., sawsyge, from Old North French saussiche (Modern French saucisse), from Vulgar Latin *salsica "sausage," from salsicus "seasoned with salt," from Latin salsus "salted," from past participle of Old Latin sallere "to salt," from sal (genitive salis) "salt" (from PIE root *sal- "salt").
corn-dog (n.)
"frankfurter dipped in cornmeal batter, fried, and served on a stick," 1949, American English; see corn (n.1) + hot dog. Said to have been introduced by Vaudeville performers Neil and Carl Fletcher in 1942 at the Texas State Fair.
Be the first to serve this delicious new sandwich. No special ingredients needed. Cooks 1 to 4 sandwiches at a time in 5 minutes. Costs only 5 ¢ each to make--sells for 15 ¢ to 20 ¢ apiece. Recipe and instructions shipped with oven. [advertisement for Dixie Corn Dog Ovens in "The Billboard," Feb. 26, 1949]s contained dog meat.
Meaning "someone particularly skilled or excellent" (with overtones of showing off) is from 1896. Connection between the two senses, if any, is unclear. Hot dog! as an exclamation of approval was in use by 1906.
chorizo (n.)
"spiced pork sausage," 1846, from Spanish chorizo, ultimately from Medieval Latin salsicia "sausage" from Latin salsicus "seasoned with salt"
andouille (n.)
type of sausage, c. 1600, from French andoille "sausage" (12c.), from Latin inductilia, neuter plural of inductilis, from inducere "to load or put in" (see induct). The original notion was perhaps of the filling "introduced" into the sausage.
hot dog (n.)
also hotdog, "sausage on a split roll," c. 1890, American English, from hot (adj.) + dog (n.). Many early references are in college student publications; later popularized, but probably not coined, by cartoonist T.A. "Tad" Dorgan (1877-1929). It is said in early explanations to echo a suspicion (occasionally justified) that corn-dog (n.)
"frankfurter dipped in cornmeal batter, fried, and served on a stick," 1949, American English; see corn (n.1) + hot dog. Said to have been introduced by Vaudeville performers Neil and Carl Fletcher in 1942 at the Texas State Fair.
Be the first to serve this delicious new sandwich. No special ingredients needed. Cooks 1 to 4 sandwiches at a time in 5 minutes. Costs only 5 ¢ each to make--sells for 15 ¢ to 20 ¢ apiece. Recipe and instructions shipped with oven. [advertisement for Dixie Corn Dog Ovens in "The Billboard," Feb. 26, 1949]
liverwurst (n.)
also liver-wurst, 1852, partial translation of German Leberwurst "liver-sausage," from Leber "liver" (see liver (n.1)) + Wurst "sausage" (see wurst).
hot-dog, n. 1. One very proficient in certain things. 2. A hot sausage. 3. A hard student. 4. A conceited person. ["College Words and Phrases," in "Dialect Notes," 1900]
[4] A highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef in Ottoman cuisine.pastrami (n.)
1940, from Yiddish pastrame, from Rumanian pastrama, probably from Turkish pastrima, variant of basdirma "dried meat," from root *bas- "to press." Another possible origin of the Rumanian word [Barnhart] is Modern Greek pastono "I salt," from classical Greek pastos "sprinkled with salt, salted." Spelling in English with -mi probably from influence of salami.
PASTIRMA EN PAPILLOTE
Ingredients 50 g pastırma 1 tomato 15 g vine leaves 1 lemon 1 tbsp butter half bunch fresh dill 1 long, mild green pepper (Turkish “Çarliston”)
Preparation Cut the waxed paper in heart shapes and arrange one vine leaf on each piece of paper. Then place on top, in order, the pastırma, lemon, tomato, Çarliston pepper, dill and butter. Fold the vine leaves closed first, then the paper. Brush with olive oil and cook for five minutes in the oven or on a grill. Serve hot.
PASTIRMA
The Turkish horsemen of Central Asia used to preserve meat by placing slabs of it in pockets on the sides of their saddles, where it would be pressed by their legs as they rode. This pressed meat was the forerunner of today’s pastirma, a term which literally means ‘being pressed’ in Turkish, and is the origin of the Italian pastrami. Pastirma is a kind of cured beef, the most famous being that made in the town of Kayseri in central Turkey.
The 17th century Turkish writer Evliya Çelebi praised the spiced beef pastirma of Kayseri in his Book of Travels, and Kayseri pastirma is still regarded as the finest of all. Good quality pastirma is a delicacy with a wonderful flavour, which may be served in slices as a cold hors d’oeuvre or cooked with eggs, tomatoes and so on. Although pastirma may also be made with mutton or goat’s meat, beef is preferred. Cattle, mainly from the eastern province of Kars, are brought to Kayseri, where they are slaughtered and the meat made into pastirma at factories northwest of the city. The different cuts of meat produce different types of pastirma, 19 varieties from a medium-sized animal and 26 from a large. Extra fine qualities are those made from the fillet and contre-fillet, fine qualities are made from cuts like the shank, leg, tranche and shoulder, and second quality from the leg, brisket, flank, neck and similar cuts. The many tons of pastirma produced in Kayseri is almost all sold for domestic consumption all over Turkey.
Istanbul and Adana are the provinces with the largest consumption. The meat undergoes a series of processes lasting about a month. The freshly slaughtered meat rests at room temperature for 4-8 hours before being divided into joints suitable for pastirma making. These are slashed and salted on one side, stacked, and left for around 24 hours. They are then salted on the other side, stacked and left for a further 24 hours. Then the joints are rinsed in plenty of water to remove the excess salt, and dried in the open air for a period varying between three and ten days, depending on the weather. After some further processing, the meat is hung up to dry again, this time in the shade and spaced out so that the joints do not a touch one another. After 3-6 days, they are covered with a paste of ground spices known as çemen, and left to cure for 10-24 hours in hot weather, and 1-2 days in cold weather. Then the excess çemen is removed, leaving a thin layer, and the joints dried again. Finally the pastirma is ready for the table. The çemen paste covering the slabs of pastirma is both an important factor in the flavour, and protects the meat from drying and spoiling by contact with the air, which would cause the fat in the pastirma to oxidise and give a bitter flavour. ÿemen is composed of crushed classical fenugreek seeds, garlic and chilli pepper mixed to a paste with a little water. Çemen paste is also sold separately as a savoury paste for spreading on bread. When buying pastirma, note that the redder the colour, the fresher the pastirma. Over time it takes on a browner tone, and becomes firmer in texture. Good quality pastirma, whether fresh or mature, is delicious, and it is only a matter of taste which you prefer. Gourmets do not approve of pastirma sliced by machine but insist on the thin slices being cut by hand with a sharp meat knife. They also reject ready cut slices of pastirma as sold packaged in some delicatessens and supermarkets. Pastirma is delicious with fresh crusty bread, grilled lightly over charcoal, fried in butter with eggs or in layered pastry börek. Bean stew with pieces of pastirma is another popular dish in Turkey.
Reference: Mustafa Cetinkaya / Skylife
Pastırma worthy of sultans used to be made in Kayseri from the meat of stags and roe deer hunted by the Janissaries in the Istranca Mountains. Cured in the temperate air of the Yeniköy meadows above the Bosphorus, it graced the dining tables of the Ottoman sultans. Among the varieties of pastırma described by Evliya Çelevi, this pastırma made from deer meat was the closest to the çemen-coated pastırma we know today."
SKYLIFE ARTICLE SOURCE
Mavi Boncuk |
Salam: salted [1] salami[1] fromIT salame tuzlanmış et oldLATsalamen tuzlanmış LAT salare tuzlamak LAT sal tuz E sal-d-

Oldest source:
[ Ebu Hayyan, Kitabu'l-İdrak, 1312]
suçuk: an-naḳāniḳ [sucuk]
[ Meninski, Thesaurus, 1680]
sucuk سجوق: Lucanica, botulus. Kan sucuğı, ciger sucuğı
[ Ahmed Vefik Paşa, Lehce-ı Osmani, 1876] "bağırsak" [ Codex Cumanicus (1300) ] "bağırsak dolması" [ Danişmend-Name (1360) ] şeker sucuğu, pestil sucuğu
Sosis: sausage[3]
Oldest source: [ Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar (1922) ]
Oldest source: asdurma [ Danişmend-Name (1360) ]
pasdırma/pastırma "bastırılarak kurutulmuş et" [ Filippo Argenti, Regola del Parlare Turco (1533) ]
[1] salt (n.)
Modern chemistry sense is from 1790. Meaning "experienced sailor" is first attested 1840, in reference to the salinity of the sea. Salt was long regarded as having power to repel spiritual and magical evil. Many metaphoric uses reflect that this was once a rare and important resource, such as worth one's salt (1830), salt of the earth (Old English, after Matthew v.13). Belief that spilling salt brings bad luck is attested from 16c. To be above (or below) the salt (1590s) refers to customs of seating at a long table according to rank or honor, and placing a large salt-cellar in the middle of the dining table.
salami (n.)
"salted, flavored Italian sausage," 1852, from Italian salami, plural of salame "spiced pork sausage," from Vulgar Latin *salamen, from *salare "to salt," from Latin sal (genitive salis) "salt" (from PIE root *sal- "salt").
[2] Sujuk is a dry, spicy sausage which is eaten from the Balkans to the Middle East and Central Asia.The Turkish name sucuk has been adopted largely unmodified by other languages in the region, including Albanian: suxhuk; Arabic: سجق, romanized: sujuq; Armenian: սուջուխ, suǰux; Bulgarian: суджук, sudzhuk; Greek: σουτζούκι, sutzúki; Macedonian: суџук, sudžuk; Romanian: sugiuc; Russian: суджук, sudzhuk; Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian sudžuk /cyџyk. Cognate names are also present in other Turkic languages, e.g. Kazakh: шұжық, shujyq; Kyrgyz: чучук, chuchuk.
[3] sausage (n.)
mid-15c., sawsyge, from Old North French saussiche (Modern French saucisse), from Vulgar Latin *salsica "sausage," from salsicus "seasoned with salt," from Latin salsus "salted," from past participle of Old Latin sallere "to salt," from sal (genitive salis) "salt" (from PIE root *sal- "salt").
corn-dog (n.)
"frankfurter dipped in cornmeal batter, fried, and served on a stick," 1949, American English; see corn (n.1) + hot dog. Said to have been introduced by Vaudeville performers Neil and Carl Fletcher in 1942 at the Texas State Fair.
Be the first to serve this delicious new sandwich. No special ingredients needed. Cooks 1 to 4 sandwiches at a time in 5 minutes. Costs only 5 ¢ each to make--sells for 15 ¢ to 20 ¢ apiece. Recipe and instructions shipped with oven. [advertisement for Dixie Corn Dog Ovens in "The Billboard," Feb. 26, 1949]s contained dog meat.
Meaning "someone particularly skilled or excellent" (with overtones of showing off) is from 1896. Connection between the two senses, if any, is unclear. Hot dog! as an exclamation of approval was in use by 1906.
chorizo (n.)
"spiced pork sausage," 1846, from Spanish chorizo, ultimately from Medieval Latin salsicia "sausage" from Latin salsicus "seasoned with salt"
andouille (n.)
type of sausage, c. 1600, from French andoille "sausage" (12c.), from Latin inductilia, neuter plural of inductilis, from inducere "to load or put in" (see induct). The original notion was perhaps of the filling "introduced" into the sausage.
hot dog (n.)
also hotdog, "sausage on a split roll," c. 1890, American English, from hot (adj.) + dog (n.). Many early references are in college student publications; later popularized, but probably not coined, by cartoonist T.A. "Tad" Dorgan (1877-1929). It is said in early explanations to echo a suspicion (occasionally justified) that corn-dog (n.)
"frankfurter dipped in cornmeal batter, fried, and served on a stick," 1949, American English; see corn (n.1) + hot dog. Said to have been introduced by Vaudeville performers Neil and Carl Fletcher in 1942 at the Texas State Fair.
Be the first to serve this delicious new sandwich. No special ingredients needed. Cooks 1 to 4 sandwiches at a time in 5 minutes. Costs only 5 ¢ each to make--sells for 15 ¢ to 20 ¢ apiece. Recipe and instructions shipped with oven. [advertisement for Dixie Corn Dog Ovens in "The Billboard," Feb. 26, 1949]
liverwurst (n.)
also liver-wurst, 1852, partial translation of German Leberwurst "liver-sausage," from Leber "liver" (see liver (n.1)) + Wurst "sausage" (see wurst).
hot-dog, n. 1. One very proficient in certain things. 2. A hot sausage. 3. A hard student. 4. A conceited person. ["College Words and Phrases," in "Dialect Notes," 1900]
[4] A highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef in Ottoman cuisine.pastrami (n.)
1940, from Yiddish pastrame, from Rumanian pastrama, probably from Turkish pastrima, variant of basdirma "dried meat," from root *bas- "to press." Another possible origin of the Rumanian word [Barnhart] is Modern Greek pastono "I salt," from classical Greek pastos "sprinkled with salt, salted." Spelling in English with -mi probably from influence of salami.
PASTIRMA EN PAPILLOTE
Ingredients 50 g pastırma 1 tomato 15 g vine leaves 1 lemon 1 tbsp butter half bunch fresh dill 1 long, mild green pepper (Turkish “Çarliston”)
Preparation Cut the waxed paper in heart shapes and arrange one vine leaf on each piece of paper. Then place on top, in order, the pastırma, lemon, tomato, Çarliston pepper, dill and butter. Fold the vine leaves closed first, then the paper. Brush with olive oil and cook for five minutes in the oven or on a grill. Serve hot.
PASTIRMA
The Turkish horsemen of Central Asia used to preserve meat by placing slabs of it in pockets on the sides of their saddles, where it would be pressed by their legs as they rode. This pressed meat was the forerunner of today’s pastirma, a term which literally means ‘being pressed’ in Turkish, and is the origin of the Italian pastrami. Pastirma is a kind of cured beef, the most famous being that made in the town of Kayseri in central Turkey.
The 17th century Turkish writer Evliya Çelebi praised the spiced beef pastirma of Kayseri in his Book of Travels, and Kayseri pastirma is still regarded as the finest of all. Good quality pastirma is a delicacy with a wonderful flavour, which may be served in slices as a cold hors d’oeuvre or cooked with eggs, tomatoes and so on. Although pastirma may also be made with mutton or goat’s meat, beef is preferred. Cattle, mainly from the eastern province of Kars, are brought to Kayseri, where they are slaughtered and the meat made into pastirma at factories northwest of the city. The different cuts of meat produce different types of pastirma, 19 varieties from a medium-sized animal and 26 from a large. Extra fine qualities are those made from the fillet and contre-fillet, fine qualities are made from cuts like the shank, leg, tranche and shoulder, and second quality from the leg, brisket, flank, neck and similar cuts. The many tons of pastirma produced in Kayseri is almost all sold for domestic consumption all over Turkey.
Istanbul and Adana are the provinces with the largest consumption. The meat undergoes a series of processes lasting about a month. The freshly slaughtered meat rests at room temperature for 4-8 hours before being divided into joints suitable for pastirma making. These are slashed and salted on one side, stacked, and left for around 24 hours. They are then salted on the other side, stacked and left for a further 24 hours. Then the joints are rinsed in plenty of water to remove the excess salt, and dried in the open air for a period varying between three and ten days, depending on the weather. After some further processing, the meat is hung up to dry again, this time in the shade and spaced out so that the joints do not a touch one another. After 3-6 days, they are covered with a paste of ground spices known as çemen, and left to cure for 10-24 hours in hot weather, and 1-2 days in cold weather. Then the excess çemen is removed, leaving a thin layer, and the joints dried again. Finally the pastirma is ready for the table. The çemen paste covering the slabs of pastirma is both an important factor in the flavour, and protects the meat from drying and spoiling by contact with the air, which would cause the fat in the pastirma to oxidise and give a bitter flavour. ÿemen is composed of crushed classical fenugreek seeds, garlic and chilli pepper mixed to a paste with a little water. Çemen paste is also sold separately as a savoury paste for spreading on bread. When buying pastirma, note that the redder the colour, the fresher the pastirma. Over time it takes on a browner tone, and becomes firmer in texture. Good quality pastirma, whether fresh or mature, is delicious, and it is only a matter of taste which you prefer. Gourmets do not approve of pastirma sliced by machine but insist on the thin slices being cut by hand with a sharp meat knife. They also reject ready cut slices of pastirma as sold packaged in some delicatessens and supermarkets. Pastirma is delicious with fresh crusty bread, grilled lightly over charcoal, fried in butter with eggs or in layered pastry börek. Bean stew with pieces of pastirma is another popular dish in Turkey.
Reference: Mustafa Cetinkaya / Skylife