Kastamonu: Here's the Beef

Last January, en route from hamsi (anchovy) node Sinop to Ankara we made an 18-hour pitstop in Kastamonu, capital of the Turkish province of the same name. The sky was dull gray and the sub-zero wind unrelenting; by necessity our explorations were punctuated with stops in tea houses where we could thaw our frozen feet. Coal smoke hung in the air and soot coated buildings. Early Sunday morning, when we ventured out in search of caffeine, the streets were all but empty.

Still, there was something about Kastamonu that made us know we'd be back. Maybe it was the city's trove of crumbling old konak, or mansions, or its romantic situation on the slopes of two hills separated by a river, one hill crowned by the ruins of an 11th-century castle and the other by a late 1800s tower with a still chiming clock.

Perhaps it was the chorus of calls to prayer that we heard at dusk fas we watched a nearly full moon rise from the the courtyard of Ismail Bey mosque, high up one of Kastamonu's slopes. Or the thousands of starlings that appeared in the sky over the crest of the opposite hill right after, swooping and diving in wildly shifting formations.

It could have been dinner: superb kebabs that in their charred glory tasted all the better for being our first bites of meat after more than a week of eating primarily fish.

At any rate, we did return to Kastamonu last month, driving straight from Ankara's airport after a flight from Istanbul. We returned to the same Sunday market that we briefly lighted on in January -- and were treated to our first taste of this fall's hamsi catch -- and feasted on spit-roasted lamb in the nearby town of Taskopru, known for its garlic. We poked around the brick-paved streets in Kastamonu's market neighborhood, and found a good restaurant serving local dishes, including a version of etli ekmek ("meat bread") very different from the etli ekmek we ate last year in Mardin, in southeastern Turkey (a town which, coincidentally, is also built on a hill).

And we ate enough meat to fortify us for the self-imposed nothing-but-seafood diet we had planned for the next two weeks, which we would spend on the coast.

When one thinks of Turkish food it's lamb that most readily comes to mind. But in many parts of the country (like Kars) beef is the preferred red animal protein. Most of Kastamonu's kasab, or butchers, display not sheep but cow carcasses. And pastirma -- cured, air-dried beef -- is a local specialty.

In Kastamonu, beef, pastirma and garlic from Taskopru

Pastirma is usually associated with the eastern Anatolian city of Kayseri, where it is heavily flavored with garlic. Kastamonu's pastirma is also garlicky but less so. We know this because we carried some in our car for most of a day with minimal stink. A decade ago we bought some pastirma in Kayseri and attempted to do the same, but after two hours the interior of our car was so heavy with garlicky-ness that we were forced to pull over and eat the culprit.

In Kastamonu pastirma is preserved with and without an orange coating of ground seasonings -- garlic, fenugreek and paprika -- called cemen. The former is eaten as is while the latter is cooked into etli ekmek (which is then known as pastirmali ekmek), stewed with vegetables, or pan-fried with eggs.

Monday is beef delivery day in Kastamonu's pastirma/butcher area. Early in the morning we spotted men dressed in blood red uniforms unloading huge sides of beef from a truck. We followed them through a maze of passageways to a butcher shop, where we drank tea (of course) and chatted a bit with the shop's owner..

Kastamonu native Bayram Sari has owned his butcher shop, where he sells beef and his own pastirma and sucuk (sausage), for a little over 15 years. The enormous sides of beef hanging in his window are from Simmental, a breed of dairy and beef cow that can weigh up to 400+ kilos.

Bayram Bey makes his pastirma in a "secret" location about 45 minutes from downtown, he says. Curing is done from September to November, after summer has well and truly finished but before the worst of Kastamonu's bitter winter begins. To make the pastirma, beef loin and flank are rubbed with salt and air dried it for one to two months; the cemen coating is added after the meat is dried. Kastamonulu love their pastirma -- Bayram Bey figures he sells about 1.5 to 2 tons of the cured meat every year.

"That's no good," he said, pointing to a bag in my lap bearing the name of a pastirma shop next to the truck from which Bayram Bey's carcasses were being unloaded. "You have to try my pastirma!"

He had his shop assistant shave us a couple hundreds grams off a hunk in the display case. It was indeed delicious: not quite as dry as bresaola, supple and rich in flavor, tasting of beef first and then of garlic and spices. He also gifted us a few links of delicious sucuk which, with their hit of cumin, had me wishing for a soft corn tortilla. Go figure.

It's fair to say that when it comes to curing meat Bayram Bey is a maestro. After bidding him "Gorusuruz" (See you again -- and we will) we headed back to our hotel and packed our car for the drive to the coast.

We tucked the pastirma and sucuk into a bag with other edible souvenirs of Kastamonu -- sour plum fruit leather, "black" bulgur (coarse bulgur made from emmer, aka farro -- one of the province's specialty crops) and freshly harvested walnuts. Halfway to Inebolu the sun came out and we made an impromptu pitstop at cafe perched on a hilltop, where we refueled with tea, bread and Bayram Bey's pastirma (opening photo).

Comments

[Dasound Dasound]

Great post thanks. Excuse my ignorance but what is black bulgur? Toasted/roasted? I assume the sausage is also made from beef? Happy travelling to you!

[the food dude]

Great travel story, great photos! I enjoyed reading the post.

[marts aziz]

Thank you again. :-D

[Kalyan]

I really liked the food at Turkey. of course we just scratched the surface as we were at Istanbul. We went to Cappadoccia too but our meals there were in the hotel. The post brings out of the beauty of Turkey and suddenly reminded me of the terrible earthquake that just happened there. Hope they can get back to normal sooo

[Robyn]

DD- Sorry about that, should have elaborated. It's a dark brown very coarse bulgur that is, I believe, made from emmer wheat (aka farro). Emmer is a Kastamonu specialty crop. The bulgur is called siyah bulgur in the markets (siyah=black).

food dude -- thanks.

Marts - you're welcome as always! Thanks for hanging in there.

Kalyan -- there is so much more to Turkish food than is popularly known. We discover new things, new dishes ... many many new dishes wherever we go. I suspect there are hundreds of recipes out there waiting to be "unearthed". I take it as a challenge. :-)

[maya]

I love your Turkey posts! What you don't mention about pastirma is its terrible "side effects" such as your pee and sweat smelling of the killer cemen for a couple of days after consumption! But I love pastirma, and I like eating it just as you do in your post, over some good turkish bread. I really don't like it when it is cooked with kurufasulye for example...
ps: Robyn, a couple of months ago when I was living in NY you gave me some advice about finding cooking schools in Beijing, well I've been in Beijing for 2 months now and will be taking a couple of cooking classes at the Hutong very soon! So thanks a million again or XIE XIE should I say!!

[Teri Y]

I couldn't help but think what geniuses they are to wear blood red uniform as it masks the animal blood stains from all the carrying of the carcasses. It's unlike the typical white uniforms meat packers wear that get all stained with blood. They should learn from these Turkish butchers!

That said, the beef cured meat looks and sounds delicious. Are they almost like the beef version of prosciutto?

[Robyn]

Hi Maya -- Ha. Yes, that happened to me but I wondered if it was something else I ate that day, or if I was imagining it. I wonder if it's like asparagus pee, in that only some pple are born with whatever it takes to smell it.
You're welcome for Beijing. Hope you're enjoying it.

Good point Teri, didn't even think of that. I suppose white implies cleanliness for Americans (what do butchers wear in Europe?). But those uniforms can start to to look pretty gross by the end of a long day.
I would compare pastirma to bresaola. It's not nearly as fatty as prosciutto and is a bit more dried. But not as dried, or as stiff anyway, as bresaola and a little fattier.

[Snippets of Thyme]

I'm chuckling as I imagine an American butcher loping through a grocery story carrying that leg of beef! Our animal products are so packaged that we almost don't realize we are eating animals. Loving your Turkish trip and cannot wait to read more of it. All of the food names and descriptions are so different from what we know here.

[Amy @ Eggies]

One of the major reasons I want to travel to turkey is the food. Pictures like this confirm that they are masters in the kitchen. Beautiful pictures and I'm sure this was a great trip.

[Debbzie.blogspot.com]

What a great blog with beautiful pictures !
Love it :D