Market Stall · Cured Beef
Pastarma
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No spices touch the meat during curing at all — just salt and controlled air, letting naturally occurring bacteria do all the flavoring.
Whole cuts of beef are salted and air-dried in temperature-controlled chambers for weeks until the meat turns deep red and intensely savory, then sliced thin and sold at Rhodope market stalls as a snack or rakia accompaniment.
Why it's made this way: Beef pastarma has been made in Bulgaria's mountain villages since at least the 19th century, using techniques refined for the Rhodopes' cool, dry mountain air.
More from Bulgaria
Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
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