Pastrami

[Jan Ivarsson TransEdit]

The Dictionary of the Swedish National Encyclopedia has for "pastrami" (my translation):
pastra´mi subst. [- - -] smoked entrecôte [- - -] by way of Yiddish from Romanian pastrama with the same sense, from pastra "to preserve".
Jan Ivarsson, Sweden
jan.ivarsson at transedit.st

----- Original Message -----
From: <Bapopik at AOL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2002 12:46 AM
Subject: Pastrami (1831?);YAC & RAC; Heronner; Gen. Tso


> PASTRAMI (1831?)
>
>    This continues a discussion of "pastrami."  David Shulman discussed it
on 60 MINUTES II last year.  I have two new items.
>    For whatever it's worth, this is from JOURNAL OF A RESIDENCE IN BAGDAD
DURING THE YEARS 1830 AND 1831 (James Nisbet, London, 1832) by Anthony N.
Groves, pg. 250 (journal entry dated 12 September 1831):
>
>    When dear Mr. Pfander left us, we made him some sausages, called in
this country _pastourma_; he, however, took but a few, and the rest remained
with us, and served us both during the plague....
>

If this has already been noted, apologies. However: might this _pastourma_
not, given the geography, more likely be some local version of the Greek
(and I think Turkish) _bastourma_ (sp.?) which is a dry lamb (beef?)
sausage, I believe with red wine as an ingredient. Despite my ignorance as
to the detail of the ingredients I've often bought them from Greek delis in
London. They have nothing, other than being meat-based and flavoursome (and
eaten without the need for further cooking), in common with pastrami.

Jonathon Green