Homemade beef basturma

to prepare the Armenian basturma according to this culinary recipe, we wash the beef fillet and cut it into pieces 25-30 cm long, 10-12 cm wide and 5-6 cm thick. Then we put the pieces of meat in rows in the trough, put all the salt and saltpeter in the bowl, mix and pour this mixture over the pieces of beef. After that, we cover the meat with a clean cloth and leave it for two or three days, turn the meat over and leave it again for 2 days. Then, the ripened meat is washed with cold water, and dried on a wooden grate. After drying, we shift the prepared meat in rows on a table covered with a cloth, tighten the edges of the fabric tightly, put a board on the fabric, and some weight on the board. We press the meat for about 5 hours, then change the fabric and press it for another hour and a half. At the end of pressing, we tie the pieces of meat tightly with twine and hang them in the shade for 12 hours so that they are thoroughly dried (the meat should be dry to the touch).
Cumin seeds are sorted, washed and crushed. Peel the garlic and finely chop it. Mix garlic, cumin, ground red pepper and add water so that this mixture looks like liquid sour cream. After that, we rub the pieces of dried meat with this mixture, stack them in rows and stand for 4 days. Repeat this procedure several times and then dry for about 10 days. It turns out excellent food for real gourmets.