• Trim your filet mignon so that you are left with a whole piece. No flaps or loose pieces should be on your muscle. Remove the silver skin and remove the fat if you want a leaner basturma
• Weigh your filet mignon and enter the weight in grams in the "servings" section of this recipe.
• Combine all of the "cure" ingredients and rub them onto your meat. Be sure to include 100% of all the cure spices. Place the meat in a bag and vacuum seal it (or a zip lock bag and remove as much air as possible).
• Once your meat has been vac sealed place it in a tray with a heavy weight on top (to achieve a flattened look) Place this in your refrigerator for 5 days. Be sure to turn the meat daily.
• After 5 days your beef has been cured and you can remove it from the fridge. Wash off any excess seasonings, liquid, and blot dry with a paper towel. You want the meat to be moist and tacky.
• Place the cured beef onto a collagen sheet and wrap. Prick out any air pockets that might have formed. Secure with elastic netting or butchers twine. Weigh the meat and record the weight.
• Hang in a drying chamber that has a controlled temperature of 55F and a humidity of 80% till 25% of the weight has been lost.
• After 25% weight has been lost it's time to prepare the spice coating. Combine all of the chaman (spice coating) ingredients in a bowl. Slowly add water till you achieve a paste like consistency.
• Remove the casing from the cured beef and with a needle weave some butchers twine through the very top and tie a knot. This is how we will hang our bastura. Next spread a thin layer of the spice paste (⅛ inch) all over your basturma. Try to keep the spice paste as evenly spread as possible.
• Once finished dip your fingers in some water and smooth the spice paste then hang your basturma to finish drying back in a drying chamber set to 55F and 80% rH. In here it will hang for another 2-3 weeks (it really depends on how big your muscle is. If you are using a large cut it may take a little longer). What you are looking for is your spice coating to completely dry out. Once that happens your basturma is ready to eat.. Enjoy.

Equalizing the basturma (optional)

• after your basturma is finished you can equalize it by placing the dried meat in a vac sealed bag and removing all the air out of it. Then place it in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks. This will allow the moisture levels that are in your basturma to equally redistribute throughout the meat. This often deepens the flavor and improves the texture of the final product.