/peuh strah"mee/ , n.
a brisket of beef that has been cured in a mixture of garlic, peppercorns, sugar, coriander seeds, etc., then smoked before cooking.
[ 1935-40; pastrame pastrama pressed, cured meat; a Balkanism of uncert. orig. (cf. ModGk pastramâs, Serbo-Croatian pastrma ), perh. ult. pastirma, taken as var. of BASTIRMA, equiv. to bastir-, causative s. of bas- press, squeeze + -ma verbal n. suffix ]