Pastrami is one of the most popular ingredients in the United States. Today we’ll tell you everything about pastrami: what it is, how it’s made, where you can enjoy the best pastrami in the world, and how you can make it yourself at home.
Pastrami is one of the most popular ingredients in American cuisine and a key part of New York’s culinary history. It appears in movies, stars in street food TV shows, and goes viral on YouTube videos of American-inspired cooks.
What is pastrami actually and what is its origin and history? Why is it so popular? Where can you enjoy the best pastrami? Can we make it at home? These and many other pastrami-related questions are answered below.
What is pastrami
Pastrami is a red meat—usually beef—that is spiced, brined, and smoked to give it a distinctive, intense flavor of Jewish origin. Also called pastrami in some Hispanic countries, it is usually served in sandwiches, cut into slices just under a centimeter thick, to which mustard is usually added and accompanied by coleslaw and pickled gherkins. At least that is the recipe of the most revered place to eat pastrami: Katz’s in New York, where one of the most famous scenes in the world of cinema was filmed: Meg Ryan faking an orgasm in front of Billy Crystal while enjoying the signature turkey sandwich in When Harry Met Sally (1989). By the way, if you’re wondering how much a pastrami sandwich costs at Kat’z, you should know that it’s not cheap: at the time of writing this article, $27.45.
The huge popularity of pastrami today and the fact that it has become an icon of urban fast food is mainly due to the influence of tourism, the media, and the Internet, which have given visibility to restaurants like Kat’z where really elaborate and attractive pastrami recipes are served, as well as other specialties of Jewish cuisine, including the corned beef with which the famous Reuben sandwich is made. The uniqueness of the original pastrami recipe, very different from the processed industrial product that we sometimes see in supermarkets, has aroused the interest of lovers of the world of meat and grills, turning places like this into a tourist attraction.
Origin and history of pastrami
Pastrami, in short, has its origins in the Byzantine Empire, thanks to which it spread and, more recently, in present-day Eastern Europe, especially Romania, and is an example of kosher-style barbecues, a dish typical of Jewish cuisine that, in the end, is nothing more than a cut of preserved meat, cured in the traditional style and cooked. European emigration to the United States at the end of the 19th century, especially that of Romanian Jews who settled in New York with their popular Delicatessen restaurants, popularly abbreviated as “Deli”, did the rest.
According to authorities on the subject, the name pastrami comes from the Romanian word pastramă, which in turn comes from the Greek παστραμάς/παστουρμάς, which comes from the Turkish pastırma and, within this same language, from the word bastırma, which in our language means something like “press the meat.” And why do we care? Because precisely the etymological origin of the word is what takes us to the origins of the product itself or, rather, its ancestors.
One of the great challenges that humanity has always faced is how to preserve meat for longer without it rotting. Dried meat, dehydrated with the help of the sun and wind, treated with salt, pepper and other spices or smoked, has historically been a common resource in various cultures and in different parts of the planet. Also in Asia Minor, currently occupied by the Asian part of Turkey, or in the Eastern Roman Empire, where it was especially appreciated gastronomically speaking. These preparations, especially the Byzantine one, are believed to have been the precursors of pastırma, the traditional dish of many cuisines of the eastern Mediterranean Sea and by extension of the Romanian pastrama, surely the most direct predecessor of pastrami.
The first references to this dish in English use the name pastrami to refer to it. It is believed that those responsible for its introduction to the United States were the Jews who, in the mid-19th century, arrived from Romania and Bessarabia to the Lower East Side of New York after passing through Ellis Island, where they opened their own shops alongside Italians and Germans and from where they would later spread to the West Coast and Canada. Not for nothing is it believed that the name pastrami arose as a phonetic evolution that made it rhyme with the Italian salami that was served in the neighboring stores as a marketing technique that facilitated its sale.
They used goose, chicken or goose meat according to their tradition, but when they found beef cheaper and more widely available, they adapted the recipe. The result? More or less the pastrami we know today. Some people credit kosher butcher Sussman Volk with being the first to make pastrami with beef in the United States in 1887 using the recipe that a Lithuanian friend left him in exchange for storing his belongings on a trip back to Romania. However, as is often the case in these cases, many question the information, including the owners of Kat’z, which opened in 1888.
How to make pastrami
The process of making pastrami consists of taking a piece of meat, bleeding it, curing it in salt, seasoning it with different spices, smoking it, and finally steaming it. In this way, tough and fibrous meat is transformed into a tender and succulent morsel.
There is no single, standard recipe for pastrami, and in all likelihood what was once known as pastramă and all its precursor versions bears little resemblance to what we all know today as pastrami. And we’re not just talking about replacing poultry with beef.
Kat’z’s recipe, for example, is one of the best-kept secrets, and although there is no shortage of enthusiasts who have tried to replicate it as faithfully as possible, only they have the tricks to the recipe that has turned their restaurant at 205 E. Houston St. into the mecca of the pastrami sandwich.
The founder and editor of the world’s most popular barbecue and grilling website, AmazingRibs.com, “Meathead” Goldwyn has been one of the most knowledgeable researchers behind the Kat’z recipe, and in fact, his recipe is the basis for many recipes made around the world, as it was arguably the first and most detailed recipe on the Internet. He went straight to the source, spoke to legendary Kat’z chef Kenny Kohn (who passed away in 2015), spoke to other Kat’z employees (not without finding contradictions among them), tasted sandwiches left and right, studied kitchens for hours, watched every video on the Internet, followed every reader lead… and did his own testing.
The first step is to prepare what is known in the United States as corned beef —although it can also be purchased already prepared there. To prepare pastrami, the most commonly used cuts are a skirt, brisket, or beef flap. The first thing to do is to soak the meat in a wet brine made of water, salt, and sodium nitrate, a healing agent, for 3 or 4 weeks until the corned beef is obtained.
Once the meat is cured by the liquid solution, it is rubbed with the spice mix . Black pepper and coriander are essential in the Kat’z recipe and are responsible for the black color that the outside of the meat takes on after being smoked, but it is possible to use the most varied mixtures, each cook has his own formula. The spice mix is pressed against the meat while massaging it so that it sets well. Once it is completely covered by the spice mix, it is refrigerated for 24 to 48 hours, which helps to set the flavors and aromas better.
The next step is smoking. The pieces are placed in temperature-controlled smokers. Typically, they are smoked for several hours, in the most extreme cases up to 72 hours (it all depends on the size) at a temperature that usually does not exceed 110 ºC. In this way, the meat cooks slowly and the smoky aromas are fixed. Once smoked, the meat is cooled and refrigerated again for 24 to 48 hours.
On the day it is served, the meat is lightly steamed. At this point, it is ready to eat. What is normally done is to cut it into thin slices.
Pastrami recipes and how to eat it
If you’re really interested in pastrami, the first thing you’ll ask yourself is whether you can make it at home. Quick answer: yes . As you’ve seen, starting with “Meathead” Goldwyn’s recipe or any of the endless recipes on the Internet, you can start experimenting with your own pastrami. The Internet is full of videos and articles that talk about the subject and that will serve as inspiration for you to experiment with the entire process, with the times and with the techniques. Although the best pastrami in the world need weeks of cooking, it is possible to simplify the times and modify the steps, for example by applying the so-called Texas Crutch, a technique in which the meat is wrapped in aluminum foil to cook it in its own juices and with which we can avoid the final steaming. Of course, if you want a pastrami like Kat’z’s, something must cost you.
For those who do not want to complicate their lives so much, the easiest way is to turn to commercial surfaces and specialized establishments. Meat suppliers such as La Finca de los hermanos Jiménez Barbero, specialized butchers such as CARNIco in Madrid or gourmet sausage shops increasingly have apstrami among their products.
When it comes to enjoying it, the most traditional way is to do it in the form of a New York-style pastrami sandwich. Rye bread is what they use at Kat’z since it pairs perfectly with the flavor of the pastrami, but many types of bread can be used. You may be asked if you want mustard on the bread slices to top it off, or another type of sauce such as mayonnaise. What to serve with pastrami? Coleslaw and dill pickles are standard, but it’s not uncommon to find other types of salad.
Because of the way, it is usually cut, it is also ideal for preparing a pastrami carpaccio that we can season in the style of the Italian beef carpaccio recipe with olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, arugula, and parmesan, and its versatility makes it possible to use it as another ingredient in all kinds of appetizers, from toasts to gildas.