The New York style pastrami recipe

From Europe to metropolises around the world: pastrami

A typical spicy roast of Romanian cuisine - often influenced by neighboring countries - and among Jewish culture, it has become the main ingredient of a super tasty sandwich truly loved all over the world and which we can find as a proposal in food trucks in American metropolises, but also in many eastern cities.

Apparently simple but very high quality ingredients: toasted rye bread, roasted, smoked and sliced ​​brisket - or brisket - spicy mustard and pickled gherkins. Few ingredients but which contain all the culinary art of those who know how to cook and combine them properly.

In fact, although there are many restaurants or food trucks that now offer this sandwich, only those who know how to measure the marinade, select the best cut of meat, prepare a juicy and non-dry roast and master the art of smoking can truly consider themselves the master of the pastrami and be more successful than a competitor offering the same dish.

The perfect meat for pastrami

It seems obvious but the secret to a winning pastrami is precisely the meat and the cut used: the best is always the beef brisket or - as the American cousins ​​like to call it - the beef brisket. Lean but with that little bit of fat that gives it a wonderful taste and slightly marbled; in short, the brisket is perfect for creating a super juicy roast, compact and easy to slice and use to fill our pastrami sandwich.

The pastrami recipe

The pastrami recipe is not as quick as it might seem for a sandwich preparation, since to really make it properly we must prepare a brisket roast, prepare the right marinade and create the right smokiness. Just think that the original recipe requires about five days of preparation!

Trying to eliminate the longest part - after cooking - i.e. the use of the smoker (and with a little patience), let's see the recipe together and we will be able to bring to the table this tasty sandwich worthy of every food truck in New York.

Ingredients for pastrami (4 people)

• 1.2 kg of beef brisket
• 1 liter of water
• 6 cloves
• 1 head of garlic
• spicy grain mustard to taste
• pickled gherkins to taste
• rye bread or loaf bread to taste

The following spices have a measurement of approximately 8-10 g

• black pepper and salt
• sweet paprika powder
• mustard seeds
• chopped bay leaves
• cinnamon
• ginger
• spicy chilli powder (if desired)

Method for pastrami

Let's prepare the marinade for our meat. In a pan with 1 liter of water, add all the spices except the pepper. We raise the heat and bring to the boil, cook for about 10 minutes and leave to cool.

Let's move on to marinating the brisket, massage the meat to soften it even more and immerse it in the sauce/brine. We cover with the lid and let it rest outside the refrigerator for at least one night (about 8 hours) but, if we have time, the time can increase up to a maximum of 24 hours.

Once the marinating hours have passed, we can prepare the pastrami for cooking. Remove the piece of liquid-salted meat and massage it with a mixture of salt and black pepper.

We have two ways: one grilled and one baked. For grilling, cook the pastrami over medium high heat towards the last hour, for about 3-4 hours, or in any case until it reaches 85-90° at the core. As soon as it is ready, let it rest for at least half an hour without piercing or cutting the meat.

If we opt to cook the pastrami in the oven, wrap it with a generous amount of foil, so that the heat spreads evenly. We set the oven temperature to 150-160° C and cook for around 3-3.5 - being careful to turn the pastrami halfway through cooking. Also in this case, once cooked let it rest for at least 30 minutes without piercing or cutting it.

Now it's time to create the real pastrami sandwich. Cut it into thin slices - similar to roast beef - and serve between two nice slices of toasted wholemeal bread, mustard and gherkins. We can also decide to use other condiments that we will bring to the table so that each diner can compose the pastrami as they like: green light for spring onions, salad, sweet mustard, mayonnaise and anything else to taste.