Posted on 01/26/2022 12:49:13 PM PST by mylife
You know what corned beef is, right? (If you don't, this handy explainer might help.) Since you're now so well-versed in the art of pickled brisket, let's move on to pastrami, corned beef's slightly more luxurious cousin. Here's what you need to know about the historic sandwich staple.
What is pastrami? While corned beef is typically made from brisket, pastrami generally comes from the cow's navel area, Serious Eats reports. The navel cut is a fatty one, and it's also likely to stand up well to the long cooking process that's to come. When you eat it, it's less stringy than corned beef tends to be.
That said, pastrami can be made from brisket as well, which means in some cases, the difference between the two comes in the cooking process rather than the brining one.
How is pastrami treated differently than corned beef? Corned beef is either boiled or steamed after it's been salt-cured. Whereas, The Nosher notes, "pastrami is seasoned with a dry spice mix, smoked, and then often steamed again before serving." The seasoning used after the brining is pretty similar to what's used in the salty brine.
How do you eat it? Most people like to eat it pretty straightforwardly: with mustard on rye. Again, that's different than most corned beef dishes. Corned beef is mostly paired with cabbage and carrots (though come to New York and you'll find monster corned beef sandwiches are plenty popular here, too).
known lots of
Irish, hell my grandad was Irish, we eat what want when we can
Bitt ein bitt
So do I... That is why it is a little different than Katz’s stuff. Just as tasty, but presentation isnt as perfect.
Smoked some when all the new years corned beef went on sale. Love that I have a smoker I dont have to tend when the weather is cold and rainy like the day I did it. The bonus is that point cut is the cheaper cut to boot.
I like using cherry wood to smoke it but hickory and pecan do fine.
If you want that vibrant pink color throughout make sure that the corned beef has had “pink salt” used, ie. the nitrate cure. (Check the ingredients) Flavor isnt impacted, and I actually prefer not to use the nitrate cured stuff, but it isnt that vibrant color.
I miss Carnegie's. They closed their restaurants, but they still sell their famous pastrami and corned beef to the public and a few restaurants (though I haven't found any).
As for pastrami vs corned beef, at Carnegie's you didn't have to choose. The "Woody Allen" was one of their top sellers with half and half pastrami and corned beef. Here in San Diego, good pastrami (or even a really good deli) is almost impossible to find. And nobody here stacks the meat up like the NY style delis. You get 5 or 6 oz of meat instead of north of a pound. At least in NY, that $20 sandwich is good for two or three meals.
Corned was simply a way of preserving meat. That made it cheaper than fresh meat. People all over the world probably did it. It isn’t some kind of specifically Nationally recognized dish in Ireland. I’ve heard Irish in Ireland actually ask WHY corned beef is associated in the American mind with the Irish.
pecan is great on beef
Don’t give up until you’ve tried Katz’s in New York
“you can smoke it”
Does it give as good of a high as banana peels?
I make my own also. I use eye of round. It takes 14 days to cure. I’ve not gone back to store corned beef since.
Exactly!
My doctor asked me if I smoke. I said, yes.
He asked; marijuana, cigars, cigarettes, vape?
I said, Brisket!
I sometimes serve it on Indian flat bread so I can claim to be a Naan-smoker
“Corned was simply a way of preserving meat. That made it cheaper than fresh meat. People all over the world probably did it. It isn’t some kind of specifically Nationally recognized dish in Ireland. I’ve heard Irish in Ireland actually ask WHY corned beef is associated in the American mind with the Irish.”
Big export by Ireland. English gave it the name.
LOL!!
I worked at a Jewish deli for a few years when I was in my 20s. Vienna Beef, it’s still around. Very different appearance between corned beef and pastrami. Like the article says, more fat.
These days we get Boar’s Head corned beef and pastrami, the cuts are the same just processed differently.
I imagine almost every culture had salted beef.
“I don’t believe so.
The Irish eat bacon, not corned beef.
In NYC, the Irish population learned of corned beef from the adjacent Jewish population.
It is a phenomenon of Irish immigrants to the US.”
It was an Irish export before they came to the US. Locals in Ireland ate pork because they couldn’t afford beef.
smoke moe, smoke
There are a couple of FReepers on this thread who would *really enjoy* dealing with Katz’s countermen...lol
In the late 1980s, Carnegie Deli opened a branch in a hotel in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, right across the street from the software company where I worked. The quality and quantity of the food was incredible - the sandwiches were 5 inches high. Each table included a big jar of pickled vegetables that you could eat for free. A lunch trip was good for several meals. My girlfriend and I would often pick up, say, a chopped liver and a pastrami sandwich on a Friday and subsist on them all weekend. We were heartbroken when they closed down.
Corned beef or pastrami: Both need a good strong beer or ale with them and a piece of raw onion on the side.
The first time I ate pastrami I was literally stunned. Like, “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE???!!!” stunned.
Well... darn. Now I’m hungry.
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