The (next) Year of Pastrami

[thunderlounge 8394]

Kudos to @Hiphopopotamos for this. All credit due, it shouldn't be lost in translation.

 

The @BBQSnob Daniel Vaughn has declared 2016 The Year of Pastrami in the BBQ world.  BBQ joints have started adding pastrami brisket and beef ribs to their menu.
http://www.tmbbq.com/the-history-of-texas-pastrami/

 

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Pastrami is to New York City like smoked brisket is to Lockhart, Texas: they are the signature smoked meats of their respective cities, and both lay claim to being the originator. Black’s BBQ has said in the past that they were the first to put brisket on the menu in Texas. They were certainly on the leading edge of the menu innovation, but proving that is a tougher task. As for the first smoked pastrami, a highly regarded New York food writer questions whether the innovation was really born in New York City. Maybe pastrami as we know it started in Texas.

...New York, Virginia, and Texas were on board with an early love for pastrami, but it wasn’t well known across the country for several decades. Chicago was once the hub of American beef packing, but a question from a customer stumped the authors of Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making published by Chicago-based B. Heller & Co. in 1916. “Can you furnish me with a recipe for making (Postromer) Peppered Beef?” asked the customer. The answer is comical. “We do not clearly understand your question. If you mean cured Briskets that are covered with red pepper, or Paprika Compound, and then smoked, you can proceed as follows…”

Postromer wasn’t the most common spelling, but the answer didn’t even mention a term for pastrami. The Weil brothers brought us “pastromie,” but that was far from the only derivation. Before the 1930’s there were countless terms like “spiced pastromer” at Sonnemtheil’s in Dallas in 1908, or “pastroma” as advertised in Dallas, Greenville, and Fort Worth between 1909 and 1911. There was also pastrame, pestrame, pastromi, and pasturma. All of these variations make it harder to track down an origination point. Even if we did find the first restaurant that served it, it’s hard to tell whether or not is was smoked like today’s pastrami. Even in 1920, Hygrade Provisions Company in Brooklyn applied for a trademark patent, and they listed “Smoked Pastroma” of several varieties as part of their product line. Evidently the modifier “smoked” was still required.

Texas and smoked meat have a long history, and before this research project I didn’t realize how early we developed a love for pastrami in the Lone Star State. Variations of it were advertised in Dallas, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, El Paso, and even Wichita Falls before 1920. Maybe Sietsema’s theory isn’t so far-fetched, but I’d bet plenty of New Yorkers would be willing to argue.

 

 

The Best Pastrami in America is in Texas:
http://www.tmbbq.com/the-best-pastrami-in-america/

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Good news, Texans: You don’t need to fly to New York for the best pastrami in the country. The bad news is that it’s only available once a week. The Granary in San Antonio starts slicing it when their doors open at 11:00 in the morning on Fridays, and it’s gone before the lunch hour ends. Hurry. It’s not too late to change your lunch plans.

The Granary has been known for their barbecue (it’s a Texas Monthly Top 50 joint) since brothers Tim and Alex Rattray opened it in 2012. Within the first month, their house-made pastrami was on the specials board and it never came off. An uncomfortable saltiness marred early offerings, but the current version became my favorite pastrami after the first bite. It was a bite so profound that it kicked off a tour of the great pastrami houses in the country to see if I could find one to match it. Some were close, but the Granary reigns supreme.

 

Pastrami brisket bug bit me a few weeks back - and I decided to make one for the Super Bowl.

I had a ridiculously good dish called Montreal Smoked Meat about a decade ago while working up there, and only recently learned that its basically hot pastrami smoked and sliced like you would a brisket.  

Brined in Salt, Garlic, Onion, and Prague Powder for a week. (I had to separate point/flat in order to fit the brisket and brine in the fridge.)

Soaked in water for 24 hours to desalinate a little.  

Rubbed with cracked pepper, coriander, brown sugar, garlic powder, and onion powder.

Smoked for 4 hours, wrapped in butcher paper for two more hours, and then into the cooler for an hour.

End result:

http://amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/close_to_katzs_home_made_pastrami.html

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/06/difference-between-pastrami-smoked-meat-katzs-schwartzs-mile-end.html

http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/curing_meats.html

http://barbecuebible.com/2014/08/26/guide-nitrites-prague-powder-curing-salts/