Pastrami

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Pastrami is a popular deli meat made from chiefly red meat. The raw meat is salted (through immersion in a thick brine), then dried, seasoned with various herbs and spices (such as garlic, black pepper, marjoram, basil) and smoked. Aside from the pepper and smoking, it is similar in process and flavor to corned beef. In the United Kingdom and the United States, beef is used and the meat is boiled after the salting stage. Recently, turkey pastrami has been produced in the United States.

The English word pastrami is derived from the Yiddish: פּאַסטראָמע (pronounced pastrómeh). Both the dish and the word were brought to the United States with a wave of the Jewish immigration from Bessarabia and Romania in the second half of the 19th century; it is a signature dish of the local Jewish cuisine of these regions. The word, however, as used in Yiddish and various languages of the Balkans (e.g. Romanian pastramă), which entered the Russian language as pastromá, is likely of Turkic origin, spread during the period of the Ottoman domination of the region. The authoritative dictionary of gastronomic terminology of the Yiddish language (by Dr. M. Schaechter) and the official etymological dictionary of the Romanian language, the Dicţionarul Explicativ Al Limbii Române, derive the term from Turkic pastirma ([1]). Indeed, an analogous Armenian and Middle Eastern dish is known as basturma. Early references in English spelled "pastrama", while its current form is associated with a Jewish store selling "pastrami" in New York City in 1887. It is likely that this spelling was introduced to sound related to the Italian salami.

Unlike its Jewish and derivatively modern American counterparts (where pastrami is exclusively a beef dish), in the Romanian tradition, sheep meat was used and over time pork became the prevalent choice. Romanians distinguish between different kinds of pastrami, depending on the meat used. When not specified, pork is implied.

It usually is served as a cold cut in sandwiches, but it can also be heated and served as a side dish. One such example is fried pastrami, with corn polenta and green onions.

Traditional New York pastrami was made from the navel end of the brisket, which contains considerably more fat than the chest area. It was typically served hot in a rye bread sandwich, often with cole slaw and Russian dressing, similar to a Reuben sandwich. In recent years, this version of pastrami has become much harder to find.

[edit] See also

• Smoked meat