The Fastest Chef concept is simple. The objectives are to: Spend less time in the kitchen; treat your family and friends to delicious, nutritious, made-from-scratch meals (or meals that taste as if they were made from scratch); and to lower food costs.
As one way of accomplishing these goals, the Fastest Chef Rule No. 1 is: Whenever possible, cook for more than one meal.
On occasion, rules need to be broken and goals overlooked. Sometimes it’s fun to prepare a dish that requires an inordinate amount of work. One example is Individual Chocolate Lava Cakes with Homemade Rum-Ginger Ice Cream. That memorable dessert is not so much a recipe as it is a career. As a result, I prepare it only for very, very special occasions.
Homemade pastrami falls into a slightly different category. Although it doesn’t take a whole lot of time in the kitchen to make a pastrami, it does require a certain amount of effort every day for five days.
There are two good reasons why you should make your own pastrami instead of buying it from a deli. First, I’m sure you’ve never had store-bought pastrami as delicious as the kind you can make yourself. Second, you’ll save money — a whole lot of money.
Depending on the deli, pastrami sandwiches cost $10 to $15. By the pound, pastrami costs $16 to $23. At home, you can make pastrami for a fraction of that amount.
Yes, making pastrami is well worth the effort.
On the other hand, it rarely pays to make your own corned beef. Every year just before St. Patrick’s Day, many supermarkets sell cryovac-packaged corned beef at ridiculously low prices. I’ve seen corned beef on sale at 59 cents per pound, and prices of less than $1 per pound are not unusual.
That’s the time to buy some for your freezer. I generally get a dozen packages or more, enough to tide me over until the following year’s big sale.
Don’t confuse pastrami with corned beef. They’re entirely different, although both are cured and either can be made from the same cuts of beef.
Corned beef is cured in a brine solution; pastrami is cured with a dry rub. Corned beef is seasoned with pickling spices; pastrami is flavored with coriander, black pepper and garlic. Pastrami is smoked after curing; corned beef is not.
Pastrami originated in Turkey as a means of preserving meat, usually camel, in the days long before refrigeration. In nearby Romania, the idea of spicing and drying meat was adapted by Jewish butchers, and it eventually developed into the tender, peppery, garlicky delicacy we call pastrami.
According to Wikipedia, the name pastrami comes from the Romanian Pastrama, probably from the verb “a pastra” (to preserve, to keep), and was brought to the English language via Yiddish. The English ending “mi” was perhaps influenced by the word salami.
Patricia Volk (in her book, “Stuffed”) asserts that it was her great-grandfather who introduced pastrami to the New World.
Sussman Volk, a miller, left Lithuania and immigrated to the United States in 1887. But New York City didn’t have a need for millers.
To support his wife and seven children, Volk became a tinker. He traveled from place to place selling pots and pans, which he carried on his back. At night, he slept in the barns of his customers.
Volk wasn’t happy with the lowly job, and he especially didn’t like being away from his family. One morning, while saying his prayers, he was kicked by a horse. That was the final straw. He tore his hair and shouted, “My life lacks dignity!”
Once again, Volk changed careers. He opened a kosher butcher shop on Delancy Street.
Not long afterward, a Romanian friend stopped by to visit.
“Could you store a trunk for me in your basement?” he asked. “I’ve got to go back to Romania for a few years. If you’ll store my trunk, I’ll give you my recipe for making pastrami.”
Sussman took the trunk and the recipe. At first, he sold pastrami by the hunk. Then, by the slice. Then, he put it between two pieces of rye bread. The first New York deli was born.
It didn’t take long for competition to spring up. Katz’s Delicatessen was started in 1888 by a Russian immigrant family on the Lower East Side. The restaurant is frequented by politicians, entertainers and celebrities of all types. Al Gore took the Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin there to lunch. Barbara Streisand, Kathleen Turner, Bruce Willis, and Dan Aykroyd are a few others who enjoy the deli’s food.
Do you remember the “I’ll have what she’s having” scene in the movie “When Harry Met Sally?” It was filmed at Katz’s. So was the scene where Johnny Depp met his FBI contact in Donnie Brasco, and the scene where Judge Reinhold goes out to eat in “Off Beat.”
Episodes of “Law and Order” have also been filmed at Katz’s.
Today, it’s generally conceded that Katz’s Delicatessen has the best pastrami in New York, although there are some who would argue otherwise. Carnegie Deli and Artie’s New York Delicatessen are definitely contenders for the title, along with a few others.
Jeffrey Bank, one of the founders of Artie’s, had acquired — almost accidentally — the secret pastrami recipe from the late and lamented pastrami emporium Schmulke Bernstein’s. Artie’s now sells nearly a ton of pastrami every week.
New Yorkers may be partial to Katz’s, but the reputation for having the best pastrami in the United States (and probably the entire world) goes to Langer’s, a Los Angeles deli that’s been around since 1947.
Langer’s is located at 7th and Alvarado near downtown, a few blocks from MacArthur Park, in what is now a heavily Latino neighborhood. The founder, Al Langer, passed away in June 2007 at 94.
Right up to the time he died, he went into the deli several times a week for a few hours to help with the lunch crowd and to greet old customers. His son, Norm Langer, runs the place. Norm has worked the deli — a family affair — since 1963.
At Langer’s, you order pastrami sandwiches by the number. No. 1 is pastrami, cole slaw and Russian dressing. Add Swiss cheese and the number changes to 19. Pastrami, chopped liver, and Russian dressing is No. 6. A grilled pastrami, sauerkraut and “nippy” (American) cheese is No. 44.
And there are more. These sandwiches are on rye bread baked by Bea’s Bakery in Tarzana.
Pastrami can be made from several cuts of beef: the brisket, the beef plate adjacent to the brisket, the bottom round, the eye of the round, and the top round.
As the rounds are thick, they require injection of the curing spices in order to cure completely through to the center of the meat. That’s too much work to do at home.
Let’s forget about using those cuts of meat. The beef plate has much more fat than the brisket — which is why my wife, JJ, loves it — and it makes great pastrami, but it’s not readily available from supermarkets and retail meat sources, except on special order.
That leaves the brisket, which makes wonderful pastrami. We’ll work with that, but not an entire brisket — just the brisket flat.
There are three distinct steps to making pastrami: The curing process, the smoking and/or cooking process and the steaming process.
They say everything worthwhile is worth waiting for, and pastrami is no exception. It will be four or five days between the time you’ve brought the meat home and the time you’re able to sit down to a pastrami sandwich.
That gives you quite a bit of time to work up a big appetite in anticipation — especially when you smell the meat smoking and cooking.
PASTRAMI
PASTRAMI INGREDIENTS
1 brisket of beef flat
1 dry cure recipe
1 cooking rub recipe
DRY CURE INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup Morton Tender Quick
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup black pepper, coarsely ground
2 tablespoons coriander seeds, freshly ground
2 tablespoons granulated garlic
DIRECTIONS
Mix all of the ingredients together.
Note: Morton Tender Quick is available from Butcher & Packer, www.butcher-packer.com, Allied Kenco, www.alliedkenco.com, and even www.amazon.com. Some Wal-Mart stores and other groceries carry Tender Quick, either on the shelves where salt is sold or in the canning supplies section.
Important: Don’t try to substitute something else. This recipe won’t work without Morton Tender Quick.
Although you can buy coriander seeds already ground, it’s much better to start with the whole seeds and grind them in an electric spice grinder, such as the Krups GX-4100 coffee/spice grinder. By grinding the seeds as you need them, the oils are freshly released. And you can control the coarseness of the grind.
I suggest that you compare Butcher & Packer’s online prices for coriander seeds, black pepper and other spices with the prices at your local supermarket. My neighborhood supermarket charges $4.45 to $5.03 per ounce (depending upon the brand) for coriander seeds, packed in little 1 1/4-ounce containers.
B&P charges $1.45 for a full pound, bulk packed in a plastic bag (9 cents per ounce). Supermarket prices for coarsely ground black pepper range from $1.28 per ounce to $2.93 per ounce. B&P’s “Butchers Grind” black pepper is just $5.50 per pound (34 cents per ounce). Shipping is additional, but even with the shipping charges added in, you’ll still save a whole lot of money.
COOKING RUB INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons black pepper, coarsely ground
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, freshly ground
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon powdered hickory smoke flavor (optional, see below)
Mix all of the ingredients together.
THE CURING PROCESS
Trim off the fat cap on the brisket to no more than one-eighth-inch thick, so that the curing agent can penetrate the meat fully. Don’t remove all of the fat — some is needed for tenderness and flavor.
WASTE NOT, WANT NOT
Save the removed fat to use when you’re making french fries. Just render it in hot cooking oil. It will greatly improve the flavor of the fries. (Keep the fat in a Ziploc bag in your freezer until you’re ready to use it.)
DIRECTIONS
Using a sharp knife, stab the brisket at 2-inch intervals on both sides to help the curing agent penetrate the meat.
Apply half of the dry cure mix to one side of the brisket, rubbing it evenly over the surface and the edges. Repeat on the other side. Use all of the dry cure mix.
Place the brisket in a large plastic bag, such as a 2-gallon Ziploc bag or an oven roasting bag. Seal the bag, and set it on a rimmed sheet pan. Refrigerate.
Twice a day, turn the bag over.
On the fourth day, it’s time for the smoking/cooking process.
THE SMOKING / COOKING PROCESS
Remove the brisket from the plastic bag and rinse it under cold running water. While rinsing, rub the surface to remove as much of the seasonings as you can from the meat.
Place the meat in a container of cold water. Soak the meat for 30 minutes. Change the water, and soak it for an additional 30 minutes. Soaking is necessary to remove excess salt.
Dry the brisket with paper towels. Coat the brisket on both sides with the cooking rub.
THE TRADITIONAL WAY
If you have a smoker, such as a Weber, Char-Broil or Brinkmann, follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
Go easy on the amount of smoke wood, as you don’t want to overpower the flavor of the pastrami spices.
Maintain a cooker temperature of 225 to 250 degrees. Smoke the brisket until the internal temperature of the meat, as measured with a meat thermometer, reaches 165 degrees.
If you don’t have a smoker, you can smoke the pastrami on your propane or natural gas barbecue grill.
Soak two handfuls of smoke wood chips (hickory, mesquite or other) in water overnight. Drain, then divide the chips into two portions. Seal each portion in aluminum foil. Using a knife, punch four or five holes on one side of each packet of wood chips.
Please the packets of wood chips inside your barbecue grill, punched holes up, directly on top of the front burner. The goal is to get the wood inside the packets hot enough to smoke, but not to catch fire. If the wood chips do catch fire, pour a little water over the packet to put the fire out.
Place a rimmed sheet pan on the back of your grill and pour in several cups of water. Put a wire rack on top of the sheet pan, and the cured brisket on the wire rack. The water in the sheet pan will help assure that the brisket isn’t cooked by direct heat. Instead, it will be slowly smoked.
Light the front burner and close the lid of the grill. Watch the temperature of the grill carefully; you don’t want it to exceed 250 degrees.
If you’ve followed these directions closely, you should be able to smell the delicious aroma of wood smoke soon.
Check the brisket periodically and take its temperature with a meat thermometer. Turn the brisket over every hour. At a 250-degree cooking temperature, it takes about an hour per pound of meat for the brisket to reach 165 degrees.
THE FASTEST CHEF WAY
You don’t need a smoker or a barbecue grill to make delicious pastrami. You can do it in your kitchen oven. That means that, no matter how bad the weather is outside, you don’t have to postpone making pastrami.
Making pastrami in your oven is a lot less work. And, even more importantly, your pastrami will be consistently great, as you never have to worry about whether you’ve smoked the meat too much or too little.
The secret is a natural-powdered hickory smoke flavor (available from Butcher and Packer and others) that’s made from hickory smoke.
It’s virtually impossible to tell the difference between pastrami that’s actually smoked and pastrami that’s flavored with the smoke powder.
To impart the desired smoke flavor to the meat, simply add 1 teaspoon of powdered hickory smoke flavor to the cooking rub spice mixture. Put the meat on a wire rack, sitting in a rimmed sheet pan.
Pour several cups of water into the sheet pan. If all of the water evaporates during cooking, add some more.
Bake the pastrami at 250 degrees. Turn the meat every hour or so, until the internal temperature of the brisket reaches 165 degrees — about one hour per pound of meat.
WRAPPING THINGS UP
Remove the brisket from the smoker, grill or oven. Wrap it in heavy-duty aluminum foil. Allow the meat to rest for two hours.
Congratulations! Your pastrami is now fully cooked and ready to eat, hot or cold.
At this stage, however, the meat is hard and dry. There’s one more step to do if you want the pastrami to be juicy and tender: Steam the pastrami to add back some of the moisture that was removed during the smoking/cooking process.
THE STEAMING PROCESS
Cut off a chunk of as much pastrami as you intend to serve and steam it for at least three hours. Some delis steam pastrami for five or six hours before slicing it. Most any type of steamer will do.
Slice pastrami as thin as possible, against the grain.
Pastrami will keep for a week or more in your refrigerator. For longer storage, wrap it in plastic and put it in your freezer.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
There are many ways to use pastrami, such as pastrami and eggs, navy bean soup with pastrami, etc. But most people prefer their pastrami in sandwiches.
It’s probably illegal in some parts of the country to serve pastrami on anything other than seeded rye bread. If it’s not a felony, it should at least be a misdemeanor. The bread must be fresh and, preferably, warmed. I wrap as many slices as are needed in aluminum foil and heat them for several minutes in a 350-degree oven.
It’s mandatory to serve a top-notch deli mustard with pastrami — a mustard that contains a goodly amount of horseradish. My homemade dilly mustard is perfect.
Serving mayonnaise with pastrami may be a capital crime in some jurisdictions. However, Russian dressing, even though it usually contains mayonnaise, is acceptable.
I don’t consider it gilding the lily to add a schmear of chicken liver paté to my pastrami sandwich. Not at all. The two meats complement each other perfectly.
Some people like cole slaw on their pastrami sandwiches. I much prefer mine on the side, as cole slaw makes the bread soggy. Other people add Swiss cheese, sliced tomatoes, even sauerkraut to their pastrami sandwiches.
De gustibus non est disputandum. (That’s Latin for there’s no accounting for tastes. Or so I’ve been told.)
Reach David W. Cowles, the Fastest Chef in the West, at dwcowles-gateway@comcast.net.