New York Deli, with a Shropshire Twist...
The History
In the late 1800s Romanian immigrants to New York City created something special. For years before in their home country they brined, spiced, smoked and steamed meat to help preserve it in the days before refrigeration. The main meat they used for this was goose. It was cheap, in abundance and tasted fantastic when cured like this. They called it ‘Pastrama’. When they got to New York, they found out that goose was very expensive and in short supply.
They searched for another meat to use in their beloved recipe and they came across beef brisket. Cuts from the forequarter of beef at the time were abundant and cheap, perfect for their recipe. They used the same method as they had with the goose and Pastrami was born. Today, the smokey, spicey, cured beef is in delis and on menus across the world.
We've made our own
It’s a little embarrassing that it took us so long, but we like to think we know a thing or two about curing meat, and with no shortage of beef moving through our doors, we thought we’d have a crack at pastrami- Buttercross Style. After we'd finished the first batch, we got a little carried away with the testing. It only took 4 of us to polish off a kilo in half an hour.
Traditional pastrami production means the meat should be soaked in a brine solution before being rubbed in spice and then smoked and steamed. We've changed this tradition and applied our award-winning dry curing method to the beef, mixed with a top-secret spice rub. Once it has dry cured for 5 days, we slowly smoke the meat over oak chippings and then cook it ‘sous vide’ to achieve a consistent, tender texture. The result is a beautifully cured pastrami with notes of black pepper, coriander, and garlic. Further testing has proved it goes perfectly on a sandwich with American mustard and pickles…
We supply the pastrami thinly sliced, as whole blocks of pastrami or even raw so you can cook and slice to your liking. Now in stock, please get in touch to order a sample. We might even try our hand at traditional goose pastrama- so give us a shout if you’d be interested in that.
