Deli Counter · Cured Beef Sandwich
Pastrami on Rye
Photo: Erika39 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0
A Katz's pastrami sandwich carries well over half a pound of meat, and the deli still hands every customer a paper ticket at the door to track what they order.
Beef brisket or navel is cured, coated in a heavy black-pepper-and-coriander rub, smoked, then steamed for hours until fall-apart tender and hand-sliced onto rye bread with mustard. Jewish delicatessens on the Lower East Side, led by Katz's since 1888, still carve it to order at the counter.
Why it's made this way: Eastern European Jewish immigrants brought pastrami-curing techniques to New York's Lower East Side delis, and the towering deli sandwich became a defining New York meal.
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