Why Katz's Delicatessen Pastrami Takes Nearly A Month To Make

There are two inextricably linked icons in the canon of New York City's historic food scene: The pastrami sandwich and Katz's Delicatessen — the most famed purveyor of said sandwich. Pastrami has been a quintessential NYC dish since the late 19th century when it was brought stateside by Eastern European immigrants. At the same time in the immigrant-populated neighborhood of the Lower East Side in Manhattan, Katz's Delicatessen opened — well, it opened as Iceland Brothers in 1888, became Iceland & Katz when Willy Katz joined in 1903, and was finally named Katz's Deli by 1910, when Willy and his cousin Benny bought the Iceland brothers out. The legendary Jewish deli immediately put itself on the map by making one of the country's best pastrami sandwiches. And a large part of why it still reigns supreme is the time and care that goes into making the pastrami.

Katz's offers exceptional pastrami thanks to its painstaking methods. The meat takes nearly a month to make, which starts when the beef brisket is cured in a proprietary brine including pink salt for 3 weeks. The deli opts for a fattier cut of meat for flavor and to survive the long soak. It is then rubbed by hand with spices including coriander, garlic, and pepper, before being smoked for three days, and boiled for three hours. Finally, the pastrami goes into steamers just to get a final layer of tenderness, prepping it to be sliced and piled onto pillowy, spicy rye bread.

Many commercial cured meats are treated with additives so the curing only takes a few days. Katz's insistence on doing things the long, hard, right way has always set the deli's pastrami apart. The business is consistently considered one of the very best Jewish delis in NYC — or in the entire country, really. It serves up an astounding 15,000 pounds of pastrami each week, and that's with the pastrami sandwich costing nearly $30. On any given day, you'll find local fans on line with tourists who have made the special trip just for the famous pastrami sandwich. Some of these fans are so devoted, they've gotten married at Katz's, and the deli has been immortalized in films and television shows. Sally Albright's actual order in "When Harry Met Sally" might have been a Katz's turkey sandwich — which may or may not have rankled Katz's pastrami enthusiasts — but the famous scene did at least highlight the deli's overall mouthwatering reputation.

People have tried to make their own pastrami like that of Katz's, but no matter how well they achieve the taste component, they can't seem to nail the melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. When Redditor Celestron5 asked what the difference could be, many meat lovers chimed in to point out that the deli virtually stands alone in how long it cures its meat, as well as how long it smokes it. Add that to the boiling and steaming stages, and you've got next-level tender pastrami.