Food - Drink
The Origins Of NYC's Famous Pastrami Sandwich
By ALI FAGAN
While Sussman Volk, a Lithuanian immigrant, is often credited with popularizing the pastrami sandwich, the recipe was given to him by a friend. Whether he was the first to serve it in the way we are more familiar with, we will never know, but we do know how pastrami became an NYC staple — and that's what's important here.
Pastrami’s origins date back to Romania with a goose based dish called pastirma, but when Jewish immigrants settled into 19th and 20th century America and realized this form of poultry wasn’t available, they used beef instead. The name pastrami was born from the conjunction of pastirma and salami, since it was often served alongside it.
To keep it preserved, pastrami’s preparation involves soaking the brisket in brine for several days before it’s smoked and sliced. While preserving the pastrami isn’t as vital now as it was then, the tradition stuck and is even used on other forms of meat such as salmon, which shows that the history of pastrami has affected the culinary world more than you’d think.