Sharing is caring!

WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?

Enter your email below & we'll send it straight to your inbox. Plus, enjoy weekly doses of recipe inspiration as a bonus!

This homemade pastrami sandwich is the real deal. Brined for five days, rubbed with a bold spice crust, slow smoked, and steamed until fork tender, every bite delivers that melt-in-your-mouth, deli-counter quality that rivals even the best delis in New York.

Add us a Google source

Jump to:

What makes this dish special
Recipe
Watch how to make this
Step-by-step instructions
Recipe tip
Make-ahead and storage
More beef sandwich recipes

What makes this dish special

When I used to live in Boston, I would frequently take the bus to New York and spend the day exploring the city. Now that I'm back on the West Coast, I find myself missing the busy streets of New York and, of course, the food. On my last visit to New York, I went to dine at the famous Katz's Deli and was blown away by the pastrami Reuben sandwich. The quality of the pastrami was phenomenal; even the wildly popular Langers in Los Angeles does not compare.

Alas, since I do not see myself going to New York any time soon, I have no choice but to make pastrami myself. Yes, the entire process takes about 2 whole weeks, but since I'm a chef, I really don't mind making it from scratch. And the quality? Amazing (and maybe even better than Katz's)! Even if you're not a chef, I think you'll agree that the result is completely worth it!

Recipe

Print Recipe

Pastrami Sandwich

Total Time8

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: beef, sandwich

Servings: 4

Author: Christine Ma

Ingredients

Pickling spice

2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
3 inch cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons dill seeds
1 tablespoon hot red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon celery seeds
4 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons whole allspice berries
1 teaspoon whole cloves

Corned beef

4 pounds beef brisket
1 gallon water
1 cup dark brown sugar
8 ounces kosher salt
2 teaspoons pink curing salt #1
5 tablespoons pickling spices
4 cloves garlic smashed

Pastrami

4 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons coriander powder
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
4-8 ounces smoke wood

Sandwich

12 slices rye bread toasted
6 slices swiss cheese
sauerkraut
Thousand Island Dressing or mustard

Instructions

Smash the cinnamon sticks and peppercorns with a meat tenderizer or hammer until crumbled. Tear up the bay leaves into flakes about ⅛ inches. Mix the cinnamon sticks, peppercorns, and bay leaves with the remaining ingredients and store in a tight jar.
Make the corned beef. Trim the fat on the beef brisket to a ⅛ inch thick layer. Stir together water with dark brown sugar, salt, pink curing salt, pickling spices and garlic in a large container until the sugar has dissolved. Add the beef brisket, placing a weight on top to keep the brisket submerged. Chill in the refrigerator for 5 days, rotating the brisket every couple of days.
Drain the corned beef brine. Place the corned brisket in a large container filled with clean water and let it sit for 8 hours in the refrigerator. Drain brisket and rinse.
Combine seasonings for the pastrami (black pepper - onion powder) in a small bowl. Season the corned beef with the seasonings on both sides. Let marinate in the refrigerator uncovered for 2-5 days.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees F, placing the oven rack in the lowest position. Line a large baking sheet with 2 sheets of aluminum foil, making sure you have enough foil on both ends to cover the brisket. Scatter wood chips in an even layer on the bottom and place a roasting rack on top.
Place the brisket, fat side up on the rack. Gather the ends of the foil and cover the brisket, crimping the open ends together to create a sealed tent.
Place a roasting rack over two burners over medium-high heat. Heat until a steady stream of smoke arises. Transfer to the oven and smoke 9-10 hours or until the internal temperature is 140 degrees F. Remove from the oven and cool. Cover and let cool overnight in the refrigerator.
Heat a steamer. Place the brisket in the steamer and steam for 2-3 hours or until the internal temperature if 203 degrees F. Remove from heat and slice brisket ⅛ inch thick against the grain.
Preheat broiler to high.
Place the sliced pastrami on a baking sheet. Top with sauerkraut and sliced swiss cheese. Place until the broiler until the cheese has melted. Remove from the broiler and place the pastrami on a slice of toasted rye. Spread thousand island dressing or spicy mustard on the other slice of bread and top the sandwiches. Serve.

Notes

You can skip steps 1-3 if using store-bought corned beef.

Watch how to make this

@cherryonmysundae
making pastrami from scratch. recipe on the blog #pastrami #comfortfoods #recipesoftiktok #recipesforyou #cookingfromscratch
♬ Better Days - Animal Island

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Brine brisket

Brisket consists of two muscles, the point muscle and the flat muscle. If you purchase your brisket at a butcher shop, you can choose to get packer meat, which includes both muscles, or have it separated into the two muscles. It is highly recommended that you cut the meat in half to allow for a quicker cooking process.

Now, if you were to make corned beef, you want to remove most of the fat, leaving only about ⅛ inch on top. However, if you are making pastrami, you want to leave the fat so that you will have a more tender and juicy sandwich. Unfortunately, all of the brisket at my local market did not have much or any fat.

When preparing the brine for the brisket, you must use pink curing salt #1, NOT pink curing salt #2. Pink curing salt #1, also known as Prague powder, only has sodium nitrite, while pink curing salt #2 has sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate.

This pink curing salt contributes to the pink color and kills the bacteria in the meat. I had to purchase mine online at Amazon.com; however, you can substitute it with 2 teaspoon of table salt. Just keep in mind that your meat will be brown in color.

Recipe tip

You must use a non-reactive container when brining the brisket. This excludes aluminum, copper, cast iron, garbage bags, and styrofoam. These materials all react with the salt and give the meat an undesirable flavor.

Five days later, the corned beef is ready. You will find that the brisket is slightly tan in color and looks as it did raw. Of course, you can skip all these steps and buy already prepared corned beef.

Step 2: Cook pastrami

After you have soaked the corned beef in water, marinate the beef. The longer the pastrami sits in the seasonings, the better it will taste. I let mine sit for 5 days.

Now it's finally time to cook the pastrami. If you have a charcoal smoker, this is the best equipment to use. Charcoal produces a deeper, darker crust than gas or electric smokers. For the wood, any type will do since the pastrami already has so much flavor.

If you are like me and don't own a smoker, you can use your oven! Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F with the oven rack in the lowest position. Line a large baking sheet with two long sheets of aluminum foil, overlapping them in the center.

Make sure the bottom and sides are covered and that there is enough excess foil.

Scatter wood chips in an even layer at the bottom of the pan. Place a roasting rack on top so that it is 1 ½ inches above the chips. If your rack isn't high enough, you can flip it over.

Place the brisket with the fat side up on the rack. Pull up the sheets of foil to extend over the meat, crimping the open ends tightly together to create a tent. Bring up the foil on the sides and crimp the edges together so that there are no gaps or open ends.

Place the roasting rack over two burners over medium-high heat. Smoke for about 5 minutes or until a steady stream of smoke starts to pour out. Transfer to the oven and smoke for about 10 hours or until the internal temperature is 140 degrees F.

Step 3: Steam pastrami

Remove the pastrami from the oven, cool to room temperature, chill, and continue with the steps on how to steam. Why do we steam? It continues the cooking process and allows the pastrami to become oh-so-tender.

Since the pastrami was a rather large piece of meat, it did not fit in my steamer. No problem here because you can make one with your baking pan!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Fill a baking pan with about 3 inches of water and place a roasting rack or wire rack in the baking pan. Lay a large sheet of aluminum foil on the rack and place the meat on top.

Fold up the edges of the foil to create a bed for the meat and seal up the edges. Doing this allows the pastrami to steam in its own juices, making it even juicier!

You may need to add more water during the cooking process, depending on how long it takes.

Step 4: Assemble sandwiches

Now, making a pastrami Reuben is entirely up to you. You can make a simple pastrami sandwich, and it will still be outrageously delicious.

I cannot begin to describe how delicious this pastrami is! I was nervous about the outcome until I sliced into the pastrami and saw the juices pouring out.

In all honesty, I think this pastrami is even better than Katz's Deli. The spices make the pastrami so incredibly flavorful, and the slow smoking process, combined with the two hours of steaming, yielded a tender, fall-apart pastrami.

Thank goodness I made extra because I cannot get enough of this pastrami!

Pair this sandwich with Cajun beer battered fried pickles, chili cheese tater tots, or potato mushroom croquettes for an exceptional meal!

Make-ahead and storage

Make-ahead: You can smoke the pastrami and steam it the day you are ready to serve it.
Store: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refridgerator for up to 4 days.

More beef sandwich recipes

Looking for more beef sandwich ideas? Try these:

Work with me

All images shot and styled by Christine Ma. Available for food photography, styling, and recipe development.

View my portfolio