Romanian Cuisine Codexery

Pastrami

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Pastrami is a cured meat that originated in the Jewish community of Romania and surrounding regions, usually made from beef brisket.[1] Pastrami on rye and the pastrami Reuben are two of the great sandwiches of our age.[2] The term "pastrami" is derived from the Yiddish word "pastrame," which likely originates from the Romanian "pastramă," and that Romanian term is itself believed to have come from a Turkish source.[3]

Quick Facts

Type
Cured meat
Origin
Jewish community of Romania and surrounding regions
Introduced to us
Second half of the 19th century

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

Pastrami is thought to have been more directly a descendant from Turkey, with its source in Bessarabia (present-day Romania and Moldova).[4] The word "pastrami" seems to have first appeared in print in the USA in 1936.[2] Making pastrami dates back to Turkish nomads from the Ottoman empire of the 13th century.[2] During the 10th and 11th centuries, Jewish communities in the Alsace-Lorraine region ate pickled meats, sometimes called picklefleisch or homen, which are considered a very early forerunner of pastrami.[4]

Volk, a kosher butcher who had immigrated to New York from Lithuania, made pastrami following a recipe given to him by a Romanian acquaintance.[5] An advertisement from January 17, 1895, in The Butte Miner shows that "Roumania pastrami" was available for purchase in Butte, Montana, by that date.[6]

What the cited sources add

The Romania Tourism account states that "goose-pastrama" was the starting point for American pastrami.[7] The same source notes the name became pastrami perhaps because it rhymed with "salami" and was sold in the same delicatessens.[7] Earl's recipe describes pastrami as made from beef, usually brisket, that is wet-cured in brine, seasoned with black pepper and coriander, smoked, and steamed to finish.[2] The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity states the word slowly morphed into "pastrami," which to Americans sounded more Italian and was easier to pronounce.[8]

Earl explains that the main difference between pastrami and corned beef is the flavor and final preparation, with pastrami getting a coat of spices, smoke, and a steam bath.[2] The traditional cut of meat for pastrami was beef navel or the belly.[2] Earl notes that pastrami is steamed until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 203°F (95°C) to break down collagen into gelatin.[2]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Pastrami" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "pastrami", Merriam-Webster Dictionary (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Earl, "How to Make Smoked Pastrami", March 10, 2017. facts only, no text reused. blog.thermoworks.com
  3. Wikipedia, "Pastrami" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd Edition, 2005, s.v. 'pastrami'; "pastırma", Nisanyansozluk.com; Shortridge, "The Taste of American Place: A Reader on Regional and Ethnic Foods", Rowman & Littlefield, 1998, p. 210; "Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române", 1998; Stachowski, "David L. Gold's English, Jewish and other etymologies", Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia, 2013, p. 167–195; Gold, "Studies in Etymology and Etiology: With Emphasis on Germanic, Jewish, Romance and Slavic Languages", Universidad de Alicante, 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Pastrami" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Merwin, "Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish Deli", New York University Press, 2015, p. 18-21; Hanratty, "Pickelfleisch, Pastirma, and Beyond: An Overview of the Myths of the Origin of Pastrami", European Journal of Food Drink and Society, 2024, p. 22; Kapek, "Culinary Crossroads: Language, Culture, and Cuisine in Global Perspective", V&R Unipress, 2025-11-10, p. 437–444 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Pastrami" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Merwin, "Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish Deli", New York University Press, 2015, p. 18-21; Moscow, "The Book of New York Firsts", Syracuse University Press, 1995, p. 123 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Pastrami" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Advert for Pastrami, The Butte Miner, January 17, 1895.", Newspapers.com, January 17, 1895, p. 5 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. "Historical Fact – The Origins of Pastrami", Romania Tourism. facts only, no text reused. romaniatourism.com
  8. "Pastrama: Ark of taste", Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. facts only, no text reused. fondazioneslowfood.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Pastrami (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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