Pastrami on Rye

Pastrami on rye is a hot deli sandwich: beef brisket cured like corned beef, crusted with cracked pepper and coriander, smoked, then steamed until it falls apart, piled high between two slices of rye with mustard. It is the signature dish of the New York Jewish delicatessen, carried over by Jewish immigrants from Romania in the late 19th century and standardised in the delis of the Lower East Side.

What it really is

The brisket, or sometimes the navel, is brined for a week or more — the same technique behind corned beef — then rubbed with a heavy crust of cracked black pepper and coriander seed. It is smoked low and slow for hours, cooled, and steamed again just before service. That double cook is what makes the meat tender enough to pull apart by hand rather than slice thin. The sandwich itself stays minimal: warm pastrami piled high between rye slices, spread with mustard. Cheese, lettuce and mayonnaise are not traditional; the meat carries the sandwich on its own.

How it is served

• Hot, straight from the steamer, sliced or hand-pulled and piled high.
• With yellow or brown deli mustard, never mayonnaise.
• Often alongside a pickle and coleslaw, served on the side rather than inside the sandwich.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the cut — brisket or navel — if you know it; regulars ask.
• Say the bread is rye; most rye loaves are baked with wheat flour too, not rye alone.
• Offer mustard on the side so guests who want none can skip it.