Depending on your answer to this poll it places you on a different team to survive the zombie apocalypse. I hope my pastrami brothers are tough as nails!!
If you had to choose between corned beef and pastrami
- Thread starter heybatter
- Start date
Oh how I miss the Southern California Pastrami sandwiches. Big stack of hot pastrami with plenty of mustard and pickles on a french roll. nothing more nothing less. Can't find them here in Georgia, yet.
Someone needs to cross-tab responses against geography. I would bet the pastrami answers correlate with being in or near New York city. Exposure to the great NY delis, like The Stage, Carnegie, Katz's, Ben's, where pastrami is really done well will skew opinions. Pastrami is a lot more variable than corn beef, in my opinion. I've had pastrami in L.A. It's not real pastrami. As the poet said "I knew Jack Kennedy and you're no JFK"
If you are talking about a plated meal as in not a sandwich, corned beef all the way!
Sorry I cannot remember the name of the Irish Pub in Boston but years ago, I was there for dinner and they had Corned Beef and Cabbage.
Half a head of cabbage and an equal portion of Corned Beef with some really good baked bread.
One of the best meals I have ever eaten!
But for a sandwich, Pastrami on Rye all the way!
Sorry I cannot remember the name of the Irish Pub in Boston but years ago, I was there for dinner and they had Corned Beef and Cabbage.
Half a head of cabbage and an equal portion of Corned Beef with some really good baked bread.
One of the best meals I have ever eaten!
But for a sandwich, Pastrami on Rye all the way!
Aaron:
If I had to choose...it's corned beef on a Reuben 'sam-wiche' w/ Coleslaw [w/ 'paper-thin' Corned Beef, grilled between slices of fresh Rye bread, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese, with Russian or 1000 Island Dressing!!! 
[FONT=&]
“You can make any meal into a sandwich…and any a sandwich into a meal”. [/FONT][FONT=&]Jeff Mauro[/FONT]
[FONT=&]
Corned beef. Can't even remember the last time I had pastrami.
I am from Cleveland, and they had some great delis, too. I haven't had a bagel and lox in years. I do, however, have some thin cut sockeye salmon in the refrigerator. Hmmm
They are the same cut of meat aren't they. Just different prep.
Whenever there's a poll, I always like to look at the previous results before I vote.
Didn't have to do that this time ... the answer was obvious.
Pastrami.
Didn't have to do that this time ... the answer was obvious.
Pastrami.
Pastrami on Rye.
The corned beef and cabbage crew just needs to try some pastrami with kasha varniskes, and this is all over but the egg cream.
Last edited:
Tough call, but I have to go with Pastrami.
I don't believe there is any such thing as an expert opinion on this subject, but there are certain qualifications that may be considered regarding the legitimacy of any particular reviewer's opinion. Here are mine.
One of the great cathedrals (no pun intended) of corned beef and pastrami is Katz's Delicatessen. They have been in continuous operation since 1888, a 128 year span covering fourteen different decades. This may seem mathematically impossible given my age, but I have personally eaten there in seven different decades- 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, and whatever the heck the last two decades are called. It is down the street from the house where my mother was born, and one of the oldest existing photos of yours truly is a picture of me sitting on my father's lap eating a corned beef sandwich. It is a dump- its décor barely edging out that of Tres Hermanos taqueria, a place that was, and gives every indication that it continues to be, a tire shop. Both their corned beef and pastrami may occasionally be tough or excessively fatty, but when they get it right it's as good as you'll ever encounter. It's also a Jewish thing, and you have to have schmaltz flowing through your veins to fully appreciate it.
There are some fundamental differences between the two. They're made from two different cuts of meat. Corned beef is made from brisket, as is most of the pastrami you'll ever come across, but real pastrami is made from beef navel. Add in the spice mix and the smoking and you're talking apples and oranges. Both can be sublime.
Which of the two rules?
One of the great cathedrals (no pun intended) of corned beef and pastrami is Katz's Delicatessen. They have been in continuous operation since 1888, a 128 year span covering fourteen different decades. This may seem mathematically impossible given my age, but I have personally eaten there in seven different decades- 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, and whatever the heck the last two decades are called. It is down the street from the house where my mother was born, and one of the oldest existing photos of yours truly is a picture of me sitting on my father's lap eating a corned beef sandwich. It is a dump- its décor barely edging out that of Tres Hermanos taqueria, a place that was, and gives every indication that it continues to be, a tire shop. Both their corned beef and pastrami may occasionally be tough or excessively fatty, but when they get it right it's as good as you'll ever encounter. It's also a Jewish thing, and you have to have schmaltz flowing through your veins to fully appreciate it.
There are some fundamental differences between the two. They're made from two different cuts of meat. Corned beef is made from brisket, as is most of the pastrami you'll ever come across, but real pastrami is made from beef navel. Add in the spice mix and the smoking and you're talking apples and oranges. Both can be sublime.
Which of the two rules?
Pastrami is the art form.
Every bar that offers free face painting and green beer on March 17th makes corned beef, but only pastrami is truly representative of of the long history of the art.
Every bar that offers free face painting and green beer on March 17th makes corned beef, but only pastrami is truly representative of of the long history of the art.
Solomon wouldn't be able to choose.
I went to Katz's once (it was on my bucket list) and I got the pastrami. I need to schlep back there and get the corned beef sometime.
I went to Katz's once (it was on my bucket list) and I got the pastrami. I need to schlep back there and get the corned beef sometime.
Last edited:
Hard to pass up a good pastrami on rye with mustard.
But I will never pass up my Irish grandmothers corned beef and cabbage with potatoes!
But I will never pass up my Irish grandmothers corned beef and cabbage with potatoes!
I sure would love to try New York City pastrami. Corned beef is fine, but I can't get excited about it.
Put that on your bucket list. It's good to have goals
Corned beef, the pastrami around here has allspice in the the spice mix and that really doesn't agree with my stomach at my sandwich consumption time of day.
dave
dave
Another for Pastrami.
Similar threads
- Poll
