Why in 2017 you will only eat pastrami
We've been hearing about it all our lives pastrami sandwiches in American movies and series, but what is this delicacy really? The short explanation and generalizing, would come to be a veal ham (although it is also being made with other meats, including lamb). The long explanation is that it is bled meat through pressed, salted, seasoned with black pepper and spices and finally smoked . The result is a compact cured meat, long-processed -and long-lasting as well- and a photogenic pink color that It is usually eaten in slices . Its origin is disputed between the Jewish communities -it is a kosher product- from Eastern Europe or in the emigration from the United States about 150 years ago. In both territories it is a popular product, which is usually consumed in the form of a sandwich and accompanied by pickles, sauerkraut, mustard and various pickles.
You're going to eat pastrami next year.
The proliferation of places offering recipes with pastrami (as shown by 'trend gauges' such as Yelp searches) in Barcelona is basically due to the fact that pastrami is a delicacy that if you have tried at Katz's in New York you remember with nostalgia, and also that we are in a moment in which it is vindicated pickling, salting, smoking and in general, everything that is a technique for preserving food as old as humanity but that had fallen a bit into disuse or, of course, they did not usually top the menus of restaurants or were not the object of desire of pro eaters. pastrami is, besides kosher, a product gluten and lactose free which makes it ideal for celiac or intolerant people.
But for a “new” food to catch on in one place, it has to be easily accessible. The history of the rise of pastrami in Barcelona necessarily goes through Pastrami Barcelona -what a good naming-, which has been doing a job almost like an apostolate for the product for five years. Pastrami Barcelona is Dani , a product fanatic who, shortly after opening the Hungarian delicatessen Gourmet Paprika , began to import pastrami from a large Central European producer, also becoming a supplier for stores in Barcelona, Catalonia and throughout Spain. On the one hand, Dani has been concerned with doing a pedagogical task of dissemination of the benefits of pastrami on the Internet (where he is very active on social networks), and on the other, advising restaurateurs who have relied on the benefits of food to incorporate them into their menus, giving advice on recipes, sauces, pickles and ideal preparations to enjoy it.
“On the one hand it is the sausage of Hollywood. It appears in super famous movies and series and in programs like carnivorous chronicles ”, Dani tells us. “In that sense, at that level of communication, it sells itself. For someone who has no idea, you refer to it, but as a product you explain that it is a veal ham, you talk about all the ingredients it has, you tell them that In addition to being delicious, it is healthy. … people are attracted to it. We are, more than simple providers, pastrami lovers . Before bringing the product and putting it up for sale, we were already fans; when you really like something you put a little more love into things.”
Today, we can find their vacuum-packed pastrami in Gourmet Paprika _(Castillejos 248) _ for about 25 euros a kilo, buy one of the sandwiches that they themselves sell there, order them through a food delivery company with which they work or simply look for the restaurant or cafeteria to which they distribute closest to our house.
Among them, places like the Ruffian Bar _(Nou de la Rambla 123) _ where they serve it in pa de vidre for 6 euros; the ** Argot ** _(Tamarit 104) _, with its pastrami baguette (6.75 euros); the ** Carrot Café ** _(Tangier 22) _, where they serve a Mountain pastrami or a pastrami focaccia for 8.50 euros; the petit a petit _(Santjoanistes 24) _ with its giant pickle sandwich for 7.50; the Melt _(Rosselló 207) _, where they make a Reuben –traditional sandwich- for 5.90; the sandwich shop blitz _(Plaza de Urquinaona 8) _, where you can drink for 6.90 or the itaka tavern _(Pujades 21) _, where they serve a Reuben for 11 euros. The list continues to grow, but as if that were not enough, we are going to specifically point out three places that we consider essential on the pastramera route.
Rufián's pastrami sandwich
-Cal Marius 449 _(Majorca 449) _. Cal Marius is a gift. A classic battle bar, where they serve an extensive menu of bagels (from Be my bagel on Planeta 37) and pastrami sandwiches in different combinations that will leave even the most eager diner breathless. His pastrami is from Pastrami Bcn , with whom they share almost a block and maintain a symbiotic relationship. Also, Mario has assumed as a personal battle to offer products suitable for coeliacs and intolerant , with which practically his entire menu is gluten-free, including a wide range of beers and Pastolosophy cakes that will bring tears to those who already believed they would have to give up certain things for life. The offer goes beyond pastrami (which can be tasted from 8 euros), with a good menu of the day for 9 euros, tapas, coffee, friendliness and good service that is hard to find and, in general, the empirical demonstration that great things can be done in very simple formats.
Sliced, smoked... pastrami is here to stay
- Pastrami Bar Paradiso _(Rera Palau 4) _. We always come back to the guys at Rooftop Smokehouse. Using the barrel and homemade salting, they managed to become essential in the street food scene and gastronomic markets in Barcelona, doing what no one else did: smoking their products at home. In the already settled Paradiso/Pastrami Bar They serve homemade sandwiches and sandwiches – from 7 euros – which are much more than the showcase to enter the least clandestine clandestine cocktail bar in the city. On weekends there may be queues to get through his vintage fridge and into the cocktail bar, but we don't need to leave his white tiled bar to find the real paradise.
Pastrami Bar
- The Bagel Hood _(Ferlandina 61) _. In this place run by some young Argentines, they pride themselves on the fact that everything is homemade, pastrami included. They follow the pastrami formula , which requires two days of preparation and several hours of cooking at a low temperature, which produces a product that is quite different from the classic one. The result is your delicious “Joey Pastrone” , served on a bagel to choose between four different types and the option of having it alone (7.90 euros) or in a menu (9.90) accompanied by a drink and potatoes, potato spiral or coleshaw. If by now we haven't already convinced you to join the legion of pastrami addicts, we throw in the towel forever.
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