National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day

Pastrami lovers across the country look forward to their favorite sandwich on January 14th as they recognize National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day.

Popular delicatessen meat, pastrami is usually made from beef. Others make their pastrami sandwich with pork, mutton, or turkey. Before refrigeration, butchers originally created pastrami as a way to preserve meat. To make pastrami, they placed the raw meat in brine. Then they partially dried it and seasoned it with various herbs and spices to be smoked and steamed. A wave of Romanian Jewish immigration introduced pastrami (pronounced pastróme), a Romanian specialty, in the second half of the 19th century. Early English references used the spelling “pastrama” before the modified “pastrami” spelling was used. New York kosher butcher, Sussman Volk earns credit for producing the first pastrami sandwich in 1887. He claimed to have gotten the recipe from a Romanian friend in exchange for storing his luggage. Due to the popularity of his sandwich, Volk converted his butcher shop into a restaurant to sell pastrami sandwiches.