Classic Pastrami on Rye
“Good pastrami should be deeply savory and a bit salty with hints of spice and smoke. Steaming it ensures the perfect texture for this simple sandwich, which gets a bit of kick from the mustard.”—Anthony Lygizos, proprietor, Leven Deli Co.
Ingredients
- 2 slices rye bread
- 6 oz. pastrami
- 2 Tbsp. water
- 1-2 Tbsp. stone-ground mustard (to taste)
Directions
- Preheat a frying pan over medium heat. Toast your bread and set aside. Put your pastrami in the pan, add 1 Tbsp. water. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. Flip the pastrami over, add the last Tbsp. of water, and cover again until the pastrami is fully warmed and slightly crispy on the edges (around 3 minutes). Put the pastrami on the bread, add mustard to the top slice, close it up, cut it in half, and enjoy.
Notes
Tips & Tricks
- Bread Beyond Compare: Use good-quality rye bread. At Leven, the chefs bake their own loaves of naturally leavened sourdough rye bread daily. You can purchase sliced loaves to DIY your own Leven-quality sandwich at home.
- Deli Delight: A delicious pastrami sandwich is all about the quality of the meat. Leven makes its pastrami in-house, a 12-day process that begins with responsibly sourced brisket and a custom blend of spices. It’s aged, cured, and smoked for nearly two weeks before the final product is ready. Good news: it’s available to purchase by the pound at the deli.
- Secret Sauce: Lastly, there’s the mustard. As expected, Leven makes its own at the deli, but you can use any high-quality stone-ground mustard to level-up your sandwich at home.