Montreal-style smoked meat
Course | Main course |
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Place of origin | Canada |
Region or state | Montreal, Quebec |
Created by | Disputed – various Jewish delis in the city |
Main ingredients | Smoked meat, mustard, and rye bread |
Cuisine of Quebec |
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Part of a series on |
Canadian cuisine |
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Montreal-style smoked meat, Montreal smoked meat or simply
Preparation
Although the preparation method may be similar to New York pastrami, Montreal smoked meat is cured in seasoning with more cracked peppercorns and savoury flavourings, such as coriander, garlic, and mustard seed.[2] The recipe for Montreal steak seasoning is based on the seasoning mixture for Montreal smoked meat.
Montreal smoked meat is made with variable-fat brisket, whereas pastrami is more commonly made with the fat-marbled navel/plate cut.[3][4] This is because "navel is much harder to find in Canada because of its British beef cut tradition". The use of brisket means that smoked meat is "not fattier throughout the cut, but it has a larger cap of fat, and it has a stringier texture, more fibrous. American-style pastrami is more marbled with fat and has a denser texture."[5]
Montreal smoked meat is typically served in the form of a light-rye bread sandwich accompanied with yellow mustard. While some Montreal smoked meat is brine-cured like corned beef, with spices applied later, many smoked meat establishments prefer dry-curing directly with salt and spices.
History
The origins of Montreal smoked meat are uncertain and likely unresolvable. Many have laid claims to the creation or introduction of smoked meat into Montreal. Regardless, all of these stories indicate the creators are of the Jewish Diaspora from Romania or Eastern Europe:
- Some point to Benjamin Kravitz, who founded Bens De Luxe Delicatessen & Restaurant in 1910, as the introducer of Montreal smoked meat. According to the Kravitz family, he used a brisket-curing method he recalled being practised by Lithuanian farmers. His first smoked meat sandwiches were made and sold from his wife's fruit and candy store.[4]
- According to Eiran Harris, a Montreal historian, Herman Rees Roth from New York may have created the first smoked meat sandwich in 1908, selling them from his deli, the British American Delicatessen Store.[4]
- In another claim by Bill Brownstein, the smoked meat was brought over in 1902 by Itzak Rudman, who was an accomplished salami and smoked meat maker who had a shop on de Bullion Street (formerly Cadieux Street).[6]
- In yet another possibility, a butcher by the name of Aaron Sanft who arrived from pastrama.[8]
Serving
Warm Montreal smoked meat is always sliced by hand to maintain its form, since doing so with a meat slicer would cause the tender meat to disintegrate. Whole briskets are kept steaming and sliced up on demand when ordered in the restaurant to maintain its temperature.
Even when hand-cut, Montreal smoked meat produces a considerable amount of broken bits when sliced. These pieces are gathered together and commonly served with French fries, cheese curds, and gravy as smoked meat poutine or served over spaghetti with Bolognese sauce or even pizza.
Montreal-style smoked meat sandwiches are typically built with seedless, light rye bread, and piled with hand-sliced smoked meat about 5 cm (2 in) high with yellow prepared mustard. The customer can specify the amount of fat in the smoked meat:
- Lean: the lean and less flavourful end. Relatively healthful but dry.
- Medium and medium fat: the most popular cuts from the middle of the brisket. Occasionally, a sliced mix of lean and fat meats.
- Old-fashioned: a cut between medium and fatty and often cut a bit thicker.
- Fat: from the fat end of the brisket
- subcutaneous fatfrom the whole brisket without meat.
Cultural identity
Montreal writer Mordecai Richler, in his novel Barney's Version, sardonically described the spices used in the smoked meat at Schwartz's deli as a "maddening aphrodisiac" to be bottled and copyrighted as "Nectar of Judea".[9]
Montreal smoked meat is offered in many diners and fast food restaurant chains throughout Canada.
After the Quebec government passed the
See also
References
- ^ "smoked meat". gdt.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
- ^ "Montreal-style Smoked Meat". beef2live.com. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
- ^ "10 Reasons Why Montreal Smoked Meat Is Better Than New York Pastrami". 13 June 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-547-38644-7
- ^ "What's the Difference Between Pastrami and Montreal Smoked Meat?".
- ISBN 978-1-55065-212-3
- ^ "Best the Delicious History of Montreal Smoked Meat Recipes, News, Tips and How-Tos". 27 April 2017.
- ^ Rabinovitch, Lara (2009), "Montreal-Style Smoked Meat:An interview with Eiran Harris conducted by Lara Rabinovitch, with the cooperation of the Jewish Public Library Archives of Montreal", Cuizine: The Journal of Canadian Food Cultures / Cuizine: Revue des cultures culinaires au Canada, 1 (2)
- ISBN 978-0-671-02846-6"You know if you had really, really been intent on entrapping me on my wedding night, you wicked woman, you would not have dabbed yourself with Joy, but in Essence of Smoked Meat. A maddening aphrodisiac, made from spices available in Schwartz's delicatessen. I'd call it Nectar of Judea and copyright the name".
- ^ "Home and Kitchen Appliances - Grinder Reviewed". Grinderreviewed.com. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
- ^ "Best Montreal Poutine Restaurants". 10 January 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
- ^ "The Montreal Gazette – Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 2 March 2016.
- ^ "Ottawa Citizen – Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 2 March 2016.
- ^ Macdonell. "The Montreal Gazette – Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 2 March 2016.
- ^ "Ottawa Citizen – Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 2 March 2016.