pastrami

American  

[puh-strah-mee] / pəˈstrɑ mi /

noun

1. a brisket of beef that has been cured in a mixture of garlic, peppercorns, sugar, coriander seeds, etc., then smoked before cooking.

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pastrami British  

/ pəˈstrɑːmɪ /

noun

1. highly seasoned smoked beef, esp prepared from a shoulder cut

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Etymology

Origin of pastrami

1935–40; < Yiddish pastrame < Romanian pastramă pressed, cured meat; a Balkanism of uncertain origin (compare Modern Greek pastramâs, Serbo-Croatian pȁstrma ), perhaps ultimately < Turkish pastιrma, taken as variant of bastιrma, equivalent to bastιr-, causative stem of bas- press, squeeze + -ma verbal noun suffix

Explanation

Pastrami is a thin-sliced kind of sandwich meat you can find at any good deli. You might order a pastrami sandwich on rye bread for lunch every Tuesday. Pastrami is a type of dark, smoked beef that is typically shaved very thin, and piled between sandwich bread, usually rye, and occasionally topped with coleslaw. A great place to sample pastrami is at a traditional Jewish delicatessen — and the word itself comes from the Yiddish pastrame, which is probably rooted in the Turkish basdirma, "dried meat."

Example Sentences

After the charges were announced yesterday, Einhorn tweeted: “I guess the Pastrami wasn’t so great. I never really got a chance to try it 😆.”

From New York Times • Sep. 27, 2022

Pastrami is rubbed with a dry seasoning blend of salt, pepper, coriander, and garlic, "which develops that awesome bark that's just so delicious."

From Salon • Apr. 12, 2022

Breslin was to Queens Boulevard what Runyon was to Broadway – columnist, confessor and town crier, from the Pastrami King to Red McGuire’s saloon.

From The Guardian • Mar. 19, 2017

Pastrami on rye: Is the Los Angeles deli dying?

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 25, 2016

As the temperature heats up, so does the demand for nostalgia-inducing foods from around the country: Pastrami from New York, brisket from Texas, crawfish from Louisiana and Philly cheesesteaks from Pennsylvania.

From Washington Post • Jul. 3, 2016