{"id":216,"date":"2013-08-07T20:36:22","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T01:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/garyvineberg.com\/?p=216"},"modified":"2013-09-23T12:57:43","modified_gmt":"2013-09-23T17:57:43","slug":"smoked-meat-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garyvineberg.com\/?p=216","title":{"rendered":"Smoked Meat Wars"},"content":{"rendered":"

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.<\/em>
\n–Attributed (spuriously) to Mark Twain<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always thought the above quote\u2019s connection to Twain was dubious because he, an inveterate traveler, knew something about the winter weather in Montreal. But, no stranger to irony, Twain might have appreciated my latest truly profound observation: The best Montreal smoked meat I ever ate was in New York City.<\/p>\n

If I didn\u2019t offend my lantzmen<\/em> up north with the last post, \u201cBeer and Hockey\u201d (June 22, 2013), this ought to do the trick. Decades ago, visitors from Montreal started a tradition of bringing me bagels and Schwartz\u2019s smoked meat. Make no mistake: I relish a hefty pastrami sandwich from Katz\u2019s on Houston Street or the 2nd Avenue Deli (with two locations, oddly, neither on Second Avenue); and although I\u2019m partial to the fluffier Montreal bagel over the Gotham variety, a toasted bialy with a schmear<\/em> of cream cheese suits me best of all.<\/p>\n

For the record, as I understand it, smoked meat is prepared with the whole brisket whereas pastrami is supposed to be made with the leaner beef navel or plate. But the more important difference to me is the unique mix of salt and spices used to cure the meat and how long it\u2019s aged, which largely accounts for the great disparity between good and bad smoked meat and pastrami.<\/p>\n

Schwartz\u2019s Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen, on Boulevard Saint Laurent in Montreal since 1928, claims to marinate its briskets \u201cwith a secret blend of fine herbs and spices\u201d for 10 days, using no chemicals or preservatives. Now, I do savor the club rolls (cold cuts grilled on a bun) at Lester\u2019s on Avenue Bernard and the Snowdon Deli on Boulevard Decarie, even the scaled-down \u201cSpecial\u201d at Wilensky\u2019s on Avenue Fairmont. But when it comes to smoked meat, the gold standard for me was always Schwartz\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"Mile<\/a>

Mile End’s Lean Smoked Meat<\/p><\/div>\n

That was until my latest delivery, and the comparison with the product from Mile End Delicatessen on Hoyt Street in Brooklyn (with a sandwich shop on Bond Street in Manhattan). To be fair, the vacuum-packed, thinly shaved meat from Schwartz\u2019s takeout annex was at a disadvantage from the start in a contest with the plump, freshly cut slabs of Mile End\u2019s pricier artisan-style beef. In my imagination, this — certainly not the rubbery pink slices that pass for viande fumee<\/em> at many Montreal restaurants — is what it must have tasted like in the 19th century. Rich in flavor and color, not a crumb of the six ounces of Mile End smoked meat survived our four-person taste test that Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

Montrealer Noah Bermanoff opened Mile End in the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn three and a half years ago, and quickly became somewhat of a sensation in the grueling New York City restaurant scene. Well done, Noah. Soon I\u2019ll be ferrying your smoked meat up to friends and relatives in Montreal. <\/p>\n

Disclosure: I\u2019m a philistine in deli circles because, whether it\u2019s pastrami, corned beef or smoked meat, I always order the leanest available and slather the sandwich with spicy New York-style mustard to ensure moistness. Any nutritionist will tell you that there\u2019s ample fat in every bite (especially for someone with coronary artery disease).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. –Attributed (spuriously) to Mark Twain I\u2019ve always thought the above quote\u2019s connection to Twain was dubious because he, an inveterate traveler, knew something about the winter weather in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyvineberg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyvineberg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyvineberg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyvineberg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyvineberg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=216"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/garyvineberg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265,"href":"https:\/\/garyvineberg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions\/265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyvineberg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyvineberg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyvineberg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}