In Turin, chef Andrea Fasano of the Sorij restaurant has created a Piedmontese version of pastrami, using the tongue instead of beef. A very local interpretation.
We asked him for the recipe which he completed with rye bread, another ingredient never missing from a Pastrami sandwich, with pickled gherkins and mustard.
Chef Fasano and the whole Sorij team are waiting for you on the terrace for a tasting of their Pastrami sandwich. For the best wine to match just ask the owner Piero Primatesta.
Tongue Pastrami
Ingredients
1 tongue weighing 2 lb
Mix of spices (coriander, mustard, pepper, ginger, garlic powder and rosemary)
Dill, garlic, lemon
Salt
Method
Properly clean the tongue and peel it.
Mix it with a mixture of powdered spices (Rub): e.g. coriander, mustard, pepper, ginger, garlic powder and rosemary.
Massage the tongue with these spices so that they penetrate it nicely, then let it rest (in the fridge) for as long as it takes to season (about 24 hours).
After this time, place the seasoned tongue in a 5% brine bath (1 US quart of water and a teaspoon of salt) flavored with fresh dill, garlic and lemon for a whole night in the fridge.
The following morning drain the tongue and leave it in the fridge (or ventilated fridge) for a few hours to dry completely.
Cook the tongue in a vacuum pack at a low temperature for about 6/7 hours, depending on the size, at a temperature not exceeding 85°.
Finally, finish cooking it on the BBQ using wood (better if walnut wood). Store 4/5 days in the fridge before serving.
The tongue pastrami is ideally served with rye bread, gherkins and mustard.
Rye bread
Here’s the Chef’s step by step guide to preparing the bread: "rye is an integral cereal rich in bran and practically gluten-free, present mainly in northern Italy and even more so across northern Europe. Preparing bread with 100% rye is a rather demanding job, which will lead to a sweet, moist bread but not hollow".
Usually Andrea Fasano prepares it in a box. The secret is to knead it very little. "I start with a polish and I prefer to do it cold because I find that rye gives off all the original scents and qualities. It’s a cereal that has a very strong absorption rate so the bread I prepare has 85/90% hydration. When kneading it will seem to have gone wrong due to too much water, but by waiting a few minutes (time for the bran to soften) you will notice a clear difference as it dries. In bulk it will mature for 5/6 hours, and without doing too many folds and working it only a little it’s placed in a box to rest for another 2 hours or so. It can be cooked in steps (starting at 200° and finishing at 170°) without humidity based on the preferred size.
How did you come up with the idea of tongue Pastrami and rye bread made by you?
"The idea of using the tongue in a Pastrami comes from wanting to reproduce this difficult dish by bringing me as close as possible in taste to what you would experience in New York but by using a periodic ingredient from Piedmont. In New York, Pastrami is made using Brisket (brisket and part of the capocollo) a cut rich in fat and connective tissue, suitable for long smoking and cooking. The tongue certainly doesn’t have the same percentage in fat and connective tissue and for this reason it was a challenge; using vacuum pack cooking at a low temperature, I was partly able to deflect this first difficulty. I also like the tongue and I chose to use it because it has a texture that never succumbs, it has a certain elasticity in the mouth in that it gets chewed. I chose the tongue because usually in Piedmont it was cooked salted so I can obtain the color of a beautiful red, tending to shade of purple, which is then in fact the color of the traditional pastrami. In short, it seems that the result is very similar to the original, particularly in taste, because with just one bite of this sandwich I relive my trip to New York".