If you’ve ever visited a Jewish deli or perused a menu from one, you’ve been presented with a challenging choice: pastrami vs. corned beef? Either makes for a savory and satisfying sandwich filling—especially in those impressive portion sizes made famous by iconic spots like Canters in LA and Katz’s in NYC—and honestly, you can’t go wrong with your choice of one or the other.
But to have the best chances of choosing your meat match, it’s helpful to know the difference between pastrami and corned beef.
- Rodger Bowser, head chef and managing partner of Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Jake Schmidt, executive chef at The Swag in Waynesville, North Carolina
What’s the Difference Between Pastrami and Corned Beef?
Corned beef and pastrami both start out the same: Meat that’s corned. Corning actually involves zero corn. Instead, it’s a curing process made possible by salt. Spices join the party to lend flavor.
Salting beef as a way of preserving it has been around for thousands of years, explains Rodger Bowser, head chef and managing partner of Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “The term ‘corned beef’ is relatively newer, at a few hundred years old.”
Despite our strong association linking corned beef with Irish cuisine (Corned Beef and Cabbage is a staple centerpiece on March 17), beef didn’t originally play a major role as part of Irish menus. The British brought beef-eating culture to Ireland, which eventually inspired a growing trade in salted Irish beef, which was deemed “corned beef” due to the corn kernel-sized salt crystals used to cure the meat.
“Fast-forward a few hundred years and hop across the pond to the U.S., and you’ll find large immigrant populations of both Irish and Eastern European Jewish people in New York. It’s thought that kosher butchers started making the same corned beef recipes that the Irish loved,” Bowser says. “Today, corned beef remains a staple of Jewish delis across the country,” and at deli meat counters, too.
If you ask Bowser, “pastrami is the rich, spicy cousin to better-selling corned beef that doesn’t get nearly as much credit as it deserves.”
Corned beef and pastrami are both cured pieces of meat that require long cooking times to tenderize the meat and develop the flavor—similar to barbecue. Ideally, you’ll use a fatty cut of protein for both types of cured meats. Marbling yields the best results, according to Bowser: “The fat has the flavor. The better the quality of the meat, the better the flavor.”
The difference between pastrami and corned beef lies in the cooking method and the meat choice. Corned beef is made with (you guessed it!) beef, often brisket, that’s traditionally boiled or steamed. Pastrami just means brined, rubbed, and smoked. It’s typically made with beef belly (like pork belly, but on a cow), but you can use any protein, according to Jake Schmidt, executive chef at The Swag in Waynesville, North Carolina. To date, Schmidt has “pastrami-ed” beef, pork shoulder, salmon, turkey, salami, tofu, and duck. Simply brine, coat in pastrami spices, and smoke the protein, and you have pastrami.
These variances between pastrami vs. corned beef mean that there are noticeable differences in flavor and color.
- Flavor: Pastrami is basically “pickled” beef, and the spices are allowed to take center stage since it’s cooked simply via steaming or boiling. Pastrami, conversely, is smoked, which means that the spices are complemented by a smoky quality. In addition to the spices in the brine, pastrami meat is rubbed with spices prior to smoking, which creates a “bark” full of flavor that will taste like the seasonings featured.
- Color: You can tell the difference between pastrami and corned beef by sight. Since both are cured, the interior of the meat is pink. The exterior of corned beef may be gray or light brown after cooking. The outside of pastrami “has deeper, richer, dark hues from the smoke and spices,” Bowser says.
Can You Substitute Pastrami for Corned Beef—And Vice Versa?
“The two can work together because they start out life the same,” Schmidt says. A reuben, for instance, almost always stars corned beef, “but you can sub it out with pastrami, no problem,” he adds.
That being said, you won’t get the same exact result since the flavor and the texture (due to pastrami’s bark) is slightly different.
“But they are both cured meats, so when you have a recipe that calls for a certain cured meat and you prefer one of these over the other, use the one you like best,” Bowser recommends. “We have both pastrami and corned beef reuben varieties on our Zingerman’s Deli menu. Both are fabulous, it’s just a matter of personal preference. I think pastrami substituted in a classic corned beef hash is delicious.”
How to Use Pastrami and Corned Beef
As we just mentioned, you can use either or both as part of a reuben sandwich on rye with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Thousand Island dressing. Or try pastrami or corned beef in a potato hash topped with eggs.
The chefs dish up a few additional ideas for how to enjoy either or both:
- Use thick slices as the star an English roast dinner alongside roasted potatoes, peas, and Yorkshire pudding
- Showcase reuben ingredients inside egg rolls, on top of pizza, or as the filling for a bao bun
- Slice it very thin to feature on a charcuterie board
- Feature it inside a sandwich wrap
- Make a knish (“a classic Jewish pastry stuffed with potato and other fillings,” Bowser says)
- Pile ribbons atop a main dish salad
- Add a layer of sliced pastrami or corned beef to a cheeseburger (yes, in addition to the patty—Zingerman’s and Shake Shake recently partnered to debut this creation at a Chicago food festival and it was a hit)
- Use it as an alternative to bacon in an egg and cheese breakfast sandwich
- Try it as the outer layer on Pickle Wraps or Pickle Poppers