The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and pastrami fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at Pastrami fun facts.

Pastrami Fun Facts: Pastrami was originally created as a way to preserve meat before modern refrigeration.

  • To make pastrami, you start by making corned beef. Corned beef is a beef brisket soaked in brine (with some sugar and spices). Corned beef “has nothing to do with corn but got its name…when a granular salt the size of a kernel of wheat — corn to a Briton — was used to process it. By smoking corned beef, you turn it into pastrami.
  • January 14th is National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day.
  • Both the dish and the word pastrami originate from the Romanian delicacy pastram?, from which the Yiddish language borrowed it.
  • According to Romanian sources, the word pastram? Pastram (pressed meat), a similar but different specialty (air-dried, unsmoked cured meat).
  • Turkey pastrami is made by processing turkey breast (pale pink) or thigh (dark pink) in a fashion similar to red meat pastrami, simulating the corresponding red meat deli product.

Pastrami Fun Facts We Missed

Let us know if we missed any pastrami fun facts in the comment section below. We always love to add to these lists. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Pastrami.

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