Word: pastrami
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What was most striking about this iteration of the event (as opposed to other ones I've gone to, either as a judge or an observer) was how similar so many of the burgers were. Yes, there were a few exotic ones, like Michael Symon's pastrami-topped Fat Doug burger, which won the People's Choice award, the night's biggest honor. Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto won critical raves for a Kakuni burger topped with Japanese pork belly and served with a house-made pickle so good, it could put Ba-Tampte out of business. And Daniel Boulud served...
Author David Sax is a man on a (delicious) mission. His goal? To preserve the delicatessen tradition. His new book, Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), is a mouthwatering paean to corned-beef culture. The Oct. 20 launch party for his book, appropriately, was held at Ben's, a sprawling delicatessen in Manhattan's Garment District. Between bites, TIME senior reporter Andrea Sachs caught up with the knish connoisseur. (See pictures of what makes you eat more food...
...right, corned beef or pastrami? It depends where I am. Pastrami if I'm on either of the coasts, the Atlantic or the Pacific Coast, and corned beef if I'm in the Midwest...
...delis that make as much of their food from scratch as possible. You know, Ben's here - pickles or corned beef and tongue, all on site. And that makes a difference in the flavor because you have control over it. There are a lot of places that sell pastrami and corned beef that they get shipped in from hundreds or thousands of miles away, and that's the difference between a deli and a Jewish delicatessen...
...another in an uneasy but (to the outsider) exhilarating whorl: a mere corner of a city block can contain a Mexican vendor selling sweet flavored ice, a Middle Eastern cart full of fresh mangoes, a Dominican cafe cooking spicy sandwiches, and an old Jewish deli hawking hunks of pastrami (all cheap, for the visitor). Some blocks resemble a World's Fair of bargain grocery stores, places of worship, and trendy bars. Red brick housing projects hide not far away. Even while standing at the base of a solid and impressive historic landmark, the outsider cannot escape feeling the juxtapositions...