CanadianMontreal smoked meat sandwich
Smoked meat: Montreal's spice-cured, smoked and steamed beef brisket piled high on rye with yellow mustard
Montreal smoked meat is the city's most famous deli food, served since the early 1900s at Jewish delicatessens along boulevard Saint-Laurent, and ordered for lunch or late at night 'medium' fat, piled on rye with yellow mustard, a sour pickle, fries and a cherry cola. Beef brisket is cured in the fridge with salt, curing salt and spices for a week, then smoked or slow-roasted and finally steamed until tender. There is no pork. Curing at home needs care: use exactly 2.5% salt and 0.25% curing salt No. 1 (6.25% sodium nitrite) by weight of meat, keep it in the fridge at 0–4 °C the whole time, and never guess the amounts. The pink colour comes from the cure, not undercooking; the brisket must reach at least 71 °C and is tender at about 93 °C. The common mistake is slicing with the grain, which makes it stringy: always cut across the grain, thinly, while hot. Chef's tip: steam the cooked brisket for an hour just before serving; that final steam is what makes it melt like real deli meat.
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 420 min
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Serves
- 10
- Per serving
- 520 kcal
Ingredients
For the cure
- 4 ⅜ lb beef brisketflat cut, fat trimmed to 5 mm
- 1 ¾ oz fine salt2.5% of the meat weight
- ⅛ oz curing salt No. 1 (pink curing salt, 6.25% sodium nitrite)0.25% of the meat weight; weigh exactly
- ⅔ oz sugar
- 1 tbsp coriander seedscracked
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 3 bay leavescrumbled
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
For the spice crust
- 2 tbsp coriander seedscoarsely cracked
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tsp yellow mustard seedscracked
- 1 tsp dill seed
To serve
- 20 light rye breadslices
- 6 tbsp yellow mustard
- 5 sour dill pickleshalved
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Method
0/8 doneStep 1: Weigh 4 ⅜ lb beef brisket and adjust the cure to it: salt at 25 g and curing salt at 2.5 g per kg of meat. Mix 1 ¾ oz fine salt, ⅛ oz curing salt No. 1 (pink curing salt, 6.25% sodium nitrite), ⅔ oz sugar, 2 tbsp coarsely cracked black pepper, 1 tbsp coriander seeds, 2 tsp garlic powder, 3 bay leaves and ¼ tsp ground cloves.
Step 2: Rub the cure evenly over every surface of the brisket. Seal it in a large food bag or lidded container and refrigerate at 0–4 °C for 7 days, turning it once a day. Throw it away if it smells sour or putrid, or feels slimy.
Step 3: After curing, rinse the brisket well and soak it in cold water in the fridge for 2 hours, changing the water once, to draw out excess salt. Pat dry.
120 minStep 4: Mix 3 tbsp coarsely cracked black pepper, 2 tbsp coriander seeds, 1 tbsp paprika, 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds and 1 tsp dill seed and press it all over the meat.
Step 5: Smoke the brisket at 225°F over hardwood for about 4 hours, or roast it on a rack in the oven at 250°F (200°F fan), until a thermometer in the thickest part reads at least 160°F and a dark crust has formed.
240 minStep 6: Wrap the brisket in foil with 100 ml water, or set it on a rack over simmering water in a covered roasting tin, and steam in the oven at 250°F for 2–3 hours, until it reaches about 199°F and a skewer slides in like butter.
150 minStep 7: Rest for 15 minutes, then slice thinly across the grain while hot. It will be rosy pink inside from the cure.
15 minStep 8: Spread 20 light rye bread with 6 tbsp yellow mustard and pile on the hot meat, about 120 g per sandwich. Serve with 5 sour dill pickles. Cool leftovers quickly; keep in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze, and re-steam to serve.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 520 kcal
- Protein
- 40 g
- Carbs
- 34 g
- Fat
- 24 g
- Fibre
- 4 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does montreal smoked meat sandwich take?
- About 450 minutes in total: 30 minutes to prepare and 420 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 10 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
- What can I use instead of coriander seeds?
- Ground coriander, same amount (add it later in the cooking; it burns faster).
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