Some point to Benjamin Kravitz, who founded Bens De Luxe Delicatessen & Restaurant in 1910, as the introducer of Montreal smoked meat. According to the Kravitz family, he used a brisket-curing method he recalled being practised by Lithuanian farmers. His first smoked meat sandwiches were made and sold from his wife's fruit and candy store.[4]
According to Eiran Harris, a Montreal historian, Herman Rees Roth from New York may have created the first smoked meat sandwich in 1908, selling them from his deli, the British American Delicatessen Store.[4]
In another claim by Bill Brownstein, the smoked meat was brought over in 1902 by Itzak Rudman, who was an accomplished salami and smoked meat maker who had a shop on de Bullion Street (formerly Cadieux Street).[6]
In yet another possibility, a butcher by the name of Aaron Sanft who arrived from Iași, Romania, in 1884 founded Montreal's first kosher butcher shop (Sanft Kosher Meat at 560 Craig Street (now Saint Antoine Street)[7]) and likely made smoked meat in the Romanian style similar to pastrama.[8]
Serving
An atypical smoked meat sandwich topped with Swiss cheese, served with coleslaw, French fries and one quarter of a pickle. Generally, the authentic version of the sandwich would not include cheese given kosher dietary restrictions on mixing meat with dairy.
Warm Montreal smoked meat is always sliced by hand to maintain its form, since doing so with a meat slicer would cause the tender meat to disintegrate. Whole briskets are kept steaming and sliced up on demand when ordered in the restaurant to maintain its temperature.
Even when hand-cut, Montreal smoked meat produces a considerable amount of broken bits when sliced. These pieces are gathered together and commonly served with French fries, cheese curds, and gravy as smoked meat poutine or served over spaghetti with Bolognese sauce or even pizza.
Montreal-style smoked meat sandwiches are typically built with seedless, light rye bread, and piled with hand-sliced smoked meat about 5cm (2in) high, dressed with yellow prepared mustard. The customer can specify the amount of fat in the smoked meat:
Lean: the lean and less flavourful end. Relatively healthy but dry.
Medium and medium fat: the most popular cuts from the middle of the brisket. Occasionally, a sliced mix of lean and fat meats.
Old-fashioned: a cut between medium and fatty and often cut a bit thicker.
1 2 3 4 Sax, David (2010-10-01), Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen , Mariner Books, ISBN978-0-547-38644-7
↑ラビノビッチ、ララ(2009)「モントリオール風燻製肉:ララ・ラビノビッチがモントリオール・ユダヤ公共図書館アーカイブの協力を得てエイラン・ハリスにインタビュー」、『Cuizine: The Journal of Canadian Food Cultures / Cuizine: Revue des cultures culinaires au Canada』、1(2)