Chef Jeremy Umansky Renovates Jewish Deli

You may have been intrigued by the hype surrounding mortadella last year (known among influencers as “morty d”); maybe you don’t care for a school lunch bologna sandwich; or perhaps, like the high school student mentioned in David Brooks’ much-mocked article, you find yourself frightened and confused by the mention of soppressata or capocollo.

Fortunately, Jeremy Umansky is here to help you navigate the wonderful world of cured meats. As the chef and owner of Larder Delicatessen in Cleveland, Umansky has made a name for himself as a grain preservation expert: He’s best known for infusing rice flour with koji — a biological culture that was he usually boils soy sauce, sake and miso. – in everything from pork to venison to venison to venison to venison to veal pork meat pork meat pork meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat meat Boiling beef, making wild new flavors and new textures.

Along the way, Umansky has become a true connoisseur of the world’s culinary traditions — learning the rules in order to break them, or at least correct them. In his interview with Gastropod, Umansky helps distinguish between common cured meats, reveals his secret to delicious gefilte fish, and shares some of the philosophy behind Larder’s unique offerings.

For more on the history and science of deli meat, including how the US military developed the technology used to make industrial turkey and ham today, listen to the latest episode of Gastropod: “Deli is Short for Delicious – But Do Your Pastrami and Bologna Sandwiches Give You Cancer?”

Gastropod: What types of cured meats do you make in the Larder?

Jeremy Umansky: Oh God. In fact, when I say everything under the sun… We explore what cured meats are in many different cultures. So I guess the question would be, Is there an animal whose meat you haven’t turned into charcuterie? And is there a method you haven’t used to do that?

Obviously I can’t find an elephant, or even want one. But we used many different animals and many techniques from all over the world. The good thing is that this can be done with almost any animal. If you wanted to make a delicious tuna steak, you could. It’s about these methods and techniques, not necessarily the ingredients that go into them.

Speaking of which, can you tell us a little bit about one of the most popular products, pastrami?

Normally, pastrami would be goose, seasoned with coriander and black pepper, maybe a little juniper, maybe a little onion and garlic. It would be washed, then go through two stages of cooking where it would be smoked and steamed.

Finally, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially with Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe, pastrami made its way to New York City. Goose was hard to come by in America, but one of the cheapest cuts was beef belly. This cut is very similar to pork belly: It looks like bacon, lots of fat with streaky meat.

As time goes by, people get a little money and want to show it off. And what is the next sexiest to the cow? The brisket. That’s when we first saw pastrami become what we know it now, and brisket is great for the pastrami style. It is a tough meat and, although it is very fatty, it has a lot of meat compared to the umbilical cord.

Over time, very little has changed with a set of spices: that coriander, black pepper, and maybe a little juniper. But that mixture can be very hard and have a lot of bite, so adding a little onion powder or garlic powder to soften it. In the delicatessen, we add wild mushroom powder, dark cocoa and coffee, because those things strengthen the soil, the smoke, the black pepper.

How about bologna?

In Italy, there is no bologna – there is mortadella, a style of sausage meat from the Bologna region. They say Bologna, we say “baloney.” If you were to hold a quality, off-the-shelf mortadella next to a slice of Oscar Mayer bologna, they’d be nearly identical. In addition to the quality of the animals used and other ingredients, they will have a similar mouthfeel and taste.

To make the meat, you need to grind the meat and fat in a paste. Well, I want you to think of buttercream frosting, right out of the fridge and still a little stiff. You insert it into the casing and gently twist it. It’s sleek, and it’s sleek, because you’ve achieved it in such a small thing.

One thing to note: It’s easier to use a machine to strip everything, and place it between large spoons or rollers, rather than sitting there and simply grinding things and putting them into a beautiful mosaic, laying out all the different shapes. That’s why bologna became so popular in our culture as a delicious meat.

How do you balance these classics with keeping things fresh?

I had heard that the Jewish delicacies were out of stock. I said, I will do my part to prevent that. So I see the Larder as my attempt to preserve Jewish food culture in North America.

Part of that is that we continue with the idea of ​​what deli meat is, but we put our own definition on it. Like, we’re going to use a two-week-old turkey in place of this low-quality industrial grade beef. For the gefilte fish, we take the green mixture and put it in a cast iron skillet. It’s like a burger patty, almost. We work in a restaurant and people are like, this is not my grandmother’s gefilte fish – and if she made it this way, I would be eating it all the time!

We’ve heard people say you’re modern, and I’m like, well, I’m modern. Even though I wanted to do the old delicatessen, it’s still the 2020s. We still have motorized kitchen appliances, and I have a computer in my pocket and can look up food science questions whenever I want.

It is important to have a modern attitude towards your food, because it is the only way our culture will survive. They must be delicious and attractive to the people who are here, and who want to eat them now.