Utah Pastrami Burger

Posted On October 9, 2020

Utah is a magical place. We set up camp about 40 miles north of Moab, in the ghost town of Thompson Springs. It’s a quiet place, with a few campgrounds and a gas station off of I-70. The views are spectacular, with red-clay mountains and desert surrounding you. It’s the perfect time of year for this area, with daily temps in the 70’s. It’s also an ATV/UTV wonderland, with trails for hundreds of miles in each direction.

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So, for this cook, we chose the Utah Pastrami Burger. It’s a local favorite that is sure to please any meat lover and griller. If there are any pastrami purists out there, you may want to sit down. The biggest obstacle I faced, was finding the cut of meat to make pastrami, so I cheated. The closest thing to pastrami that I could find was a corned beef brisket, which is sometimes referred to as, “pastrami brisket”, so it’s a win in my book.

The important part, was to season and smoke the brisket, the day before the cook. I basically smoked the “pastrami brisket” just like I would a normal brisket. I used the snake method with the coals and smoked the brisket with some hickory chunks, until the internal temp was around 165 degrees.

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After smoking for a few hours, to hit the 165 degree mark, I wrapped the brisket in foil to push it through the stall, and reach 200 degrees, internal temp. This took another hour or so to reach.

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I let the pastrami brisket rest for around 15 minutes, then sliced it up. After a little taste-testing (who can resist), I placed the pastrami in a container and let it nap in the fridge until the next day.

Now for the easy part. We prepared some normal burgers with 80/20 ground beef. Place the burgers on the grill and cook both sides. When the burgers are just about done, I put a generous portion of the smoked pastrami and swiss cheese on top.

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After the cheese melts, they are ready to come off the grill. It’s now time to “dope” or “dress” the burgers. A traditional Utah pastrami burger is dressed with some combination of: onions, lettuce, pickles, and fry sauce. What’s fry sauce, you ask? Well, it’s basically a mixture of ketchup, mayo, pickle relish, and maybe some garlic salt or other seasonings. Utes love their fry sauce, and I don’t blame them one bit!

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Although this cook took an extra day, the bonus is, you should have some brisket left over for some pastrami sandwiches or a good ole reuben. This was a fun cook, and everyone loves a good burger story. The fry sauce may end up being a staple on all of our burgers from now on!