Oh, my … as I type these favorite sandwich recipes my appetite alarm is sounding!

I learned about this sandwich from ordering it at a Jewish delicatessen and restaurant named Gamiel’s® in Wilmington DE in the early 1970’s. Actually, I learned a whole lot about Jewish foods in general, eating there many times. No doubt as I remember specific food items I will include the recipes in this book.

I used to make this sandwich for my best friend, Morrie Shaffer, when he would come to visit. He loved it.

The flavor combinations in this sandwich make it very popular. It is served hot with a side of garlic dill pickle and potato chips. The cured meat taste of the pastrami, grilled and piled high, is delicious. Add plenty of melted Swiss cheese on top of the hot pastrami and the two flavors are like the perfect marriage, intense and contrasting and clearly a "natural" combination.

The products that take this sandwich to the perfection level are very fresh seeded rye bread, grilled on one side with butter, and strongly flavored brown deli mustard. The pickle is a texture and taste contrast with a bit of crunchy moisture, albeit salty, and a strong garlic overtone. The potato chips might be considered a quiet food used to cleanse your palate for the next bite of sandwich.

You definitely want to make this sandwich as it is easy to make and most yummy! I recommend either cold beer or a soda as an appropriate beverage.

Ingredients:

¼ lb. or more of top quality pastrami (not the cheap stuff)

2 large slices of fresh seeded rye bread

2 or 3 sandwich size slices of Swiss cheese

1 or 2 tbsp. or more of a Brown Deli Mustard

1 medium to large deli style garlic dill pickle (often sold from plastic tubs)

1 oz. of Potato chips

1 or 2 tbsp. of soybean oil

2 pats of butter

Directions:

Butter the slices of bread on one side and grill them to a light golden color in a skillet over medium heat. Put the grilled bread slices together grilled side out and put them into a warm 150ºF oven on a serving plate.

Grill the pastrami on a medium hot grill or in a non-stick skillet after heating the soybean oil and spreading it over the grill or skillet surface. The pastrami will shrink in size as it grills and loses moisture. This is to be expected and the pastrami is not done until it has shrunken.

Put the pastrami on a saucer, formed into the shape and size of the rye bread, then put the Swiss cheese on top and put it under a broiler just long enough to melt the cheese.

Put the pastrami and cheese between the slices of warmed rye bread and cut it diagonally with a sharp knife. Serve the sandwich on the warmed plate with a bowl or bottle of Brown Deli Style Mustard and the garlic dill pickle and the potato chips.

Expect applause.