Grillin' with Wolf - Pitt Edition, Primanti Style

Pittsburg, PA is home to the Steelers, Iron City Brewing Company, and the Primanti Brothers. A staple of Pittsburg, the Primanti sandwich contains a grilled meat (usually pastrami), cheese, cole slaw, and French fries. Mash it all together so you can eat it with one hand and you have one of the most iconic sandwiches associated with a city in America. If any of you are headed to Pitt this weekend, grab a sandwich and let me know how mine compares. The thing is though I couldn’t just throw the Primanti on a grill and call it good. So I added another staple of Pittsburg to the mix and removed the French fries; say welcome to the perogie.

What you will need:
• Corned beef (let soak in water for about 2 hours per pound, change water every hour or it will be too salty)
• Cabbage
• Red Cabbage
• Carrots
• Olive Oil
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Crusty Italian bread
• Provolone cheese
• Tomatoes
• Perogies (if you are in Pitt get some fresh! Or make them at home with this recipe, for convenience though I used store bought and placed them directly on the grill. It would be just as easy to fry them in a pot at the tailgate site.)

To make the coleslaw first cut up about 1 cup worth of cabbage and carrots (mixed). Add the veggies to a bowl with 2 tbs of olive oil, 2 tbs of apple cider vinegar, 2 tsps of brown sugar, and add salt/pepper to taste. Try to mix this early so it has time to sit in the cooler and the vinegar can soak it.

Here is the rub you will need for the pastrami
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 cup paprika
• 2 tbs ground coriander seeds
• 2 tbs brown sugar
• 1 tbs ground black peppercorns
• 1 tbs ground yellow mustard seeds
• 1 tbs ground white peppercorns (or and one more ground black peppercorn if you can’t find this)

Next we will make the pastrami, but again make sure that you soak your corned beef in water or else you will end up with a salty mess. Rub down your corned beef with the spicy yellow mustard and pack on the rub. Get your grill set up for indirect heat and bring the temperature down to between 225-250 degrees. I used oak chips directly on my charcoal to put a light smoke flavor to the pastrami, and added a few more chips about half way through cooking. It should take about an hour to an hour and a half per pound to smoke the pastrami at around 160 degrees. Once the meat is done let it stand for 15 minutes to rest.

While the meat is resting it is a good idea to toast your bread and melt the provolone on the grill. Assemble your tailgate makeshift Primanti sandwich by adding the pastrami, slaw, tomato, and perogies.