By this point, American pastirma had evolved from air-dried beef to a brined or pickled product, cured with lots of pepper. It’s very common to see ads parenthetically describe pastirma as “spiced beef” or “peppered beef,” and one 1906 grocery ad hawks “[s]ome more of that delicious pickled beef Pastroma.”
Part of the appeal of the pastrami-originated-in-Texas theory is that pastrami today is a form of smoked brisket, which is, of course, also a staple of Texas barbecue joints. In the early decades of the 20th century, though, this preparation was applied to many different cuts of beef. In 1906, D. Taub’s Delicatessen Store in Bay City, Michigan, advertised “Pastroma breast,” “Pastroma shoulder,” and “Pastroma roulade,” all for 35 cents a pound. In 1921, the Hygrade Provision Company of Brooklyn offered five varieties of “pastroma”: “Smoked Pastroma, Shoulder; Smoked Pastroma, Breast; Smoked Pastroma-Roulade; Smoked Pastroma Payes; Smoked Pastroma, Flank.” This is the first explicit reference I’ve found to pastirma or pastrami being smoked, but all the major dealers carried various smoked sausages and meats, and experimenting with smoking pastirma would have been a natural thing to do.
