Smoked Meat Patty Melt

I’m pulling another recipe out of the archives from when I had my restaurant in Toronto, Lisa Marie. The smoked meat patty melt was definitely a fan-favourite so I’ve recreated this beauty on the Alchemy grill and am sharing the recipe with you, so you can also make this beauty at home. At my restaurant, we used to brine our own smoked meat for the patty melt, but for this recipe I got a brisket that was already pastrami-brined, to eliminate that time consuming step. You can ask your local butcher if this is something they can prepare for you. I then rubbed a thin layer of yellow mustard over my brisket and covered it in a simple rub of black pepper, paprika and garlic powder. The brisket goes into the Alchemy smoker for a total of 5-6 hours, the first four are unwrapped and then the last 1-2 hours is wrapped in parchment and then aluminum foil. You will have the most juicy and tender smoked meat when it’s all done.

For the patty melt portion of the sandwich, I made a thick-cut flame broiled burger made from ground ribeye and topped it with Swiss cheese. I cooked my burger medium, which is how I generally feel a good thick-cut burger should be cooked, but it’s really important here that you don’t use regular ground beef if you’re going cook your burger medium. We used to grind our own meat for burgers in-house when I had my restaurant, so that’s why we were able to cook our burgers medium, but the ground meat on your grocery store's fridge likely wasn’t ground that day, so it isn’t safe to under cook it. That’s also why I used a high quality cut of meat, like ribeye, for this recipe, and asked for it to be ground at my local butcher counter that day. So if you can’t get your hands on some good quality ground beef, I’d suggest you cook your burgers until fully cooked (but not dry… come on, people!).

To dress this sandwich, I made a hand-cut carrot and cabbage coleslaw made by mixing it together with grainy Dijon, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. You can also decide to use pre-made sauerkraut or vinegar slaw, if you don't want the extra step home homemade slaw. Next, I added sliced sandwich pickles... to me, you can’t have smoked meat without pickles. I also made a quick horseradish mayo by mixing, you guessed it, mayo and horseradish, and served it all up on rye bread with more melted Swiss cheese. It is truly a really tasty and epic sandwich. If you want to find out how to make my Smoked Meat Patty Melt, keep reading or jump to the full recipe.

Smoker set to 250F. Cover your pastrami-brined brisket in a thin layer of yellow mustard. In a bowl mix the pepper, paprika and garlic powder. Cover your pastrami in the spice mixture and place in the smoker for four hours, unwrapped.

After the four hours, remove from the smoker and wrap in a layer of parchment paper and then in tin foil and add back to the smoker for another 1-2 hours.

Thinly slice your carrot and green cabbage. In a bowl mix the grainy Dijon mustard and apple cider vinegar, add in the carrot and cabbage, season with salt and pepper and mix. Set aside. If you pickle slices are thick, cut them lengthwise to make them thinner, or use already sliced sandwich pickles.

In a bowl, mix the horseradish and mayo. Set aside.

To prep your burger, form into a patty that is about an inch, inch and a half thick. Drizzle with canola oil and season with salt and pepper. Add to the grill and cook for about 4 minutes each side. I cooked my burger medium, but you can cook to your desired doneness.

Add a thin layer of mayo to one side of both slices of sourdough bread, and to the plancha, mayo side down. Add two slices of Swiss cheese to each piece of bread and let is melt. Flip your burger and add a slice of Swiss cheese to the patty.

Remove the smoked meat from the smoker and thinly slice.

To build your sandwich, add your thick-cut flame broiled cheeseburger patty to the cheesy rye bread.

Add the coleslaw, horseradish mayo, sliced smoked meat and pickles. Cut in half and enjoy.

And now for the full recipe...

Smoked Meat Patty Melt

Makes one sandwich

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 5-6 hours

Total Time: 6 hours, 10 minutes

Ingredients:

6 oz ground ribeye

1 tsp canola oil

Salt

pepper

3-4 lbs pastrami brined brisket

1 tbsp Pepper

1 tbsp Paprika

1 tbsp Garlic powder

2 carrots

¼ head green cabbage

1 tbsp Grainy Dijon mustard

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Salt

Pepper

4-5 sandwich pickle slices

1 tbsp horseradish

3 tbsp mayo

2 slices rye bread

5 slices Swiss cheese

How to Make the Smoked Meat Patty Melt

Set smoker to 250F.

Cover your pastrami-brined brisket in a thin layer of yellow mustard. In a bowl mix the pepper, paprika and garlic powder. Cover your pastrami in the spice mixture and place in the smoker for four hours, unwrapped. After the four hours, remove from the smoker and wrap in a layer of parchment paper and then in tin foil and add back to the smoker for another 1-2 hours.

Thinly slice your carrot and green cabbage. In a bowl mix the grainy Dijon mustard and apple cider vinegar, add in the carrot and cabbage, season with salt and pepper and mix. Set aside. If you pickle slices are thick, cut them lengthwise to make them thinner, or use already sliced sandwich pickles.

In a bowl, mix the horseradish and mayo. Set aside.

To prep your burger, form into a patty that is about an inch, inch and a half thick. Drizzle with canola oil and season with salt and pepper. Add to the grill and cook for about 4 minutes each side. I cooked my burger medium, but you can cook to your desired doneness.

Add a thin layer of mayo to one side of both slices of sourdough bread, and to the plancha, mayo side down. Add two slices of Swiss cheese to each piece of bread and let is melt. Flip your burger and add a slice of Swiss cheese to the patty.

Remove the smoked meat from the smoker and thinly slice. To build your sandwich, add your thick-cut flame broiled cheeseburger patty to the cheesy rye bread. Add the coleslaw, horseradish mayo, sliced smoked meat and pickles. Cut in half and enjoy.

Make sure to subscribe to my newsletter so you never miss out on a new recipe, follow me on all my social channels @chefmattbasile and check out my new project @alchemygrills for updates, recipes and videos.