Today and tomorrow I know there will be lots of cookin' goin' on!
I'm taking my first stab at homemade pastrami today. Got 2 brisket halves in there, about 2 1/2 lbs each trimmed with 1/8" fat cap left. They've been curing since Friday evening and last night about 11PM I pulled them out of the brine, washed them down and put them in cold water and back in the fridge to soak out some of the salt...
This morning I got up and poured out that water and put in fresh cold water, gonna give them another hour, maybe, then throw them on the pellet smoker. Not eating until tonight... I'm thinking maybe I should wait a while. Small briskets like that aren't going to take 10 hours to cook, and we're going to eat probably around 7:30-8:00PM? Maybe I should wait till about noon and cook them till around 6, wrap them up to rest a bit and go to the 6PM church service?
I dunno... I have a Maverick temp probe, but... terrified of overcooking. Not a big deal to wrap up and pop in the oven if they're cooking too slowly, though, right? My first try at this, and I want the guests to enjoy the pastrami. Plus, I'm throwing a bone-in ham in there, too. Told the wife to get one that is cured but not cooked, but she said everything at the store was already fully-cooked. So not much to do to that except smoke it up to temp, I guess.
Pointers welcome. Just wondering about how long you have had to cook similar briskets. External temps should be in the 50s, I believe, shouldn't be too much of a factor. Meat thickness is 1 1/2" to 2" throughout, for the brisket. I'm kinda at a loss on the ham... since it's already cooked, I assume not much to really do there?
I'm taking my first stab at homemade pastrami today. Got 2 brisket halves in there, about 2 1/2 lbs each trimmed with 1/8" fat cap left. They've been curing since Friday evening and last night about 11PM I pulled them out of the brine, washed them down and put them in cold water and back in the fridge to soak out some of the salt...
This morning I got up and poured out that water and put in fresh cold water, gonna give them another hour, maybe, then throw them on the pellet smoker. Not eating until tonight... I'm thinking maybe I should wait a while. Small briskets like that aren't going to take 10 hours to cook, and we're going to eat probably around 7:30-8:00PM? Maybe I should wait till about noon and cook them till around 6, wrap them up to rest a bit and go to the 6PM church service?
I dunno... I have a Maverick temp probe, but... terrified of overcooking. Not a big deal to wrap up and pop in the oven if they're cooking too slowly, though, right? My first try at this, and I want the guests to enjoy the pastrami. Plus, I'm throwing a bone-in ham in there, too. Told the wife to get one that is cured but not cooked, but she said everything at the store was already fully-cooked. So not much to do to that except smoke it up to temp, I guess.
Pointers welcome. Just wondering about how long you have had to cook similar briskets. External temps should be in the 50s, I believe, shouldn't be too much of a factor. Meat thickness is 1 1/2" to 2" throughout, for the brisket. I'm kinda at a loss on the ham... since it's already cooked, I assume not much to really do there?
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