So i made pastrami last week and it was a success and a little bit of a failure. i bought corned beef from a local store. one was a point and the other was a flat. i wanted to do both to see which i prefer. there were a few problems in my process though.
one was that each part was from a different company. they had different solution percentages. the flat was in a 35% solution but the point was in a 45% solution.
i thought that if i soaked them for 24 hours it was be ok. the problem i found was that the bowl i found and tried to use was not big enough to fit both of them and have them completely submerged the whole time. as a result some of the meat was above the water for a while. at 12 hours i changed the water and flipped them but i don't think i did enough.
at the end of the 24 hours the flat was a softer pink but the point was a dark red. look at the difference
this is why i am making this post. the flat came out great. the point is too salty for me to eat. i can't eat much of it at all and if i do i need a lot of water. what kicks me is if i had more experience with it i might have known what to do. i had the time to fix it. i put the rub on and let it sit in the fridge for 2 days while i waited for my window to open up to smoke. i could have had the rub on for 1 day and spent time desalinating.
so obviously the things i did wrong i know - not a big enough bowl, not covering the meat entirely with water. but is there a way to know when the meat has desalinated enough? should i always look for that pale pink and if i see red should i keep going? does color not necessarily mean anything? it is a certain amount of time per percent of solution? i can't help but think there has to be some kind of metric or indicator involved in this.
FYI: i smoked it with hickory at ~270 for ~12 hours until it reached 203. i never wrapped at and stopped feeding water to my water bowl and the bark came out insane.
one was that each part was from a different company. they had different solution percentages. the flat was in a 35% solution but the point was in a 45% solution.
i thought that if i soaked them for 24 hours it was be ok. the problem i found was that the bowl i found and tried to use was not big enough to fit both of them and have them completely submerged the whole time. as a result some of the meat was above the water for a while. at 12 hours i changed the water and flipped them but i don't think i did enough.
at the end of the 24 hours the flat was a softer pink but the point was a dark red. look at the difference
this is why i am making this post. the flat came out great. the point is too salty for me to eat. i can't eat much of it at all and if i do i need a lot of water. what kicks me is if i had more experience with it i might have known what to do. i had the time to fix it. i put the rub on and let it sit in the fridge for 2 days while i waited for my window to open up to smoke. i could have had the rub on for 1 day and spent time desalinating.
so obviously the things i did wrong i know - not a big enough bowl, not covering the meat entirely with water. but is there a way to know when the meat has desalinated enough? should i always look for that pale pink and if i see red should i keep going? does color not necessarily mean anything? it is a certain amount of time per percent of solution? i can't help but think there has to be some kind of metric or indicator involved in this.
FYI: i smoked it with hickory at ~270 for ~12 hours until it reached 203. i never wrapped at and stopped feeding water to my water bowl and the bark came out insane.
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