Michael Does Project Pastrami

[Michael_in_TX]

Inspired by SheilaAnn, here we go.

I have been wanting to do this ever since I joined up here. So today, I picked up a 3.5 lb nicely-marbled brisket flat at my local HEB and got to work. I am also using one of those large marinating bags, similar to what SheilaAnn used.

I did a little bit of (rather poorly, actually) trimming of some fat off of the flat and then weighed it: 3.52 lbs. The calculator on the free side prescribed 14 cups of distilled water, 0.9 cups of Morton Kosher salt, and 10 g of prague powder.

I am rather happy I didn't spill any water all over the floor. That's a lot of water....more than I thought. Once I got the salts all dissolved as best I could in went the flat. I did my best to get as much of the air out as I could. Realizing flat was deciding to try to float, I put the marinating bag in a large aluminum pan and then a pyrex bowl with water and a lid on top as a weight.

Here we are....apparently, I decided that the un-pretty side should be on top for now.



And weighted down.



Into the fridge it went and I'll try to remember to flip it daily. I plan to go at least a week, perhaps ten days. (It's mostly 1.5" thick, but gets up a little more than 2" on the thickest end.)

Cure away little flat....cure away......

[Jerod Broussard]

What time did the calculator give?

[Michael_in_TX]

1.5" gives 2.8 days; 2" gives 5.

[SheilaAnn]

I ended up going four days cure Michael_in_TX and it was perfect! We had leftovers tonight. I’ll treat BF to stupid hash tomorrow. I don’t care for hash. But i love him and want him to be happy. 😝😝😝😝😝😝😝

[STEbbq]

I would do 5 days Michael. I am not sure why you would do 10 days but that may not be safe.

[Michael_in_TX]

I would do 5 days Michael. I am not sure why you would do 10 days but that may not be safe.

I think I got that 10-day number in my head as that is what Matt Pittman / Meat Church did in a video. But he was doing a full-packer brisket, which I most certainly am not. Now that I've slept on it, I think 5 +/- 1 day is a better choice.

[STEbbq]

Perfect

[Michael_in_TX]

So while this thing is purring away in the fridge, this gives me time to agonize over which cooker to use.

I originally was going to use my PBC, but I remember the one and only time I did flats in that thing, they turned out like shoe leather. Granted, this was when I was quite inexperienced with the cooker. Still, the PBC is a hot-and-fast cooker; mine runs 275 F - 325 F normally.

If low and slow would be the better choice, I have my pellet grill, which I could hum along nicely at 225 F. Of course, I won't get as much smoke flavor; however, I did just buy that smoke tube. Hmm...This might be a good cook to experiment with that tube in the pellet grill.

[STEbbq]

I would definitely do 225 in the pellet grill. Smaller pieces of meat are much less forgiving so you want to keep a closer eye on it than usual and lower temps for sure.

[STEbbq]

If you are already using a Pyrex dish, you could just dump the meat and solution in there with a lid. Assuming the solution covers the meat nicely, no need to flip it daily. But I recognize you might have sized everything for the bag so continue on!

[Michael_in_TX]

Embarrassingly, I embarked on this endeavor before realizing I probably didn't have a container that could hold just two cups less than a full gallon. I was going to over night one on Amazon, but then remembered that SheilaAnn used a bag and my local store had bags for $2.98 so that is what I did.

[STEbbq]

MH’s calculator sizes the cure for whatever container you have available. No need for a minimum gallon FWIW just enough to cover the meat nicely. A $3 bag works fine! 👍

[Michael_in_TX]

Well, today is the day!

And, as usual, I forgot about something. I totally forgot to start to desalinate the flat last night. So, this morning I washed it off and placed it in a tub of water. I'll change out the water every hour. I should get about three hours of desalination for this 3.5 lb flat.

And I have indeed elected to use my Chimp pellet grill. I will set it for 200 F, which will hover around that temp, but have swings that go to 190 F and above to 220 F or so. I think the key with a flat is to give it as much time in low and slow as possible. When it hits 165-170 F I'll check on the bark to see where that is at.

I have not fully decided whether to wrap it in foil, butcher paper, or do the foil boat method. Its a flat so, lean. The foil boat method would collect rendered fat, but there may not be much of that to collect. If my goal is to preserve moisture, wrapping it in foil would seem the way to go, but at the expense of the bark. Butcher paper would seem a middle ground. Hmmm.

I've made the rub I'm going to use, which is the one on the free side. I like Meathead's approach of using a combination of powdered and cracked spices.

Oh, and my MiFi has failed. (My Chimp won't work connected to my home wifi, I have to use my MiFi.) So this means no app. I will actually have to walk outside and keep an eye on the pit! The horrors! It's like grilling in the stone age! How do you people do it?

[Oak Smoke]

I’ve learned here that applying the rub at least 12 hours in advance and letting it rest in the open air in the fridge overnight causes the spices to adhere so well that a foil wrap had no ill affects on it at all. It was the next step I was looking for in trying to make memorable pastrami.

[Bob K]

Oak Smoke - I do this with the rub too, and it definitely seems to help the bark. Was wondering if it was my imagination or just a coincidence so thanks for the confirmation.

[Michael_in_TX]

And we are on our way.

That is one unappetizing-looking piece of meat.



Yeah, I can see how chilling it in the fridge with the rub would help it adhere. I should have used some mustard as a binder, but I think I'll be okay. Here we are all rubbed up.



I will see this again around 165-175 F.



I have no idea how long this will take. Might be three hours; might be six. Rolling 200 F pro mode on the Chimp. Low and slow for this lean thing.

[klflowers]

I rarely wrap anything, and I never wrapped pastrami. I make mine on the Chimp all the time too. I like the lighter smoke profile on my pastrami. I think you will be pleased.

[Michael_in_TX]

About 90 minutes in are we are 101 F internal. Nice and slow. Chimp is leisurely doing 195 to 225 F. I also elected to not try the smoke tube on this cook, given that I have never used one before. Didn't want to risk over-smoking the pastrami. I'll practice on a piece of chicken instead.

[Jerod Broussard]

Good luck oversmoking pastrami

[Michael_in_TX]

4.5 hours in....141 F internal. Bark is no where near where I'd like it, but I'm still 30 degrees away from 170 F.

[Jerod Broussard]

What is happening at 170?

[Michael_in_TX]

Jerod Broussard I probably will do the foil boat at that point if the bark is set.

[Jerod Broussard]

Love the boat. FYI, especially on wet-cured meats; smoking at lower temps really extends the cook time and delays bark formation

[Michael_in_TX]

It stalled out hard at 150 F internal. At 7.5 hours in....internal temp at 157 F, did the foil boat thing and also bumped the temp to 250 F in effort to get this thing done in 2023.

[STEbbq]

Small pieces of meat are very weird! Good to know everything is on track!

[Bob K]

Stay the course, it will be a while. Or, really, bump it to 275-300. It's not like a pork butt - the thing is waterlogged, on purpose, which took a few pastramis to figure out

[STEbbq]

Good point. Straight from the water bath to the smoker is very different than after 3 days of dry brine with the rub in the fridge.

[Michael_in_TX]

As it was looking a bit dry, I decided to wrap the thing completely in foil. Also, as I don't want to waste pellets, we're now in the oven. (I feel dirty doing that.) However, we're now past the stall and climbing nicely.