I watched an interview with Norm Langer of Langer's Deli, a well-respected deli in Los Angeles.
The interviewer asked him what the difference was between corned beef and pastrami. Among other things, he said corned beef is from the brisket, and pastrami is from the navel.
Do any of you cook beef navel, especially for sandwiches? Or do you use brisket? I do. Rarely do I hear about beef navel.
John "JR"
Minnesota/ United States of America
******************************************** Grills/Smokers/Fryers Big Green Egg (Large) X3
Blackstone 36" Outdoor Griddle 4-Burner
Burch Barrel V-1 Karubeque C-60 Kamado Joe Jr. (Black) Lodge L410 Hibachi Pit Barrel Cooker Pit Barrel Cooker 2.0
Pit Barrel PBX
R&V Works FF2-R-ST 4-Gallon Fryer *******************************************. Thermometers
FireBoard (Base Package)
Thermoworks ThermaPen (Red)
Thermoworks MK4 (Orange)
********************************* Accessories Big Green Egg Plate Setter
Benzomatic TS800 High Temp Torch X 2 Bayou Classic 44 qt Stainless Stock Pot
Bayou Classic 35K BTU Burner Eggspander Kit X2 Finex Cat Iron Line FireBoard Drive Lots and Lots of Griswold Cast Iron Grill Grates Joule Water Circulator
KBQ Fire Grate Kick Ash Basket (KAB) X4 Lots of Lodge Cast Iron Husky 6 Drawer BBQ Equipment Cabinet Large Vortex Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum Marquette Castings No. 13 (First Run) Smithey No. 12 Smokeware Chimney Cap X 3 Stargazer No.10, 12 ******************************** Fuel FOGO Priemium Lump Charcoal Kingsford Blue and White B&B Charcoal Apple, Cherry & Oak Log splits for the C-60 ************************************************* Cutlery Buck 119 Special
Cuda 7' Fillet Knife Dexter 12" Brisket Sword Global Shun Wusthof ********** Next Major Purchase Lone Star Grillz 24 X 48 Offset
I did this and was very disappointed. I do not recommend using beef navel for pastrami unless you somehow have the ability to pick an amazing cut of beef navel in person, which is what I suspect the deli shops in NYC can do. It was a sad experience.
I can’t even bear to post this to SUWYC.
4.5 pound beef navel ordered online. 2 weeks of patient work to generate pastrami.
Probably close to 1.75 pounds (I threw some away before I started to weigh it) of fat after cooking it. I didn’t weigh the meat before slicing but that’s probably close to 50% of the cooked weight.
MAK 2 Star pellet
Big Green Egg
Fuego gasser
Pitboss ceramic griddle
Eastman Outdoors wok burner
Ooni 16 pizza oven
Cast iron chimenea with pizza steel
Breeo smokeless fire pit, with Titan rotisserie and Titan Santa Maria style adjustable grate
Oklahoma Joe Bronco
Perfect timing! Beef navel is thawing in frig, for pastrami. My buddy, in the restaurant business, bought a box of 5 beef navels from his meat supplier (minimum order). He and his wife like beef bacon. Our deal is he supplies the meat, I do the curing and smoking, and keep 25%. First 4 went to bacon. First one was a steep learning curve. Need to trim the dickens out of these puppies. Subsequent chunks, much better, but much waste fat. But it renders nicely. And let it cure for a day or two over the formula.
In the course of this I had done a brisket point as pastrami, shared some, so no protest when I proposed pastrami for this last hunk.
Equipment:
'88 Vintage Fire Magic gasser with over 4000 cooks to its credit
Large Big Green Egg
18 Inch Weber Kettle (Rescued from neighbor's trash)
Rotisserie for 18 inch kettle
Dyna Glo propane smoker
Pit Barrel Cooker
Smokey Joe with mini WSM mod
Garcima paella burner
Anova Sous Vide
Slaiya Sous Vide (gift)
LEM grinder, sausage stuffer and meat slicer (all gifts)
Got some nice looking beef navel from Agridime (RIP) late last year, cut one piece to try beef bacon, and 2 others to try pastrami.
Here's what one of the pieces looked like raw:
(filedata/fetch?id=1551298&d=1707603486)
Equilibrium dry cured with 1.6% salt and 0.2% cure#2 for 2 weeks. Rubbed with my pastrami cure, but
My results for pastrami were pretty much non-committal. The problem with navel for pastrami is that the home cook cannot process it like the famous delis do. I don't know anything about Langer's, but Katz's in NY starts with a long cure followed by application of their secret rub, then they send it out to a subcontractor for days of smoking. They then boil it for hours, hold in a steam cabinet and serve. I don't have the capacity to follow that regimen. Navel is also difficult to find, the only reasonably priced source that I found just went belly up. I personally don't like brisket pastrami preferring boneless chuck ribs.
Last edited by johnec00; March 12, 2024, 12:03 AM.
Comment