Pastrami comes out brown. What am I doing wrong?

[Northofchicago]

I cook my pastrami to 150, as per Meathead. It always comes out brown instead of pink. Should I be doing 140 degrees? Or, something else?

[shify]

Well first off, if you are making pastrami from brisket, it is grossly undercooked at 150 degrees.

The pink comes from the curing salt not from being medium rare. Are you using curing salt in your corned beef brine?

[jtw]

Pastrami should end up somewhere in the 200+ degree range, regardless of whether you smoke it all the way there or finish it with steam. If it's cured correctly then it will be pink regardless of cooking method.
It will be easier to troubleshoot if you give us an overview of your process?

[bbqLuv]

Does ~200"F. making pastrami with store bought corned beef?

[acorgihouse]

Are you talking about cooking corned beef, or smoking corned beef to pastrami? I do it a lot, I love pastrami. My habit has been, whether starting with a home brined corned beef or a purchased one, to smoke to the "stall", for me usually around 170 degrees, wrap, and usually I put in oven from there. To cook to an internal temp of 200ish. I've done it over and over, always works out well. I've never tried cooking to a temp of 150. I didn't check, and admit I didn't look at the Meathead recipe before this post, because I've done it by Meathead directions for some years. If the guidelines have changed, I never got the memo.
Edit: I see shify and jtw were posting while I did, and seems we are all on same page. Can we get more detail on how you are doing this?

[Oak Smoke]

If it’s cured properly it should be pink regardless of temperature. IMHO

[johnec00]

+1

[STEbbq]

Meathead says here to cook it to 203. And yes, curing salt will make it pink and you need to cure it usually for 5-7 days if you have a normal chunk of pastrami.

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/beef-and-bison-recipes/home-made-pastrami-thats-close-katzs-recipe/

[Spinaker]

Are you using corned beef? If not, that would be the issue. Are you curing it yourself or buying corned beef from the store?

Last question......are you buying brisket and then just using the pastrami rub on the brisket?

Pastrami is smoked corned beef. it will not be pink unless it is cured. (Corned Beef)

Meathead did say to take it too 150 F. But this was while also using the steaming step. He has since recommended that you smoke them all the way to 200 F. Or to probe tender.

[johnec00]

Regardless of whether you are starting with brisket or store bought corned beef, its going to be very tough if only cooked to 140º or 150º. However, no matter the cooking temperature, it will not be uniformly pink unless its cured with nitrite (as store bought corned beef already is).

[Northofchicago]

I'm buying packaged corn beef, soaking it, spicing it and smoking it.

[MBMorgan]

I'm buying packaged corn beef, soaking it, spicing it and smoking it.

1. How exactly are you smoking it (times, temps, etc.)?

2. "I cook my pastrami to 150, as per Meathead." FWIW, in his current "Close to Katz's" recipe (HERE), Meathead is pretty clear about first cooking to the stall (about 160F internal temp (IT)), then wrapping and continuing to cook to a final IT of 203F). Could you maybe post a link to the recipe where 150F is mentioned? I can't find it (although I just noticed that Spinaker mentioned an old recipe that involved steaming the pastrami).

[Spinaker]

Yes, he removed that step because it is a PITA and adds nothing to the process.

[Spinaker]

If that is what you are doing, then you are not buying beef the is cured properly. There is no reason why it would come out grey or brownish in color. The only thing I could think of would be you are soaking the meat too long in the desalination step. Try to only soak it for 6-8 hours and see if that makes a difference.

The ultimate control would be to cure it yourself. (Which is the BEST corned beef you can have, BTW) Then you know you have cured it correctly and long enough. Make sure to use Meathead's calculator and recipe. Do not use any others to cure and make corned beef. Make is exactly like the directions say and you will have amazing results.

Again, do not stop cooking the meat when it hits 140-150 F. That will only give you tough meat. It has nothing to do with the color you are getting, but it will create VERY tough meat. You need to go to 195-200 F to break down the connective tissues. More on that here.

"It is essential that you remember, that all our recipes and that this calculator are for wet cures. You may see other recipes out there, but if they are for dry cures there is no comparison (read the rest of this page to understand the diff). Yes, I know there is another curing calculator out there on the interwebs but there is no author listed, the page has many broken links and graphics, the parent site appears to be abandoned, and it includes sugar which is not part of the cure, it is a flavoring."

[shify]

I don't think the length of desalination will impact the cure. I routinely buy the pre-corned beef and always desalinated 24-36 hours (they are salt bombs otherwise) and it always cooks up pink.

I have two corned points in the fridge now I bought on sale just after St. Patty's day. They've been soaking for close to 24 hours and I'll probably keep them in a bit longer before I rub and smoke

[Spinaker]

Yeah, I do not think so either. That was just the only possible thing I could think of. I think the OP is not buying what he thinks he is. shify

[shify]

1) Double check you are buying actual raw corned (brined) beef that is cured with nitrates. It is wrapped with some of the brine and a little spice mix packet?

2) Assuming you are, you are not cooking it fully. Pastrami/corned beef needs to be cooked to ~200-205 degrees to get tender.

3) I don't think undercooking it will prevent it from turning the cured/pink color but maybe it does? I don't think I have ever cooked a cured beef product to med well temps.