Chuck Roast Pastrami

[SheilaAnn]

I chose to do a chuck roast pastrami because of timing and schedules and everything. I followed the whole Katz recipe from the free side. It’s a solid recipe!!! I broke down the roast into three pieces (cut on the seams for trimming purposes). Brined for 5 days to create the corned beef. Dry rubbed for almost 2 days. Smoked over pecan for 2 hours,,,, 3 hours….. 4 hours. Never got over 138°F. By now, I’m frustrated and hangry. I pulled it and steamed while I made some CI patty melts. Winner of the day? I put a mess of onions and butter in the smoker, too. Patty Melt with smoked onions? Game changer! But I digress…. Pastrami made it to temp, I cooled and stored in the fridge. Final results:



dry brining



after smoking



sliced into it



open faced with copious amounts of mustard



thin rye bread and big ole pickle

the pastrami is delicious. In the end, I am happy.

[Jerod Broussard]

What is that, 3,000ppm??

[SheilaAnn]

All this and I didn’t talk about HOW I cooked it. I used the smart ring. The ring kept wanting to run at 250°F. So I gave in. Still took twice as long as I thought it was supposed to. Never happened before. I chalk it up to a stubborn piece of beef. My set up was a slightly messy snake. I ran it in tandem with RFX. RFX ambient ran about 25° higher, Internal temps stayed within +/- .5°

[dpearce]

Your suggestion awhile back of using chuck roast for smoked pastrami worked out great for me, not surprised (since you already had done it) yours looks as good as it does!

I’ve got another chuck and waaaay too much Prague #1, (and a bunch of different spicy mustards) so I’ll be doing the same thing in the not too distant future.

Congrats on another perfectly done pastrami! Even if it did put you through the paces. Looks incredible and I’m sure it tastes incredible as well!

[SheilaAnn]

Be careful with pink salt! Too much really, truly can make you sick.

[dpearce]

SheilaAnn Noted! I've got a feeling it will take me many moons to use up the amount I have, but I will at least try!

[Michael_in_TX]

I've only done three pastrami cooks (one brisket; two chuck roasts) and it catches me off-guard every time: it just stalls out at a low temp and just sits there, mocking you, for hours. And I always think the cook will be done faster than a traditional brisket/chuck roast as I am often using a smaller cut of meet.

Also, pecan....I really only use pecan for poultry, but now that you mention it, I think it would go perfectly with pastrami. Need to do that! (Pastrami has become a traditional new years dish for me now.)

[Jerod Broussard]

Blonder mentioned to me years ago that with a wet cure you got some extra water going in for extra stall potential.

[SheilaAnn]

The pecan is truly awesome! MH mentions cherry wood is his best run. I didn’t have cherrywood, so I went with pecan because it’s what I had.

Confession: I really love pecan!

[Uncle Bob]

I'm waiting for explanation of "corned beer"...

[SheilaAnn]

Thank you for pointing out my typo uncle panhead John 🤪🤪🤪🤣🤣🤣

[Uncle Bob]

Hey now...................there's no reason to get nasty about it..................



LOL

[SheilaAnn]

Uncle Bob 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

🫶🏻

[Ace]

Looks like it turned out great.

[barelfly]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!! Pastrami FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is on the list! Need to take the corned beef out of the freezer…timing….gotta figure out the calendar!

great cook!