I made my first pastrami a few days ago. Instead of corning it myself I picked up a corned beef brisket (~5lbs) from the supermarket. At $5.89/lb It was considerably cheaper than buying a $9/lb fresh brisket flat and spending a week corning it myself.
I desalinated it 15 hrs (instead of the recommended bare minimum of 8). Then I decided to put some score marks to both sides before adding the rub.
Next I made up Meathead's Katz's Pastrami rub and applied liberally to all surfaces 360*
Meathead calls for the rub to stay on the meat for 2 days before smoking. I did not have the time to do this so I put it on for about 1.5hrs while the smoker was heating up. The finished product was still amazing. Next time I will do it 2 days since I'm anxious to see how this can go from A+ to A++.
I smoked it about 6 hrs with red oak, (more than the recipe calls for as far as wood goes, but I like a good smoke profile and I feel it gets lost in such a highly-seasoned dish as pastrami) and about 2 hrs into the stall I wrapped it as you would a brisket and got the temp to 190. Then I pulled it and let it cool at room temp for an hour then placed it in the fridge, leaving the thermometer probe in.
The next day I steamed it over about about 1" of water on a rack in a roasting pan. The rack was held up out of the water with 4 foil balls about the size of golf balls. I covered the joint of the thermometer probe & wire with a couple layers of foil to protect it from steam/water degradation.
Once the water came to a low boil I placed the meat, on the foil it was wrapped in (but no longer wrapped), on the rack and turned the heat to low. I placed the roasting pan lid on with one steam vent open, and steamed it approx 1:30-1:45 until the IT was 203, then turned off the heat and let it sit there until the temp dropped to 180.
Slice thin.
Heaven.
As George Costanza says, pastrami is the most sensual of the salted, cured meats....
I desalinated it 15 hrs (instead of the recommended bare minimum of 8). Then I decided to put some score marks to both sides before adding the rub.
Next I made up Meathead's Katz's Pastrami rub and applied liberally to all surfaces 360*
Meathead calls for the rub to stay on the meat for 2 days before smoking. I did not have the time to do this so I put it on for about 1.5hrs while the smoker was heating up. The finished product was still amazing. Next time I will do it 2 days since I'm anxious to see how this can go from A+ to A++.
I smoked it about 6 hrs with red oak, (more than the recipe calls for as far as wood goes, but I like a good smoke profile and I feel it gets lost in such a highly-seasoned dish as pastrami) and about 2 hrs into the stall I wrapped it as you would a brisket and got the temp to 190. Then I pulled it and let it cool at room temp for an hour then placed it in the fridge, leaving the thermometer probe in.
The next day I steamed it over about about 1" of water on a rack in a roasting pan. The rack was held up out of the water with 4 foil balls about the size of golf balls. I covered the joint of the thermometer probe & wire with a couple layers of foil to protect it from steam/water degradation.
Once the water came to a low boil I placed the meat, on the foil it was wrapped in (but no longer wrapped), on the rack and turned the heat to low. I placed the roasting pan lid on with one steam vent open, and steamed it approx 1:30-1:45 until the IT was 203, then turned off the heat and let it sit there until the temp dropped to 180.
Slice thin.
Heaven.
As George Costanza says, pastrami is the most sensual of the salted, cured meats....
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