Friend goofed and bought corned beef brisket instead of regular brisket, question...
As the title says, my friend is having a housewarming party on Friday and bought me a brisket to smoke for the party. He showed up this evening with a corned beef brisket - yikes! Is it pointless to attempt to smoke this thing as I would a regular brisket? Worst case scenario is I head to the store tomorrow morning and pick up a regular brisket and forget the corned beef one. Is that the best option?
Anyone here ever smoked a corned beef brisket? How'd it turn out?
Yes. I had the misfortune of buying one because I could not find an affordable brisket. So I took it out, rubbed it and smoked it. It turned out terrible. Saltier than you could imagine. I posted it and everyone chimed in. They all said it would have salvageable and good. The advice I received: Soak it for 24 hours in water and rinse after. Then you can treat it (kind of) like a brisket. Because it has been cured, you are going to get a lot of advice on what the outcome will be. Mine sliced well and took much less time to get to temp.
Last edited by tbob4; February 22, 2017, 11:26 PM.
Hi, my name is Darrell. I'm an OTR truck driver for over 25 years. During my off time I love doing backyard cooks. I have a 48" Lang Deluxe smoker, Rec-Tec pellet smoker,1 Weber Genesis 330, 1 Weber Performer (blue), 2 Weber kettles (1 black and 1 Copper), 1 26" Weber kettle, a WSM, 8 Maverick Redi Chek thermometers, a PartyQ, 2 SnS, Grill Grates, Cast Iron grates, 1 ThermoPop (orange) and 2 ThermoPens (pink and orange) and planning on adding more cooking accessories. Now I have an Anova sous vide, the Dragon blower and 2 Chef alarms from Thermoworks.
Just soak it overnight and apply Meathead's pastrami rub the next morning. Smoked it to 175 and wrap in foil until it reaches 200 F. Cambro it for 2 hrs and enjoy.
Thank you for the quick responses! Alright, I guess I'll give this a whirl. Soak in water overnight, apply liberal salt/pepper (as I would a normal brisket) and smoke? I may run to the store in the morning to grab a proper brisket so I can throw it on the smoker in addition to this one as I'm a bit nervous how the corned beef one might turn out -- don't want to risk bringing a dud to the party.
Ok, I feel a bit more confident after reading the Pastrami link, thanks Jerod. I'll let you know how it goes. Meat is now soaking -- this should be interesting!
Senator Pig you don't have to let the rub set on the meat for 2-3 days I have try it both ways and I like putting the rub on and straight to the smoker. Also if you do what I post above you don't have to steam it.
I agree with Nuke, go get a brisket so you will have a back up in case this doesn't work out. Worse case is you will have a lot of meat left over for later. Nothing wrong with leftovers.
cut a small piece off when you think it's done soaking and cook it to see if you got enough salt out of it. i made the mistake of not checking and one of mine turned out WAY TOO SALTY.
You have stumbled upon making the best recipe on the site (Pastrami). Follow the instructions in MH's pastrami recipe and you will not be disappointed!
Make it festive. Get some good rye bread, layer on some natural sauerkraut, the sliced pastrami, and some good swiss cheese, and make or buy some russian dressing and add that. Then top with the other piece of bread. If you have a cast iron pan or a griddle, put it on the grill and weight down the sandwiches, flipping once, until the bread is "toasted". Oh My!
If you don't have any kind of "culinary weight" (cast iron pan works), you can wrap a couple of bricks in foil to do it.
I actually gave my brother a Reuben kit like the above for his B'Day one year.
I'll forward my address so you know where to send the sample!
Soaked the brisket in cold water overnight, switching the water out a couple times and replacing with fresh water. Added no additional salt but a generous amount of black pepper.
The brisket has been on the smoker for the last 8 hours, crutched it about 6 hours in. Right now it's at about 180 and, oddly enough, smells just like brisket (when it was raw there was a clear pastrami smell to it). The further into the smoke I get, the more confident I am about how it will turn out - hopefully I'm not being deceived!
Cold night in Oregon tonight. It's 38F outside right now, overnight low 33F, so once I pull the brisket off the smoker when it hits 205 I'm probably going to let it sit outside to cool down overnight (keeping it in the foil), then I'll throw it in the oven when I wake up to get it up to about 160 or so before the party. My friend insists we should steam it instead - would that be the better option?
I would keep smoking until probe tender and then faux cambro. As for the friend's advice, I would politely disregard. Call it Pitmaster prerogative. I like my friends, but I trust the members of The Pit a whole lot more when it comes to cooking outdoors.
Hope it turns out Just Great!!!
Didn't respond before ya' got it inta th' water, or I'da went with:
Buy another brisket
Save this one fer St Patrick's Day!!!
Best of Luck
Comment