Sous vide Que Pastrami vs Pastrami Perfected

[Thunder77]

I had two chunks of on sale corned beef that I wanted to use before a business trip, so I decided to compare the two methods. They were roughly the same size at 3 lbs, and both were flat cuts. Same brand. Same rub: the pastrami rub from "Close to Katz's". The first chunk went into the sous vide bath Friday night at 180 for 10 hours. Saturday morning, both went on the Weber with SnS, with 3 ounces of cherry wood for Smoke. The sous vide piece stayed on until it hit 165 IT. Then I removed it and wrapped in foil until it cooled. The second piece was on until just past the stall, when I had plenty of bark. I then vacuum sealed it, and sous vided at 195 for four hours, per @ABCBBQDAVE.

Conclusion: both were delicious. The result I prefer is the Pastrami Perfected method. It seems like it retained a little less bark, but had more intense flavor, and had better texture. I will of course be repeating this experiment the next time brisket is on sale. 😎

The piece on the left is the sous vide que Pastrami, the one on the right is Pastrami Perfected.

[Spinaker]

Man I loved Dave's recipe. It was so darn good. I took mine up too about 180 F on the smoker. I like a lot of thick bark. Then I SV'd , like you, 4hours at 195 F. I still think its the best thing I have ever made.

Thanks for sharing. Nice write up. Excellent comparison.

[Thunder77]

Thanks Spinaker! I was trying for a good evaluation. Sometimes I feel like I am not good at explaining things. Dave's recipe is the awesomest.

[Jerod Broussard]

I noticed you mentioned retaining less bark.

Bark is not given nor retained; it is EARNED and KEPT no matter what. Or some crap like that.

[Thunder77]

I still liked Dave's better. :-)

[Spinaker]

So eloquent, Jerod

[johnec00]

Great comparison Thunder77, thanks for posting. I did a similar test a year or so ago, and agree with you that the smoke first then SV was superior. I don't know where the original post is, but the result is summarized in #5 of this thread.

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...s-vide-brisket

[EdF]

Thanks Thunder77 ! Very helpful!

[Michael Brinton]

I did one at 150 for 36 hours. Smoked until I got the bark I wanted. Had some sauerkraut I'd been fermenting with the kingauthor flour rye bread recipe, swiss cheese, Russian dressing. Ruebens! Going back out this weekend to search for more corned beef sales. Delicious.

[EdF]

Make me faint!

[tbob4]

Great write-up. Thanks a ton!

[TheCountofQ]

Very interesting. Thanks for the test and info. The one on the right appears to have more marbling. Would you guess that is the result of the varied methods?

[Thunder77]

That was my question too, Count. I tried to get the pieces of meat that were as similar as possible. Next time I will use two pices off the same brisket.