Pastrami 2nd try is Better

[Skip]

Store bought corned beef. Soaked for 12 hours. Applied rub for 48 hours in the frig. smoked on BGE to 180. Then SV @195 for 4 hours.Came out probe tender.
This is my 2nd pastrami cook. Until Spinaker challenged me to make some I didn't think I'd care for it that much. Now I find out my Wife and I like it!

[Jerod Broussard]

Kneee-Ice! I had a pastrami sammich last night, delivered a couple vacuum sealed packs to some folks today.

To reheat my slices I pan fried a bit in butter.

[Spinaker]

Skip!!! That looks great Sir! I am glad you and Trish are on the Pastrami Train. Hope all is well in Blue Earth!

[Skip]

Thanks John you are the one who inspired me to give it a try!

[GadjetGriller]

I have a store bought rubbed and in the fridge ATM. I tried home made Bacon once before, it was suppose to be so much better than store bought. When I tried it I liked the Store bought better. I wondered how can bacon taste better than what I know and love?( the store bought stuff) then I made my own corned beef then all of a sudden I understood! It did taste better than any store bought corned beef I had ever had!! I'm hopping to recreate that experience with the next step Pastrami!

[DWCowles]

Beautiful!

[fzxdoc]

Nice-looking pastrami, Skip . Sounds like you nailed the cook. Congrats!

Kathryn

[kmhfive]

Looks great. I'll be trying one Wednesday if it's not raining too badly!

[Skip]

Good luck! It is a fun cook.

[Sarasdad]

It looks really nice. I have been making my own corned beef since I joined the Pitmaster Club and I recommend giving it a try. Home made corned beef makes great pastrami.

[rickdonn]

I have been making corned beef and now want to up my game to pastrami. I intend to cook it sous vide but I am not sure if it is better to smoke it first and then sous vide it or sous vide and then smoke.. My gut tells me that cooking sous vide first would result in a firmer bark but smoking first might impart flavors which are enhanced during the sous vide good

I have no desire to re-invent the wheel Has anyone done a back to bak comparison?

[Locotech]

Looks tasty, I've made pastrami with store bought corned beef and corned a brisket myself. I wanted to see if there was any difference. The store bought, came out a little more tender. I think if I'd "corned" the brisket more than 5days, it may have been better. Oh, well, another experiment on the horizon. I try to slice it as thin as possible, which is tricky. I used to have a meat slicer, but was a pain to take apart and clean.

[fzxdoc]

Locotech , I've corned my own briskets and also used storebought briskets. Honestly, I can't appreciate much of a difference in the end result.

The advantage to corning your own brisket is that you can start with a larger piece and you can do the point and flat separate if you wish. For a hunk of meat that loses about 50% of its weight, it's great to end up with a larger piece. Storebought pieces in my neck of the woods are usually only 2 to 3 lbs, so I always smoke 3 or more of them. Also they are usually only available in flats.

The advantage to using storebought corned beef , besides the fact that it is easier, is that it's very forgiving. Great pastrami every the time without the "I'm smoking a packer angst" that sometimes happens.

I quit trying to slice my pastramis hot. I chill them and then refrigerate them overnight. The next day they slice easy as pie. I usually use an electric knife for that and have no trouble getting pretty uniform 1/4 inch wide slices.

rickdonn, both Thunder77 and johnec00 have done really great sous vide pastrami comparisons, smoking before vs. smoking after. Hopefully they'll chime in here.

Kathryn

[Spinaker]

rickdonn

[johnec00]

I frequently use store bought corned beef. I don't really have enough data points to say whether it's better than home cured, but it is consistent. Mostly, I'm not organized enough to plan 3 weeks in advance. Store bought to rye bread the next day in a pinch! I agree on cold slicing.

[Locotech]

thanks for the input fzxdoc....I let it cool before slicing, but not that long. You're right on, saying the store bought are small, here in Ontario also. I try to slice my pastrami 1/8 thick at the most, try to get it paper thin....

[Thunder77]

rickdonn, I have done pastrami three ways: Meathead's recipe, Clint Cantwell's recipe, and ABCBBQ Dave's method. Of the three, I much prefer Dave's technique. For me it makes the best pastrami I have eaten. I like that the last part is totally hands-off, in the sous vide. All three methods produce excellent results, but for me, the smoke then sous vide method produces the most tender product.

fzxdoc mentioned that store bought corned beef is more forgiving. I think that is true, probably because it is packed in a solution that contains papain, an enzyme that tenderizes meat. The things I don't like about storebought are: 1)that I can't control the Corning process, and 2) I am paying for a product that has a lot of water added to it. 3) As Kathryn also mentioned, the stores usually only carry smaller pieces of corned beef. Pastrami is a project. If I am going to the trouble, I want to go big!!

Plus it's just really cool doing the corned beef yourself!
ABCBBQ Dave's post "Pastrami Perfected" is here:
https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...rami-perfected

Here is Clint Cantwell's technique:

http://amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/sous-vide-que-pastrami.html

[Bruce R]

Without sous vide, I know the MH recipe calls for taking off the grill at 150, wrapping, then steaming. Can also just cook as you would a brisket, with crutching at or just past the stall and taking to probe tender? Do the results suffer, or differ significantly? Was wanting to try one sometime soon for the first time.

[fzxdoc]

I've taken it off at 150°F, Bruce R , and then steamed to 203°F. I am not a fan of that method because it softens the bark so much that it falls off. Meathead says to put it back under the broiler to firm up the bark after steaming, but I never do that for any cut of meat. I like smoking to the point of good bark.

Before I got my sous vide, (and in my last pastrami comparison cook), I smoke pastrami all the way to 203°F or probe tenderness whichever comes first. No steam, and no wrapping during the smoke process. Turns out great.

If interested, look at how I did Pastrami#1 in this post. That's the method I almost always use.

Kathryn

[Bruce R]

Thank you Kathryn! I'm still coming up the learning curve. I always learn from your posts.