I've smoked store bought corned beef a number of times to make pastrami, but the DIY gene is dominant in me, so I had to cure a brisket, if only once.
I used Stephen Raichlen's pastrami recipe in "Project Smoke", curing a 5 pound brisket in brine for 12 days. The night before the smoke, I pulled the meat out of the brine, rinsed it, dried with paper towels, put rub on it, and put it on a rack in a baking pan in the oven to dry a bit and form a pellicle overnight.
On smoke day, the corned been went in when the smoker stabilized at 225 and I liked the look of the smoke. And then the brisket hit a long stall at around 150F. I know how to deal with the stall. Sit down, do something else, have a beer and it'll take care of itself. Still, it was stalled for over 5 hours! I'm not a fan of the Texas Crutch or even wrapping in butcher paper, so in the stall it sat.
My informal technique worled, it always does, though it was more than one beer. Was the very long stall due to the moisture the brisket picked up in the brine?
At the end of the smoke, the pastrami was very good, even my fussy wife says so. Katz's deli doesn't need to lose sleep over my attempts, but it won't be the last time we do this.
I used Stephen Raichlen's pastrami recipe in "Project Smoke", curing a 5 pound brisket in brine for 12 days. The night before the smoke, I pulled the meat out of the brine, rinsed it, dried with paper towels, put rub on it, and put it on a rack in a baking pan in the oven to dry a bit and form a pellicle overnight.
On smoke day, the corned been went in when the smoker stabilized at 225 and I liked the look of the smoke. And then the brisket hit a long stall at around 150F. I know how to deal with the stall. Sit down, do something else, have a beer and it'll take care of itself. Still, it was stalled for over 5 hours! I'm not a fan of the Texas Crutch or even wrapping in butcher paper, so in the stall it sat.
My informal technique worled, it always does, though it was more than one beer. Was the very long stall due to the moisture the brisket picked up in the brine?
At the end of the smoke, the pastrami was very good, even my fussy wife says so. Katz's deli doesn't need to lose sleep over my attempts, but it won't be the last time we do this.
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