I usually keep track, especially when smoking brisket or pastrami, on how much weight the meat loses during the cook.
Last weekend, I did a 7 pastrami cook, 3 on the PBC and 4 on the WSCGC. The cook times and temps were close, about 8 to 9 hours depending on the thickness of the pastramis; all smoked at 275°ish cooker temps.
Five of the seven pieces were purchased on sale at Aldi, thanks to a tip received here on the Pit about on a sale on corned beef points and later on on corned beef flats.
Two of the pieces came from Sam's Club. They were more regular in appearance--both flats, both weighing in higher than any of the pieces from Aldi, some of which were pretty irregular in in thickness.
I was skeptical of the Aldi cuts, which were, on sale, easily 70% less in price. But I was wrong. The pastrami from those cuts was superb.
Just for grins and giggles, I decided to tally up the weights of each piece: untrimmed, trimmed, and cooked.
It's interesting to see the results.
I suspected the Sam's Club meat which was much more expensive compared to the Aldi sale prices might be better with respect to less loss. It is, because there was less initial waste due to trimming required for the two pieces compared to the Aldi pieces. But factoring in the cost, the Aldi sale price cuts were a good deal.
End result with respect to flavor, tenderness, and moistness: I honestly couldn't tell the difference.
Storebought corned beef is very forgiving and IMO makes a delicious pastrami with a lot less mess and time involved.
In an earlier test, I compared my homemade corned beef-based pastrami with storebought corned beef which I made into pastrami. In that test, the homemade pastrami was prettier to look at as far as the visual texture of the slice (the storebought was more homogeneous in looks only) but I couldn't pick a winner with respect to taste, texture (mouthfeel) and moistness between the pastrami made from storebought vs. homemade corned beef.
I think my numbers are correct; I'm swilling wine as I type this.
Kathryn
Last weekend, I did a 7 pastrami cook, 3 on the PBC and 4 on the WSCGC. The cook times and temps were close, about 8 to 9 hours depending on the thickness of the pastramis; all smoked at 275°ish cooker temps.
Five of the seven pieces were purchased on sale at Aldi, thanks to a tip received here on the Pit about on a sale on corned beef points and later on on corned beef flats.
Two of the pieces came from Sam's Club. They were more regular in appearance--both flats, both weighing in higher than any of the pieces from Aldi, some of which were pretty irregular in in thickness.
I was skeptical of the Aldi cuts, which were, on sale, easily 70% less in price. But I was wrong. The pastrami from those cuts was superb.
Just for grins and giggles, I decided to tally up the weights of each piece: untrimmed, trimmed, and cooked.
It's interesting to see the results.
I suspected the Sam's Club meat which was much more expensive compared to the Aldi sale prices might be better with respect to less loss. It is, because there was less initial waste due to trimming required for the two pieces compared to the Aldi pieces. But factoring in the cost, the Aldi sale price cuts were a good deal.
End result with respect to flavor, tenderness, and moistness: I honestly couldn't tell the difference.
Storebought corned beef is very forgiving and IMO makes a delicious pastrami with a lot less mess and time involved.
In an earlier test, I compared my homemade corned beef-based pastrami with storebought corned beef which I made into pastrami. In that test, the homemade pastrami was prettier to look at as far as the visual texture of the slice (the storebought was more homogeneous in looks only) but I couldn't pick a winner with respect to taste, texture (mouthfeel) and moistness between the pastrami made from storebought vs. homemade corned beef.
I think my numbers are correct; I'm swilling wine as I type this.
Kathryn
! Did you retire???
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