A few months ago, I won a meat bundle at a local raffle and the bundle included two beef arm roasts. I'd never heard of this cut before, so I did a little research and decided an arm roast is the tougher lower part of a chuck roast, kind of between the chuck and the brisket, if I have my beef anatomy straight.
I braised these roasts in the oven and was impressed with the lean, tender texture and bold, beefy flavor. Sometimes chuck roasts can be a little bland when braised, but not these arm roasts. I was so impressed with the flavor and texture that I recently bought another 3 pound arm roast to make pastrami.
I followed Meathead's recipes for corned beef (https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...ed-beef-recipe) and for pastrami (https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...e-katzs-recipe).
I corned the meat last week in a simple brine of water, salt, and pink salt. I soaked the roast in one change of fresh water for about 18 hours, applied the pastrami rub, and then smoked it yesterday. My plan was to smoke at 250-275 F until the meat reached 150 F internal temperature, wrap the roast, and continue to cook in the smoker until the meat was tender.
A digression -- Meathead's pastrami rub (https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...s-pastrami-rub) calls for coriander, both ground and whole seeds. I didn't have any coriander, but a quick google search came up with a substitute of equal parts cumin and oregano. I thought this substitute tastes fine, but then I'm not a pastrami expert, so consider the source. His rub recipe calls for quite a lot of ground black pepper, and I know that's normal for this type of recipe. I followed the recipe this time, but I will probably reduce the black pepper quite a bit to fit family preferences.
Anyways, I know y'all have talked about how important it is to get meat like this to "probe tender" and how long a stall can last and all that.
But I still wasn't entirely prepared for babysitting one measly little beef roast for a whole ENTIRE 11 hours ... only to find the internal temperature was STILL only 179 F ... and the meat was definitely NOT anywhere close to probe tender ... and I'd been fiddling with this ALL DAY ... and now it was near bedtime and I was getting CRANKY ... and I'd had ENOUGH of all this.
In a grumpy funk, I put the meat in the fridge and went to bed.
After sleeping on it and waking up in a more cheerful mood, I decided to try again. I set up a steamer basket, put the refrigerator-cold roast in to steam over simmering water, and in about 2 hours with very little fuss, the internal temperature was about 203 F and .... miracle of miracles ... I now know what "probe tender" means.
I served myself a piece of "humble pie" for lunch. Tonight, hubby and I enjoyed tender, flavorful pastrami for supper.
This was a lot of fiddling and hovering for a tiny amount of meat, but the pastrami is tender and tasty -- quite a delicacy. And I now understand why good pastrami is so expensive to buy at the deli.
I think once I get more confident about my skills, it will make a lot more sense to smoke more than just one 3-pound roast at a time. But for now, I'm still learning a lot as this experience shows, and I don't want to risk too much meat while I'm still learning. I'm glad I stuck with the project, and the pastrami turned out well in the end.
I braised these roasts in the oven and was impressed with the lean, tender texture and bold, beefy flavor. Sometimes chuck roasts can be a little bland when braised, but not these arm roasts. I was so impressed with the flavor and texture that I recently bought another 3 pound arm roast to make pastrami.
I followed Meathead's recipes for corned beef (https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...ed-beef-recipe) and for pastrami (https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...e-katzs-recipe).
I corned the meat last week in a simple brine of water, salt, and pink salt. I soaked the roast in one change of fresh water for about 18 hours, applied the pastrami rub, and then smoked it yesterday. My plan was to smoke at 250-275 F until the meat reached 150 F internal temperature, wrap the roast, and continue to cook in the smoker until the meat was tender.
A digression -- Meathead's pastrami rub (https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...s-pastrami-rub) calls for coriander, both ground and whole seeds. I didn't have any coriander, but a quick google search came up with a substitute of equal parts cumin and oregano. I thought this substitute tastes fine, but then I'm not a pastrami expert, so consider the source. His rub recipe calls for quite a lot of ground black pepper, and I know that's normal for this type of recipe. I followed the recipe this time, but I will probably reduce the black pepper quite a bit to fit family preferences.
Anyways, I know y'all have talked about how important it is to get meat like this to "probe tender" and how long a stall can last and all that.
But I still wasn't entirely prepared for babysitting one measly little beef roast for a whole ENTIRE 11 hours ... only to find the internal temperature was STILL only 179 F ... and the meat was definitely NOT anywhere close to probe tender ... and I'd been fiddling with this ALL DAY ... and now it was near bedtime and I was getting CRANKY ... and I'd had ENOUGH of all this.
In a grumpy funk, I put the meat in the fridge and went to bed.
After sleeping on it and waking up in a more cheerful mood, I decided to try again. I set up a steamer basket, put the refrigerator-cold roast in to steam over simmering water, and in about 2 hours with very little fuss, the internal temperature was about 203 F and .... miracle of miracles ... I now know what "probe tender" means.
I served myself a piece of "humble pie" for lunch. Tonight, hubby and I enjoyed tender, flavorful pastrami for supper.
This was a lot of fiddling and hovering for a tiny amount of meat, but the pastrami is tender and tasty -- quite a delicacy. And I now understand why good pastrami is so expensive to buy at the deli.
I think once I get more confident about my skills, it will make a lot more sense to smoke more than just one 3-pound roast at a time. But for now, I'm still learning a lot as this experience shows, and I don't want to risk too much meat while I'm still learning. I'm glad I stuck with the project, and the pastrami turned out well in the end.
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