A couple quick pastrami questions

[Mosca]

Hey, I use the internet so I don’t have to remember things, okay? I haven’t done pastrami for a couple-t’ree years. I’m not steaming it, not sous videing it, I’m just going to low-and-slow it to 203*.

1) I don’t remember having to cambro pastrami. I don’t imagine it would hurt, but it isn’t essential, right?

2) I’m not serving it immediately; rather, it is finishing up Tuesday evening, and then I’m bringing it to work on Wednesday. Now, slicing it at work is going to be a PITA. The choices are to slice it Tuesday night, or Wednesday before work. Instinct says to slice it as close to serving time as I can.

I’ve always had good success reheating pastrami in the microwave: a sandwich amount with a wet paper towel on top for 30 seconds does a nice job reviving cold meat. Don’t fear the radiation, it is your friend.

[Huskee]

1. I would say yes, treat it the same as brisket in all ways.

2. Me, if I have a slicer I would slice it cold Weds morning. If not, I would slice it with my brisket sword probably hot so I could snack after a long cook day. Not sure it matter either way except for the convenience of how you're going about it.

Agreed, I paid for a microwave darnnit, I'm gonna use it. Leftover ribs, brisket, pork, pastrami, it's all just fine in a microwave tomorrow if you ask me. Pizza crusts get soggy but meat comes out just fine methinks.

[Mosca]

Someone once told me to reheat pizza in a skillet with a lid on top. My eyes were opened.

[RonB]

Mosca - you ar correct Sir! However, make sure the 'za is not frozen and close to room temp works best for me.

[tbob4]

It has been my experience that Pastrami is one of those things that, when cut nice and thin, does not reheat well in SV. The microwave and wet paper towels is the way I go for work groups.

[klflowers]

I never cambro pastrami; I get to slicing and eating right after it is done.

[rickgregory]

If you don't steam, you risk it being dry, depending on the cut. A nicely marbled point will be fine as will a well marbled flat. A lean flat... might not be.

[Troutman]

I do flats almost exclusively now-a-days. I buy a 17# whopper American Wagyu brisket (our HEB grocery is even carrying SRF these days!!) and carve off the flat, corn it and smoke it into pastrami. I do the point either SVQ rare or conventional. That's my way, and I'm sticking to it !!

And to your point, slicing either cold or hot doesn't much matter. I always found if you slice it hot you can slice it thinner. Microwave, as has been said, works just fine. Nuke 'em I say !!!

[rickgregory]

Lovely. I've found some places here carrying SRF and Double R. Need to see what they want for a brisket. But I can also get Costco prime for $4.29/lb... hmmmm

[Troutman]

rickgregory We pay $5.99/# for SRF or Mishima Reserve brisket. American Wagyu is indeed superior to Prime, and I love Prime. The few extra $$ are well worth it.

[Mosca]

Instead of starting a new topic, I’ll just add here.

I’m going to recommend turning the corned beef once as it soaks. The first one I did, the upper side was nicely leached, but the bottom was still deep red in spots. I’m giving it another couple hours right now. The second, I turned it halfway through.

I buy my corned beefs rather than pickle them myself. I’m not going to say there’s no difference, because I’ve never compared; but I can say they come out really good. These two are marked on the package as being both flats, but they are both 2/3 flat, and 1/3 point. The fat vein isn’t too thick, so I’m actually glad; they should get done quicker.

rickgregory, I’m not worried about them drying out. I use a BGE, and drying out isn’t usually an issue. If I think they are getting dry, I can always insert a water pan. But I’ve never needed one before.

I have a cheap slicer. But I prefer the sword. The slicer is more trouble than it’s worth. Too many hard-to-clean crevices. It’s not that hard to get thin.

[Stuey1515]

I agree with buying it provided you can find a mild corned beef. Supermarket corned beef is too strong for me but I have a butcher that does it just right.

[Mamu]

I follow Alton Brown's (Food Network) recipe for corning beef (like the spices) and make sure the curing salt matches the Amazing Rib's calculator. I brine 2-10 lb. packers for 12 days, soak them in water for 2 days and then let the Amazing Rib's Pastrami Rub set on them for 2 days. I find that I use twice the recipe of rub for a 10 lb. packer, I like to load it on. I use a 22 qt. Brinner Bucket for the brine, I drilled 4 hole so that I could slide two 1 inch acrylic rods (Amazon) through the top of the sides and use 4 meat hooks to hang the packers. There is a 7 gallon bucket bucket on Amazon but I DON"T know if it is food safe plastic.
I don't have a smoker so I take them to a BBQ joint down the road and he smokes them for $20. The reason I like 2 packers is that you can lay them head to toe and have a consistent thickness for the cook. I pick them up the next day and they are cold. I slice them thin and distribute to 2 friends and we split the cost. Remember that Pastrami freezes well.

[STEbbq]

Wow. That sounds like a great process. Although, it's a shame you can't smoke it yourself. If you are willing to tinker that much for a pastrami, maybe hunting around at Walmart for a bargain bin Oklahoma Joe Bronco might be up your alley. Could get one for under $200 if you are lucky.

[Mosca]

Y’know, after all these years, I’m still a little discombobulated by the brisket stall. The beefs hit 160*, then hung there, then actually went down to 154ish! I bided my time, and an hour later, they are at 170*.

I added a pint of water, just for heck’s sake. I don’t think it’ll make no never mind, either way.

[Mosca]

Okay, for some reason I was worried, but there was no reason to be. It "second stalled" at 194, so I tested it and it probed like buttah. Well, one did, one didn't, but it was close enough.

[rickgregory]

That looks terrible. I can't bear to see you suffer with it. Please vacseal and ship to me. I'll dispose of it.

[rickgregory]

More seriously, - flat or point?

[Mosca]

They were both 2/3 flat and 1/3 point. That was a pleasant surprise.

[Jfrosty27]

Really nice. Time for some pastrami reuben’s. One of our faves. Nice work pitmaster.

[Mosca]

Well, the consensus is that it was spectacular. I have to agree, this was really good. Probably my best ever.

[Spinaker]

Great job! IMHO, this is the best thing on the site. I love it. And it is always a fan favorite.

[Mosca]

I want to add a note. Even though I think that I’m finally pretty decent at this stuff, I’m not great at it but I don’t embarrass myself....

I still have to remind myself to trust the process.

I wasn’t under a time crunch for this cook. I put the beefs on mid morning... 9AMish, maybe? And I know that anywhere from 225* to 275* will be fine. And I know that these are briskets, and like Huskee says, "treat them like briskets all the way."

Still, when I checked them first around noon, they looked ugly. They’d puffed up, and hardened a bit, and I wasn’t sure that this cook (which I’d promised to my friends would be eye-opening) wouldn’t be something I was going to have to apologize for. Don’t panic. Trust the process.

When they hit the stall, around 1PM, I sliced a little piece off the edges. And they didn’t seem to be very well balanced: too peppery, and too salty. The stall took forever, and I bumped the temp to 250*. They dropped from160* to 154*, but caught up. That was maybe 2ish. Sheesh! But you know what? That’s right. Trust the process.

And the last 40 degrees took forever. And I started worrying that they would be like bricks. I checked them at 175* and 185*, and they were hard. But you know what... don’t panic. Trust the process. I went inside and watched TV.

Around 6:30, neither beef had moved from 194* for almost half an hour. So I figured that might be a sign. I took the Thermapen out to the cooker, and... it went in like buttah. 194, but definitely done. Well, one was done. The other one probed well in some places, and not others. That was close enough. I proclaimed them done. No waiting for 203*. The process says to probe them, and when they’re soft, they’re done.

You can see in the photo, the slices on the right are darker, the slices on the right are pinker. The darker ones are from the one that was perfect. But the pinker ones actually tasted better, IMO. Neither beef was dry, in fact, they were the juiciest pastramis I’ve ever made, probably because of the nice point running all along the top, and the accompanying layer of fat between.

Trust the process. I hadn’t done pastrami in probably three, maybe four years. But you gotta forget what you think you’re seeing, and remember that every other time, you just cooked a hunk of meat or so, and it came out great. All you’re doing is heating up a hunk of meat.

Trust the process.

[cdevito]

Pastrami is concrete evidence that there is a God, He loves us and He wants us to be happy.

I have a Prime flat from Costco that I just finished corning and desalinating. It's sitting in the fridge now with the rub since early this morning. My plan is to smoke it tomorrow either on my gas grill with a tray of smoke wood or my Weber SMC (depending on how lazy I feel) until I hit the stall, then sous vide for 4 hours @195F. This is the method posted on 3/16/2016 by David Parrish.

So, that was my plan until about an hour ago. In the last hour, I have read a dozen different more recent articles on this including Clint Cantwell's article (https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...astrami-recipe) where the brisket is cooked before adding the rub, then rubbed and smoked. Others sous vide first, quench, then smoke. Some other websites go rub & smoke -> sous vide -> smoke. It seems that there are at least one and a half times the number opinions as there are cooks.

I am now doubting my plan. Based on my experience with slow and slow BBQ and with sos vide, the process to sous vide first makes sense, and if so, is there any point to leaving the meat in the fridge with the rub for 1-2 days? Any advice?

Thanks in advance!!!

By the way, to ensure the quality of the ensuing pastrami sandwiches, I have a rye starter brewing that will be the heart of a loaf of homemade Jewish Rye following the recipe and process on the King Arthur website. I'll upload pics of it all when done...

[STEbbq]

I just kept mine simple and smoked it to probe tender. I agree with Mosca that the additional steps would be hard pressed to improve on an already fantastic recipe and add more room for error.

If you really want to try them, do it next time when you have a better idea of specific areas you want to improve on.

[rickgregory]

To answer the last question, no there's no reason to add the rub that far ahead.

The problem with not steaming or SVing it is that, if the meat is lean, it can be pretty dry coming off the smoker. If it's well marbled, not usually an issue. In other words, you have to account for the piece of meat you're working with.

[cdevito]

My biggest concern is it drying out. I think the pice is pretty well marbled, I'll double check it. If so, go for a full smoke starting tomorrow morning. That's for the advice!