Sous vide Pastrami

[RibCall]

Confused when comparing the sous vide pastrami recipe to the Katz’s Pastrami recipe. Katz’s smokes to 150’ then steams to 203’ -or- smokes to 203’.
Sous vide cooks to just 150’ then quick chill before smoking to 125’ to serve. Am I missing something? Why is the sous vide fully cooked at 150’ and it takes 203’ to fully cook Katz’s?

[klflowers]

Not sure about the difference, somebody will be along soon with an answer, but I SV'd a commercial corned beef the other day. SV at 150 for 30 hours, chilled, weber with sns at 225 for about an hour and a half until 140. Used Clint Cantwell's SVQ recipe from the free side. Came out really really good.

[Troutman]

Best way to explain the difference is to understand that food is cooked by two different variables, temperature and time. The goal when cooking pastrami is that the cut we generally equate with it is brisket (although navel and other cuts are used) which needs to have it's collagen and connective tissue rendered and broken down to tenderize the meat. That is accomplished in the conventional sense by slowly smoking the meat over say 10-12 hours and bringing it to probe tender at about 203* plus or minus.

Sous vide does essentially the same thing only it does it at a lower temperature over a much longer period of time. Both ways accomplish the same thing, it's the difference between time and temperature as the variables involved.

I'm sure Potkettleblack can weigh in with a little more depth of discussion but that's essentially the reason.