This is what I did:
Adapting meatheads pastrami recipe and what I remember from Troutman's SVQ medium rare brisket.
- start with axis roast from freezer
- cure for pastrami
- rub and smoke on SnS kettle (with pecan) to 125 F. Took about 3 hrs or so.
- pop in the sous vide at 130 F for 3 1/2 - 4 days. Get it good and tender
- life got busy. Had to freeze it 😬
- get out of freezer and put directly on SnS kettle. Bring back to 130 F.
Its REAL tasty.
Not quite as moist as the last one I did. But it's going to make great Reubens.
Bark is soft!! I think with short smoke time it doesnt really have a chance to develop good bark, and then with the sous vide, half the (not fully developed) bark washes away.
Overall happy with how it turned out, but if anyone has pointers for how to get better bark, I'm all ears.
I also have WAY too many axis roasts in my freezer, and deer season isn't that far off. So I think I'll be getting a lot of practice on these.
Dang, that's thick!!! I sous vide at 131.5 for the 36hrs, or whatever works. I don't go above 130 on the smoke reheat and sear a little at 125 if I want things a little darker.
I did pastrami yesterday. Took a couple of pre-cured supermarket corned beef - one flat, one point. Desalinated for 2.5 hours or so with 2 water changes - was in a hurry.
Rubbed with pepper and coriander, threw on the offset. Got up to about 200-205 internal - a little higher than I'd planned, but I had I lot going on. Really nice bark. Wrapped in foil around 165 or so internal. At the finish mark, moved 'em to the warming side of the smoker and held at 140-150 for 3-4 hours. Pulled and left in foil, threw in the fridge overnight.
This morning about 0530 pull the point piece out and threw it in the toaster oven at like 325, gave it about an hour and a half, up close to 140-150F, pulled out, removed from foil, sliced, threw in a serving dish and poured the juices from the foil over it - maybe 2oz or so.
It was a HIT. An absolute smash. Had a bunch of other food, including 4½ pounds of bacon, buncha eggses with peppers & onions and crumbled sausage done on the griddle, also hashbrowns, a couple of biscuit/gravy/egg/sausage breakfast casseroles and coffee. The pastrami was the absolute star of the show. Totally cleaned out - luckily I still have the other one in the fridge.
I will do this again. Many times, I'm sure. Total smash hit.
My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
Gosh, realdocBBQ , it's good to hear that storebought corned beef can be desalinated so quickly! Good to know. That could shave a day off my pastrami prep, which is usually a 4 day deal. One day to desalinate (8 hours for low sodium corned beef, which I can rarely find), two days for the rub to set and dry on the meat in the fridge, and then a day to cook.
I'm going to try your quickie method the next time I get a cheap hunk of corned beef from the grocery. A one day prep/cook for everything would be great to compare with my more labor-intensive method.
I've got 5 pastramis on the smokers as we speak. 4 in the WSCGC and 1 in the PBC. Hope mine taste as good as yours did!
Yup! I could have probably done one more water change and an hour more desalination. It wasn't overly salty at all, but it maybe would have been just a hair better. I was really pleased with not even letting the rub set and dry. This was definitely a quickie and effective method!
That is so good to know, realdocBBQ . A short and savory method for me to try.
I backed the 24 hour soak of a 44%DV salt content corned beef down to 18 hours this time with only one water change. Usually I do a 24 hour soak with 2 water changes for this high a salt content. Worked out fine, and shaved off some time!
Gosh, realdocBBQ , it's good to hear that storebought corned beef can be desalinated so quickly! Good to know. That could shave a day off my pastrami prep, which is usually a 4 day deal. One day to desalinate (8 hours for low sodium corned beef, which I can rarely find), two days for the rub to set and dry on the meat in the fridge, and then a day to cook.
I'm going to try your quickie method the next time I get a cheap hunk of corned beef from the grocery. A one day prep/cook for everything would be great to compare with my more labor-intensive method.
I've got 5 pastramis on the smokers as we speak. 4 in the WSCGC and 1 in the PBC. Hope mine taste as good as yours did!
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