I wanna brag all day long about my Pastrami, and it's not even outta the smoker yet. After corning for, I guess, around 32 days, last night I seasoned with ground up pickling spice, paprika, and black pepper. We had no room in the fridge for proper pressing so the motorhome became the fridge. I weighted those babies down with huge pots of water. This morning, I decided to cook the little one for dinner with cabbage, spuds, the Boiled Dinner thing. The BIG one was started at 130 degrees for an hour to dry the meat, with about 1 1/2 oz. hickory. I just bumped her to 175 for 2 hours and will finish at 200-230.

The meat was even after weighting and nicely compressed. The smell was heavenly! EXACTLY like deli pastrami, and it wasn't even cooked! I am so-o-o proud, my Pals! Can't wait for the end result, which I already know will be perfect. Taking her to between 170-175. Cooling in foil to retain moisture.

Also, have some rye bread rising for Reuben Sandwiches! Natch, I have homemade sauerkraut. Does life get any better?

Yes, the head of Bin Laden, smoked and shrunk...

Well, it turned out perfect! Better than I thought, and now I'm wishing we had cut bigger roasts so I can make some more.

Took it to 170 and then wrapped in H/D foil to "steam" in some moisture. It is tender, slices well, and delicious! Thank you CS! Without Smokette, I'd still be peeling alder and tending the fire for days at a time!

Cool! This is your moose pastrami, right? (Italian moose?) Is lean meat best for pastrami?

I left a very small amount of fat on the big piece I smoked. I think the big deal with Pastrami is to press it overnight under a heavy weight with your spices. The only reason, and now I'm glad I did, I used ground pickling spice was cuz I was out of coriander seed to crush, and I was too beered up to pick the Coriander Seed out of the pickling spice. LOL! I mixed that with lotza fresh ground black peppercorns, paprika, and garlic powder. Tres bon! I can't just run to a store when I'm out of stuff, and in some ways that's lucky...cuz look what comes of compromise!

I have to say that the amount of fat was really nil, and the little piece I decided to make into Corned Moose and Cabbage last night had none. It was delicious! When is your Whitetail season down there? This can be made with venison as well.