It was great to be in America last week.

Sam's was closing out corned beef
flats for $0.99/lb.,so I bought six.

They were all about 2.8 lbs.

We were fortunate to have the Thunderbirds,Blue Angels,Army Golden Knights,Antique plane show and aerobatics,Stealth aircraft and much more practicing over our head all Saturday and dress performances from
0800 to 1700 hrs on Sunday.

The boss figured we could just sit on the patio,cook,and spectate all weekend.

I put three of them in doubled ,unscented,tall kitchen bags and add ed water,sealed and refigerated to soak out some salt.

Left them in about 18 hrs.,changed the water 3 or 4 times.

I dried them and coated with a rub of heavy crushed black pepper,garlic and onion powders and turbinado sugar.

Put 5 lbs of assorted sausages in to even out the space.

Used about 5-6 oz. pecan and apple,cooked at 170�-180� for an hour.

Bumped it up 20� and cooked another hour.

They were all 165�-170� internal,so I pulled ,wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and left to cool.

Sliced very thin across the grain ,after setting in the refigerator overnight.

Everytime I open the package,you can smell it all over the house.

German rye and mustard,fresh horseradish,a hot and spicey dill pickle ,and a chilled Shiner's Bock.

Life is good in the Cookshack Nation.

Well, I'm trying this pastrami number today. Had to go to a hippie store to find turbinado sugar. My wife said it would be good to get back to my roots.

I found corned beef at 2X what Tom paid. I've got a Sunday in Florida, but no airplanes. Just clounds. ...there ought to be clouds...Who said that? Blues and Que, is okay.

And now I have to rush because my overpriced Angus bull is fighting through the fence with the neighbor's no-count bull. I might corn a lot of beef before the day is done.

I did this pastrami, and the flavor was fantastic. The 2 hrs total cooking time didn't come near what I needed. Tough, but flavorsome. Maybe it was a right-handed brisket before it got corned.
I got good pickles, good rye bread, but the only beer I could find was Bud.

I started out trying to thin slice mine with a Granton edge ,but it was still tough.

I broke down and got the power slicer out ,so I could shave it really thin.

That did the job.

Chopped all the bits and pieces up for hash.

Hmmmmmmmm. Interesting, Tom. If you boil the dickens out of corned beef, it's ok on the tenderness scale.

If you smoke the dickens out of a brisket, it will melt in your mouth......and dribble down your......well, never mind.

So, is tender pastrami out of the question?

I seem to recall I once took the smoked corned beef (pastrami) down to the local Hogan's Hero sandwich shop. Those dudes sliced it paper-thin with the circular slicer.

Cool, but is that the only way...

Dang, I wish Andi was here.

Anyhow, I took a 1/4 lb of slices to the office to give away, and became a hero. The taste is just great.

Guys: The corned-strami can indeed be tender. Absolutely. I think it needed to cook longer than 2 hrs. It's tenderness will track with brisket, IMHE. That is, to about 190 internal will make for tender and sliceable... 200 will take it further to falling apart on slicing. I find it dgoes about an hour a pound to get there. And, again, if it's a trimmed flat, it will have les fat for tenderness... I go find some big ass points, with more marbling.

I always take my pastrami to over 190�. As woodburner said...just like a brisket.

Of course, having a Hobart slicer would be ideal, but I don't have one and I like tender beef. So, take er on up to 190�.

Another method to get the pastrami flavor with corned beef tenderness is to smoke at low temperature like 150F for some hours, then simmer in water until tender. That can help with corned beeves that are too salty, too.

To slice the tender stuff, try pressing it first. Put it in a container that fits pretty tight to the piece, maybe something like a tupperware box. Then put a jar full of water on top. Chill thoroughly, then slice.

Hey,Stogie.

Did you cook up some points as pastrami?

These flats were really lean and I don't know if they would have handled the increased internal,without going to foil and probably a little liquid.

I knew I had the slicer to fall back on,so I took the shorter route.

Tom...

I usually do flats only, but got a good deal on some point cuts this year. I was rather dissapointed in the point cuts..too fatty for me.

I will go back to doing flats. I DO use foil when making them this way. You are correct...they are prone to drying out whne taking ot these higher temps.