Pastrami

Well,I'm certainly no pastrami expert,but I have done a few.

I try to soak mine a couple hours each change,through at least three changes of water.

You can pull it out at 165º internal,if you have a commercial thin slicer-like a Hobart.

If you have to slice it thicker,I'd cook it to 190º+.

Hope this helps a little.

MM-

Something I picked up from watching a pastrami-themed shoe on Food. The major delis first smoke ther pastrami, then steam the heck out of it for tenderness just prior to serving. I cook mine to 165*, then refrigerate at least over night. I use a cheapo Rival slicer (works great, PITA to clean) to slice, then throw in a steamer basket for a bit. Most of the crust (seasonings) stay on, and you get a real "deli-like" product.

Also, with the meat already being "corned", I haven't found much difference between 165* and higher temps in the smoker. The texture is completely different from fresh meat, so you still get pretty tender product at the lower temp.

FWIW MountainMan-

I've done a few of these, a few different ways. The one I completed today went like this...

I took 1 pre-cured flat cut and soaked it for about 24 hours. I did not change the water.

After soaking, I slathered on some mustard, and rubbed on a mix of the little seasoning packet that came with the flat, coarse ground pepper, some crushed mustard seeds, and a little pickling spice for good measure. Next, I smoked it until it was about 170 or so, then cooled it down, and let it sit for 1 day.

After cooling, I sliced it pretty darn thin, maybe 1/16th of an inch or so on a Hobart slicer.

Results- Not bad, in fact everyone that tried it liked it. Me, being somewhat of a perfectionist, thought it was too salty. Next time, I'll probably soak for 48 hours, and change the water at least once or twice.

In the past I've cooked these without soaking. Those times I used some sugar in my rub, which probably helped offset the saltiness. I also tend to make sandwiches out of corned beef with a sweet dressing on them, so that probably helped also. As far as finishing internal temp, I'm sure 165 would have been fine for thin slicing like I did on this one. I've also cooked the heck out of them before (195 to 205 or so) and made kind of a pulled corned beef. Both good texture, just different.

Anyway, let us know what you did, and how it turned out. I really like corned beef, so I plan on continuing to play with cooking them in different ways.

P.S. KCAL, I use a commercial Hobart slicer, and they are a PITA to clean too! I knicked myself on the blade today when I was cleaning it to boot!

I just saw this thread, and happened to have just done up a couple of pastrami's today. Trying to do a little St. Paddy's corned beef, but my wife doesn't particularly like corned beef, so the point cuts went into the CS. Mostly I did like Mainely Dave's as explained on his website. Difference is a short rinse and soak. Surprisingly, I didn't think it was salty enough. I used no salt in the rub, just lots of pepper and the other regular spices. Great taste, not 'zactly pastrami, but no trouble eating my weight in it! It took to the smoke more than I would have expected, too. (trimmed down the fat cap, 225 degrees, 15 hours, pulled them out at 195 degrees..plenty juicy...and all the fat rendered nicely)

Thanks all for some great suggestions; the steaming is a great improvement over nuking.

Here's what I finally did:
First I soaked the pre corned brisket, for nine hours, changing the water every one and one half hours.
At the end of this time I dried and rubbed the brisket, then put it in the refrigerator, under a bit of weight, over night.
Smoked at 225 degrees to an internal temperature of 165 degrees and then rested it an hour, after which I thinly sliced it with an electric slicer.

The results were pretty good, acceptable, and less salty than one I had done the same way but cooked to a higher temp and cut thicker (no electric slicer at the time). This makes me wonder if it was the original corned product, my technique or both.

I'm thinking that my next shot at pastrami will be with me corning the brisket, so that should invoke a whole series of questions about wet or dry and what ingredients to use.

The rub was equal parts of:
garlic powder
paprika
coriander
mustard seeds
black pepper
T sugar

MountainMan,

Here is a link to making pastrami from scratch with a flat.

Randy's BBQ Ramblings

I use this a variation of this method and another one for my venison pastrami. One of the things I do different is he injects a brine then rubs more "curig rub" on dry. I do all mine wet.


Turns out pretty tasty.

Alright, I KNOW I should leave things alone and not be controversial. But the 'brisket' that is shown on the "Randy's BBQ Ramblings" website looks to me like sirloin steak, and not brisket at all. I've never seen a brisket with that marbling of fat, nor an edge of fat like the meat shown on the website...sirloin steaks look like that. And cows can't grow a brisket that looks like that...its belly muscles would have to be as big as, oh perhaps its BACK! What do you guys think?

1000 Oakie...you ARE quite right...it IS top round. Look under that sentence "trim out a 8-10 brisket*"...and he says in small print that he was using a London Broil instead of the brisket. He does also say that brisket works better too. As any true Pastrami lover from back east knows (i'm transplanted...ok!), brisket is the only choice for true Pastrami! :-)

Rick in CO

Rick, you're right! I missed the fine print! And if it came out good with an unfatty top round, it must be great with a brisket!!!