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...
