Second Pastrami

Good thing you got the commercial slicer.

I tried to cook to 165º-175º on several,I did one year.

I had an under $100 slicer,and it was a disaster.

I went through the tons of archives and think I actually have a question that wasn't asked before. I'm going to try Randy's Pastrami and was wondering if you FEC cooks do pastrami on the notch setting the entire time versus the smoke/180 setting and then bumping to the notch setting.

I have heard that the curing affects the texture and that taking the brisket to higher temps is not required because of this, but cooking to 165 sounds suspicious to me. I'm also reading about these same people talking about boiling/steaming, etc afterward. I'm thinking of taking it to 165, then foiling to say....maybe 190ish for starters. I was also thinking of a 2hr rest in foil after that. What do you think?

Ive used Randy's receipe on three prior whole brisket pastrami's. Follow his directions to the letter and I promise you wont be disappointed. Remember this bad boy after the curing process is no longer a beef brisket it is a corned beef and is smoked diffrently then a brisket, it doesnt need as much smoke, so the 165 temp is accurate.
I have pictures of the last pastrami I smoked two weeks ago that I will post tommorow, I have them on my jumpdrive at work. Best pastrami I have ever had.

Here is the picture of the last pastrami I made using a whole beef brisket, had to cut it by hand at the time, I didnt have a meat slicer.

It's been awhile since I've been on, but I thought I'd add to this post anyway. Bossman is right about not being disappointed. Randy's recipe is a quick cure AND tastes great. I did end up taking it to 180 and then letting it rest in foil for 2 hrs. Curing really does accelerate cooking times, because I've never seen a packer brisket come up to temp like that. Total time was under 6 hours to 180, and that included some time on the smoke setting! I set the slicer paper thin and two loaves of rye later finally got through just the flat. I think the last reuben tasted just as good as the first too. I'd give that recipe 3 thumbs up if I had 'em.