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What temp does everyone cook their pastrami's to. I intend to slice for sammies not pull. I've done 175 with venison. I've been checking out some posts and it ranges from 140-190. What's your preference? Thanks in advance men.
I go to 200. Slices well once cooled. The most recent one was smoked to 170 then finished in the oven over steam to 200. Just fantastic. I just had a pastrami sandwich for lunch today. So good.
Unless I wa misinformed I was told you have to go to at least 165* for safety reasons. Also if you go to 200* it'll give that connective tissue a better chance of breaking down and giving you a more tender result.
I did a 2.6 lb corned beef flat brisket a couple of weeks ago and spent 7 hours getting it to 165*. Then wrapped and stuffed into a cooler for several hours. Tasted great (getting ready to have a sandwich made from it now) but was a little tough. Wished I'd have taken higher on internal temp.
Look for the post titled "My weekend from heck with a corned beef brisket" to see my experience.