Goose Pastrami

[Faceplant247]

I recently came into some goose breast, and wanted to try my hand at goose pastrami. Some recipes call for brining the goose breast using Morton's Tender Quick in a sugar/salt/spice solution anywhere from 7-14 days and then smoking to an internal temp of 160 (see this thread: http://www.refugeforums.com/threads/goose-pastrami-recipe.950946/).

Brining that long seems excessive to me. Hank Shaw has a recipe that calls for a dry cure using cure #1 for a much shorter time 2-3 days).

Can you give me your thoughts on Tender Quick vs. Instacure #1 and dry cure for a short time period vs. wet brine for longer?

Ultimately, I'm looking for a moist medium-rare pastrami.

 

[myownidaho]

I use this recipe and it has never failed me.

https://honest-food.net/goose-pastrami-recipe/

 

[Faceplant247]

That's the recipe I saw on Honest Food as well, but I'm really trying to tell the difference between his recipe and the wet brine recipe I linked to above.

 

[myownidaho]

The wet brine is much more dilute than the dry rub, hence the long soaking time. Eight days still seems like a long time for a piece of meat hat is no more than two inches thick. I’ve not done a wet brine on goose but when I’ve done beef, I do like the dry brine results better. YMMV.

 

[dls1]

Faceplant,

I far prefer a dry cure over brining, which I haven't done for many years. Also, I exclusively use Instacure #1 which was what I began with when I started curing. If for no other reason than that, I wouldn't consider switching to TQ, and I imagine those that started with TQ feel the same way.

When considering the 2 recipe sources, I'd definitely go with Hank Shaw. He's a very credible recognized pro, and the others are a few random anonymous amateurs on a duck hunting forum. That's not meant to be a bad rap on them, but when trying for the first time, I prefer to follow the directions of a well known high quality source.

I've never done Hank's goose breast pastrami but a couple years ago I did his German smoked goose breast recipe and it was amazing.

 

[Bspeech]

I use the recipe in the link below on venison roasts and it's great. Have a goose breast, using this same recipe, on the smoker as we speak.

http://www.cabelas.com/category/CWC-Venison-Pastrami/580910580.uts