I made pastrami, yesterday, from a corned beef brisket. It was a nice thick flat, maybe there wasn't enough fat left on it. At 7am, I got it out of the fridge, rinsed it, put on some mustard, and applied a rub of mostly black pepper, coriander and garlic. I kept pretty true to Jeff's methods(http://www.smoking-meat.com/february-2010-how-to-make-pastrami-smoked-corned-beef-brisket). I put it on the traeger a little after 8AM, on smoke. I let it cook for 4 hours on smoke, which was around 180 degrees. After that, I raised the temp to 250, and it was within 10 degrees for the whole cook. At 165 I wrapped the pastrami in butcher paper, and let it cook to 195. At 195 I tested it with a toothpick, and I let it go to 205, at 205 it was still a bit tough and i let it go to 207. At that point I wrapped it in foil and put it in the cooler, with some towels. I only let it rest in the cooler for 45 minutes. By this time it was 8pm. When I unwrapped it, I could tell it was still too firm. It tasted great, and it made a fantastic sandwich, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I've read tons of threads on doing briskets on here and I bought a prime packer recently. This pastrami cook was a pre-test, and I'm a bit scared now. What did I do wrong?
Nice tasty bark, but the beef was too firm, did I overcook it? Pulled it at 207. I was afraid to go further.
Delicious sandwich. My wife said it was better than Langer's, but I know it wasn't quite right.
Nice tasty bark, but the beef was too firm, did I overcook it? Pulled it at 207. I was afraid to go further.
Delicious sandwich. My wife said it was better than Langer's, but I know it wasn't quite right.