Pastrami the easy way

[venture]

Pulled a couple of commercially produced corned beefs out of the freezer.  Left over from St. Patty's sale at 1.47 per LB. After thawing, soaked over night with 3 changes of water.

Rinsed, rubbed, and resting:

AMNS ready and loaded with hickory:

Meat on at 219.  Average smoke temp ran about 220 to 230:

Sweet smoke from AMNS not camera visible in this light:

Foiled at 165 with a little beer.  At 185 I double checked with the instant read stick.  It went in like going through warm butter so I pulled it sooner than normal.  Ready for slicing after a night in the fridge:

Didn't want to mess with my cheapo slicer for 2 strami's,  so I did my poor ChefRob imitation with the original food processor:

A sample of the vacu packed result ready for the freezer:

Nice collagen in the foil was defatted and saved for future use in au jus:

No pics of the next night's dinner, but this one had the best salt balance I have hit yet.

Mostly sandwich slices but did save one strami half to steam for dinner plate service.

Also, I left my SFB intake open a little more than normal to be sure the AMNS would get enough air.  No pic, but a complete and clean burn.

Thanks for looking.

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[africanmeat]

It looks amazing i love pastrami 

 

[boykjo]

nice job..............

 

[gotarace]

Your pastrami looks fantastic...I love a good pastrami sammy and yours would fit the bill!!! Thanks for sharing.

 

[meateater]

Looks great Merv, Gotta love them cryovac corned beef. 

 

[raptor700]

Great Strami Merv 

  

For someone who hasn't made Pastrami but wants to give it a try

without all the (curing) rules, that's the way to go.

 

[fester]

Looks great pastrami is definitely on my to do list.

 

[rbranstner]

Looks great. I just smoked up two the other week myself but I froze all of the slices so I can't wait to give them a try. I sure love pastrami.

 

[realtorterry]

Looks fantastic! Did you just rub it down with pickling spices or did you use something else?

 

[chef jimmyj]

Merv, Are they that Salty that you need so much of a soak? Whats in the Rub, just Pepper and Coriander, or do you have a Merv Mix?...JJ

 

[SmokinAl]

Great looking pastrami Merv!

             

 

[roller]

Looks real good...nice job !

 

[justpassingthru]

Looks delicious as usual Merv, I sure would like a pastrami sammie for lunch today!

Thank you for clearing up the collagen thing between Mrs JPT and myself, I wanted to keep it and she claimed it was just fat and to throw it away, next time I'll definitely be keeping it to make au jus.

Gene

 

[venture]

Thanks Guys!

JJ, The salt is a personal preference thing.  Also, I had a big batch (multiples of the recipe below) of rub on hand and you will see it contains a bit of salt.  Until this batch is exhausted and I reduce the salt in the next batch, I have been experimenting with soak times to get the salt balance right.  When I mix a new batch of rub, I will reduce the salt and thus the soak times as well. I have a tendency to prep ahead so I don't have to do it every time I cook. Sometimes it can bite me in the backside. LOL

Terry and JJ, this is the simple rub I used:

PASTRAMI RUB


Ingredients:
5 TBS Kosher Salt (you may want to reduce)
4 TBS Paprika
3 TBS Coriander Seeds
3 TBS Brown Sugar
2 TBS Black Peppercorns
2 TBS Yellow Mustard Seeds
1 TBS White Peppercorns
1 TBS Garlic Powder


Preparation:
Combine coriander seeds, peppercorns and mustard seeds in a spice grinder. Grind coarsely. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Any fresh ingredients have been omitted or substituted out to achieve a shelf stable product which requires no refrigeration. Naturally, juniper berries can be added if desired.

Gene, that collagen is magical stuff. After a night in the fridge, it is easy to separate the fat from the collagen.  Way to good to waste!  Just don't tell your wife I said that.  LOL

Good luck and good smoking.
 

 

[Bearcarver]

Looks excellent from here Merv!!!

Nice BearView too!!!

Thanks,

Bear

 

[bluebombersfan]

Wow looks great!!  I noticed in the second picture down you have foil between the rows on your AMAZEN does that keep it from jumping rows??

Thanks,

Brian

 

[scarbelly]

Great job my friend. You just remined me that I have a couple in the freezer. Everytime I see these it reminds me of Jay (THE DUDE ABIDES) and just sent him an email

Thanks for sharing

 

[venture]

Thanks again guys.

I haven't seen the Dude for a long time, been wondering about him.  Then again I always wondered about him.  LOL

Brian, you are right.  Somebody on the forum posted that idea.  Early in my experience with the AMNS (NOT the ANMPS) I had trouble getting it started well.  I pitched the little butane micro torch and went with a pencil tip propane torch.  Got everything lit and running well, but sometimes had it jumping rows on hot smokes.  This little deal was more designed for cold smokes, but you know we always push things to the limit?  With the foil just on the rail sides and not across the bottom, I can light the dust with the propane torch and use it in hot smokes without it jumping rows.  It still needs good air flow, but that should be common sense?

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[jc1947]

Venture,

Looks great!

I have been soaking 6 hrs with 3 water changes and cut the salt to 3TBS. Been working well.

JC

 

[DanMcG]

Sweeeeeeeet looking strami and thanks for the recipe!