Pastrami...WTF is going on?

[cpfitness]

Did tons of reading up prior to attempting my first pastrami. All the stuff I read said either smoke it all the way to 200ish like a regular brisket or smoke it to 160-165 then take it off and refrigerate and steam it when you are ready to rock. Undecided to go for the latter. Smoked it last night, then this morning put it on the stove in a roasting pan with a rack and plenty of water and quickly had steam going. Everything I read said 2-3 hours of steam would get me to temp. Its Now been steaming for 7.5 hours and I'm only at 179°!!!!!!! WTF is going on here? Is this just a case of it's done when it's done and I've got a real fatty brisket with a lot to breakdown or is something wrong? The Instructions I read for steaming said to get the water boiling in the tray then turn heat down. To low to keep steam going. I have had no problem with that. Could it. E that I don't have a proper lid , just foil over the top? Getting desperate, I've just now stuck the whole foil covered rig into the oven at 250°

 

[chef jimmyj]

Steam breaks down the connective tissue but is too low a temp to determine doneness by IT. If you steam at 212, it will take forever to get to 205. Steam or straight smoke ONLY use IT as a guide to start testing. Cook until a probe slides in with no resistance...JJ

 

[cpfitness]

I ended up putting it into the oven at 250°. I took it out at 190° , let it rest for 30 mins and cut it up. It came out great! In the future, I won't steam it on the stove top, I'll just steam it in the oven.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Looks tasty! JJ is spot on.

My preferred method for finishing pastrami now is to sous vide it. I cold smoke the meat for 6-8 hours. Then into a 183° bath for 10 hours makes a perfect piece.

 

[Rings Я Us]

Man! Looking real good..
Point!

 

[cpfitness]

thanks guys, and I should add that when I put it back into the oven I did so in the steam bath leaving the foil over the top. I guess my rationale was to essentially get it under more heat. I was just a little frustrated because there are numerous posts on here where people say smoke to 160-165 then refrigerate and when it's time to reheat, steam it to 200 and that it only takes 2-3 hours to do that. I fully realize that the probe test is supreme but I also realize that generally speaking that probe test is going to be around 200. fortunately being pastrami and not regular brisket, 190 was still great, made for nice slices but still was tender enough. was able to get pretty thin slices with my chefs knfie. The other thing the steaming definately seemed to help with was pulling salt out. When I tried a piece of it the night before after pulling it off the smoker, I was really worried that I was going to have some insanely salty pastrami but it ended up good! Just glad I didn't invite people over, as my planned lunch became a late dinner!