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Aldi's corned beef point Pastrami. take one.

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fxsales1959

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Rumor spread about Aldi having the Cattleman's brand corned beef for $3.49/lb. I've always, with spectacular results used Grobbel's corned beef, sometimes Flat, sometimes point. The choice this week was point, of Aldi's Cattleman's brand. There were only two packs when I got there, so I snagged them both. Approximately 4 lbs each. They didn't really resemble "points" other than a thin layer of fat on the top side. It's been almost a year since I made pastrami.
I copied Meathead's amazingribs.com recipe. I had to buy coriander seeds, which needed to be crushed, according to the "recipe" . I used the plastic bag/cast iron skillet method to crush them up. as of today, I now own a spice grinder. Soaked the corned beef for about 5 hours and drained then trimmed the thin layer of fat. Made up the rub as recommended on the recipe site. Basically crushed coriander, black pepper(coarse) and some mustard powder, garlic powder, and a skosh of onion powder. I learned one thing from his adventure it was to always wear shoes at 5AM in the dark when transferring hot coals from the chimney to the WSM. I've got a silver dollar sized blister on the bottom of my foot to show for it. Fire lit in the WSM and time to apply rub to the meat.
Came out looking like this.
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Once the WSM settled in about 275 I added a couple hunks of pecan.
Threw on the meat and probed it. As always, the WM stayed right at 250-275 and I let it go until the meat probe reached 185. Removed and wrapped tightly in butcher paper and returned to WSM. The stall was excrutiating for such a small hunk of meat. Let it continue to about 203 internal.
Removed meat and let it rest for awhile and prepared my "Dutch oven steamer" for the final step.
I've always read that using the deli slicer isn't recommended so I whipped out the Wusthof chefs knife and sliced across the grain.
I looked ok sliced, but was a little thick.
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Got a good steam rolling in the steam appliance and threw some slices in.
Let them steam about 10-15 minutes and removed to make sandwiches.
Pepperidge farms deli swirl rye/pumpernickel bread slathered with guldens mustard.
Added a few slices of deli thin Swiss to finish.

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If only it was as good as it looked. Great pastrami flavor but the meat was tough as shoe leather.
I don't like leaving bad reviews, but next time I'll pay extra for the Grobbel's corned beef.
I'm going to give the second chunk a try this weekend to see how it turns out.
With all that said, I won't be rushing to Aldi's to buy more.
I'm anxious to see how it worked out for others. Plus Grobbel's is on sale this week at Publix for $5.99/lb.

Live and learn. There was enough slices left to steam for a couple more sandwiches.
Foot is healing nicely
 

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I did the braise method also and it was so tender I had trouble slicing.

I wonder if that same hunk of meat would have been tender if ya did it in the oven?
Hard to say and we’ll never know but I still wonder…..
 
I've got another tri-tip pastrami in the fridge ready for a smoker ride.
I've been researching about using sous vide to tenderize before the smoke.
Found this site
142°F for 40 hours. Chill well and smoke to 140° for serve ready
Katz recommends boiling their smoked pastrami for 3 hours, but they are made with navel not point and cold oversmoked for 3 days.
 
Smoked. Didn't wrap. Came out tender and moist. My only complaint was it was a bit salty.
 
Looks great, I almost always cool my pastrami overnight and then use the deli slicer to get nice thin, almost shaved slices. Guaranteed tender.
 
I just put one (Aldi's Point) on at 0830... We'll see how it turns out....

WINNER WINNER ... Kettle settled in around 240... Wrapped at 1530 (3:30) and left temp as it was... Ran out of charcoal around five oclock... It was almost done then... Went in a 250` oven for 30 minutes to finish up... Rested for almost an hour and a half... Sliced against the grain... Was absolutely wonderful...

Soaked over night with 3 changes of water... Not salty at all...
 
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