Ho-hum...Another pastrami thread

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73saint

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
SMF Premier Member
Mar 8, 2017
2,016
2,265
Near New Orleans La
This one came out so perfect, I had to share. Last couple pastrami’s I did, I wasn’t happy with. Even though I finished with steam, I overcooked them and they didn’t hold up to slicing. Not to mention the last one, I dropped on the ground, had a pan collapse. And it fell all up in the mud so not even salvageable.
Well this weekend we had a huge cook, and I had a brisket that had been curing for 11 days. It was time for redemption! I did a dry cure, using the digging dog bacon calculator @2.25% salt. Plus I added 1/8 cup pickling spice, garlic powder, onion powder & black pepper.
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here’s my brisket all trimmed and ready for the cure. Both point and flat were really nice. I didn’t get any pics of it in the cure, but I put both point and flat in same bag, evenly distributed cure and seasoning over each side, then flipped and massaged the bag o meat daily. After11 days, I took it out of the cure, rinsed it off and placed it in the fridge to dry out a bit. Then I rubbed it lightly with mustard, and my rub which is black pepper, coriander, garlic, paprika.
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all ready for the smoker. I used pecan wood and smoked at 250 for 7 hours. I pulled the pastrami at 185 internal. This was my plan. I wanted to wrap it in foil, rest it until I went to bed, then toss in the fridge overnight. I just felt like a little less cook time would give me the texture I wanted. I was right!
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I got one pic of it on the pit.
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and right before bedtime, we had a late night snack... hot pastrami!! I couldn’t wait until tomorrow...strami sammys for dinner!

So today was the day. Slice all the pastrami and Jewish deli for dinner. I got some nice fresh Jewish rye, and boars head baby Swiss and aged Swiss.

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Pastrami all sliced up. The berkel makes that much easier. And stopping the cook at 185 was perfect.
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and my dinner....I could only eat half but it was out of this world. I know what Im having for lunch tomorrow!
 
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Wow! Thats some of the best pastrami ive seen in a long time!. When i read that you pulled it at 185° I knew you were gonna be right on track. At least for thin slicing! Thats the way I like mine. Thin sliced and piled high! BIG BIG LIKE from me!
 
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I'm following along ..... up until you added 1/8 C canning salt. To what?

And you did a foiled finish with no steam time? Or other finish?
 
I'm following along ..... up until you added 1/8 C canning salt. To what?

And you did a foiled finish with no steam time? Or other finish?
Pickling spice (Sorry). To the meat. And no steam. Just smoke to temp, wrap, rest, cool, slice
 
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Pickling spice. Jesus, I haven’t even had anything to drink.
Lol! Somehow when i read your original I actually read pickling spice..... probably because thats what I expected in a pastrami cure. But ... Im a few beers in soo.....maybe thats why.
 
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Lol! Somehow when i read your original I actually read pickling spice..... probably because thats what I expected in a pastrami cure. But ... Im a few beers in soo.....maybe thats why.
Well tbh I woulda thought that too, I said I used 2.25 % salt in the calculator so I would have read that as spice. But that was my bad, I sometimes get ahead of myself and type WAY too fast ha!
 
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Cannot beat a good pastrami like that, nice work there. Those sandwiches look excellent. Looks like you have a good stock of pastrami.
 
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Looks mighty tasty! Love Pastrami. I've done a few and they don't have that strong Pastrami flavor I'm looking for. I think I haven't been leaving in the cure long enough. Next time I'll leave in much longer, have usually left in 6-7 days. Your 11 days seems like that would make a big difference.
Thanks for sharing, enjoy!

Mike
 
Wow! That looks spot on, very nice! Happy to hear you got what you were looking for, nothing better than that satisfaction after all that we put into our cooks.
 
Pickling spice. Jesus, I haven’t even had anything to drink.
Hey, my last brain cell is hanging on valiantly too. Was mixing a large batch of some rub the other day and most of the way thru I realized I’d switched the measurements for paprika and cayenne ... had to toss and start over.
At least yours was only a momentary virtual slip :emoji_grinning:
I took my last pack of pastrami out of the freezer in your honor. :emoji_yum:
 
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