Montreal Smoked Meat and the discussion with SWMBO

[zwiller]

Gonna make this for sure but totally confused, there's no Montreal seasoning used?! Love that stuff and just the thought of it being used for this is driving me crazy. It would have to be MUCH better than pastrami. I would want to skip the soak step and retain all that spice too. Wheels turning...

 

[disco]

Gonna make this for sure but totally confused, there's no Montreal seasoning used?! Love that stuff and just the thought of it being used for this is driving me crazy. It would have to be MUCH better than pastrami. I would want to skip the soak step and retain all that spice too. Wheels turning...

Montreal Steak Spice is much younger than Montreal Smoked Meat and has no relationship. It is mostly salt and garlic based. As for not soaking it, go for it but this is a pretty strongly seasoned meat and all the soaking does is take the surface salt off.

 

[zwiller]

Mind blown... OK. THANKS! You actually hit the nail on the head. I never have "dry spiced" before so I am somewhat hesitant spice can penetrate but this would surely test that. On a slight tangent. Ground bay leaf is killer stuff and must a have. Insane on poultry. Ground rosemary similar but for beef.

 

[disco]

Mind blown... OK. THANKS! You actually hit the nail on the head. I never have "dry spiced" before so I am somewhat hesitant spice can penetrate but this would surely test that. On a slight tangent. Ground bay leaf is killer stuff and must a have. Insane on poultry. Ground rosemary similar but for beef.

Trust me, it takes up a great flavour and you are absolutely right about ground bay leaf. Sadly, I usually have to grind my own!

 

[checkdude]

Late to the party as usual but... if you are taking the IT to 150 what's the reason for the steam ? Inquiring minds want to know lol. Thanks for taking the time to detail your process.

 

[disco]

Late to the party as usual but... if you are taking the IT to 150 what's the reason for the steam ? Inquiring minds want to know lol. Thanks for taking the time to detail your process.

The steaming has nothing to do with food safety. Montreal Smoked meat is smoked and then steamed for a long time to make the meat very tender. The steaming is for texture, not for health. If you just sliced it after taking it to 150, it would have the flavour but would be more like slice cold cuts than the melt in your mouth texture of Montreal Smoked Meat. If you go to the great food city of Montreal for the real deal, you will see the meat is kept in huge steamers for serving. It makes the fat almost something sinful and the meat ultra-tender.

 

[weedeater]

Have you ever used Sous Vide for the last step instead of steaming it. To my way of thinking it should work well but I yield to the expert on Montreal Smoked Meat.

Weedeater

 

[disco]

Have you ever used Sous Vide for the last step instead of steaming it. To my way of thinking it should work well but I yield to the expert on Montreal Smoked Meat.

Weedeater

I suspect it would be great but have never done sous vide so I have to admit, I don't know!

 

[chef jimmyj]

I just had this discussion with my Modern Chef Daughter. You can certainly cook anything in a number of ways. SV Hamburgers, Pan Fry, Deep Fry in 90 year old Grease, Gill them, Broiled them or Smoke them. All will give a tasty Hamburger...BUT...You Don't Mess With The Classics! My Daughter asked if she could throw everything in the pot and Pressure Cook Grandma's Sunday Gravy? I told her Sure, but it won't taste like Grandma's 3 hour simmered Gravy that has the meat browned and added in steps! Same with the 100 year old method of making Montreal Smoked Meat. You can SV until tender but it won't be the same as being Steamed for hours...JJ

 

[disco]

I just had this discussion with my Modern Chef Daughter. You can certainly cook anything in a number of ways. SV Hamburgers, Pan Fry, Deep Fry in 90 year old Grease, Gill them, Broiled them or Smoke them. All will give a tasty Hamburger...BUT...You Don't Mess With The Classics! My Daughter asked if she could throw everything in the pot and Pressure Cook Grandma's Sunday Gravy? I told her Sure, but it won't taste like Grandma's 3 hour simmered Gravy that has the meat browned and added in steps!

I agree with the wisdom of Chef Jimmy!

 

[knifebld]

Hey Disco, well done on the MSM! I have been following your posts and reading through your website...I appreciate you sharing your experience.

I have decided to try out my own MSM. I have taken bits and pieces from your recipe and process, used some other ingredients from other sites, and added a bit of my own. I have about 15 kilos (33lbs) of brisket curing in the fridge and will be ready to rinse on Friday.

Not worried about smoking on Saturday as I am pretty equipped with smokers...but not as equipped with steamers. I will be attempting to steam to an IT of 180F...but the only way I can think of doing this is to place the meat in a Turkey roasting pan with a V-rack, cover with foil, and then place in the oven at about 215F. Problem is that I have way too much meat for one Turkey Pan and one oven...gonna take me forever to steam everything!

Any ideas on how I can use my WSM or BGE as a giant steamer or any other method that would steam in larger quantities??

Cheers!

 

[disco]

Hey Disco, well done on the MSM! I have been following your posts and reading through your website...I appreciate you sharing your experience.

I have decided to try out my own MSM. I have taken bits and pieces from your recipe and process, used some other ingredients from other sites, and added a bit of my own. I have about 15 kilos (33lbs) of brisket curing in the fridge and will be ready to rinse on Friday.

Not worried about smoking on Saturday as I am pretty equipped with smokers...but not as equipped with steamers. I will be attempting to steam to an IT of 180F...but the only way I can think of doing this is to place the meat in a Turkey roasting pan with a V-rack, cover with foil, and then place in the oven at about 215F. Problem is that I have way too much meat for one Turkey Pan and one oven...gonna take me forever to steam everything!

Any ideas on how I can use my WSM or BGE as a giant steamer or any other method that would steam in larger quantities??

Cheers!

Hm? That is a tough one. I have never done that much at one time. I have a large canning pot that I can do a whole brisket in but have never had to do that much.

My first thought would be to stand the briskets on the side some how on racks over a large tray of water and then tent it in foil. That would let you get two or three briskets on a tray. However, the hard part would be standing them on the edge and keeping some separation between them so the steam evenly. You could put dowels or spoons between them.

Second thought was modifying a weber or bge to do it. The problem is getting enough steam would likely extinguish the coals.

Third though would be to wrap each brisket in foil with a couple of cups of water and then cooking like a wrapped brisket low and slow. The risk is the moisture contacting the meat might make it a bit more fall apart but it may work.

Sorry, that's all my simple mind can come up with.

 

[nchapelheel]

Very nice. I have used brisket and eye round to make pastrami, but your recipe
for MSM looks good to me. I will try that soon. Loved the pictures too!
As an aside: We go on the "blues cruise" every few years and on the last cruise,
2018, there was a girl that had a song named, "I loved smoked meat." She is from Montreal. Also had some MSM in the Montreal airport. The sign said smoked meat, but it wasn't corned beef like I expected. I ate every single bite!!!
nChapelHeel

 

[disco]

Very nice. I have used brisket and eye round to make pastrami, but your recipe
for MSM looks good to me. I will try that soon. Loved the pictures too!
As an aside: We go on the "blues cruise" every few years and on the last cruise,
2018, there was a girl that had a song named, "I loved smoked meat." She is from Montreal. Also had some MSM in the Montreal airport. The sign said smoked meat, but it wasn't corned beef like I expected. I ate every single bite!!!
nChapelHeel

Thanks for the kind words.

There are several places that do Montreal Smoked Meat in Montreal. I believe the one at the airport is Lester's. They do a decent meat but Dunns and Schwartz's are the famous ones. There is always a line up at Schwartz's.

There is definitely a different taste to Montreal Smoked Meat and corned beef or pastrami. I was so hooked on it I had to learn to make it myself. If you do try it, I suspect you will get hooked too!

Disco