We planned a smokin' afternoon with an agenda of duck, pastrami and ABTs, none of which I'd smoked before. We're planning a party for next weekend and I wanted to try ABTs before serving them to company. Anyway,since this is the Beef section, about the pastrami:
I bought a prepared uncooked corned beef brisket, Friedrich's, I believe, at the supermarket. It is on the small side, a little over two pounds and didn't come with a spice packet. I bought mixed pickling spices and mixed it with coarse cracked black pepper, about 50-50 and, after rinsing, coated the brisket with it. It didn't really stick all that well, so I kind of pushed it on. Maybe I shouldn't have dried the brisket before coating.
At the start:
I smoked it fat side up for about six and a half hours at 225 and another hour at 250 using maple wood in the Traeger until the internal temp was a little over 190. I was aiming for 190, but for some reason, it shot up really quick at the end. I foiled it and let it sit for about two hours then put it away.
After four hours:
When finished:
This morning, I sampled it by slicing a thin piece, against the grain, of course, from the center. It tastes excellent. The spice and pepper coating came out nice. Not too salty. There's no smoke ring, though, which I found surprising. I think we're going to use in an omelet with swiss cheese.
Bottom line: I would call it a success. Almost anything I do on the Traeger seems to come out good. But I figure I need to keep trying different things to see how I can improve. Any suggestions are welcome.
I bought a prepared uncooked corned beef brisket, Friedrich's, I believe, at the supermarket. It is on the small side, a little over two pounds and didn't come with a spice packet. I bought mixed pickling spices and mixed it with coarse cracked black pepper, about 50-50 and, after rinsing, coated the brisket with it. It didn't really stick all that well, so I kind of pushed it on. Maybe I shouldn't have dried the brisket before coating.
At the start:
I smoked it fat side up for about six and a half hours at 225 and another hour at 250 using maple wood in the Traeger until the internal temp was a little over 190. I was aiming for 190, but for some reason, it shot up really quick at the end. I foiled it and let it sit for about two hours then put it away.
After four hours:
When finished:
This morning, I sampled it by slicing a thin piece, against the grain, of course, from the center. It tastes excellent. The spice and pepper coating came out nice. Not too salty. There's no smoke ring, though, which I found surprising. I think we're going to use in an omelet with swiss cheese.
Bottom line: I would call it a success. Almost anything I do on the Traeger seems to come out good. But I figure I need to keep trying different things to see how I can improve. Any suggestions are welcome.
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