Pastrami Loaf with QView!!!

[tallbm]

 
Oh heck yes!

 
That looks great I make a pastrami Sausage (brats)

Richie

 
That looks great, What a good idea in using that. Very impressive, Way to go. Point for sure....

 
Looks really good. Even the ruben dog link looks good.

Thanks guys, recipe post is inbound :)

 

[tallbm]

That looks fantastic! Could you post your recipe? I'd like to give it a go.

Ok here is the Recipe :)
[h2] [/h2][h2]Ground Meat Pastrami Loaf [/h2]
Makes 5 pounds of loaf (or can be stuffed into sausage links)

Meat to fat ratio is 80% meat and 20% fat. This is 4 pounds straight meat and 1 pound of beef fat.

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds pure venison ground, plus
  1 pound of beef fat
  
  OR
  
• 5 pounds of 80/20 Ground Beef (this is cheapest beef at grocery store so it is ready to go from the package!)
  
  
• 2 cups water (16 floz)
• 2.75 Tablespoon table salt (52g) (convert this for kosher salt or other type, table salt is what I had on hand)
• 1.66 Tablespoon White Sugar (19g fine)
• 1.66 Tablespoon ground pickling spice (13g) (you can go a little heavier here so don't worry about level measurements)
• 1.66 Tablespoon brown sugar (21g)
• 2.5 Tablespoons granulated garlic (27g) (you can go a little heavier here so don't worry about level measurements)
• 1.66 Tablespoon ground coriander (9g) (you can go a little heavier here so don't worry about level measurements)
• 1.66 Tablespoon coarse ground black pepper (17g) (you can go a little heavier here so don't worry about level measurements)
• 0.41 teaspoon ground juniper berries (was too light to register on my scale just measure and roll with it)
• 1 teaspoon Cure #1 (5.66g)
• Feel free to add an appropriate amount of binder. I did 2% Soy Protein Isolate recently and it helped keep the slices from breaking easily after they are frozen and defrosted. I may up to 2.3%. NDFM should work fine as a binder as well but I'm lactose intolerant and don't even wanna go that route :)

Instructions:

• Mix all of the seasoning and water in a blender for about 45 seconds to a minute or until salt is dissolved in the water
• Mix seasoning into meat well until meat gets tacky (tacky = not runny or very wet looking)
• Do a fry test to confirm that the salt content was not added in incorrect amounts (not too salty)
• Form into loaves in a pan and cover with plastic wrap or lid (TIP: if you line your pan with plastic wrap it makes it easy to flip the pan and get the loaf/loaves out later)
• LET LOAF SET into shape in fridge wrapped/covered overnight to form a good solid loaf/loaves (TIP: there is no need to form a pellicle for this loaf, it will have a good rind to it after smoking and cooking)

Cooking and Smoking:

• Unwrap/Uncover and Put in smoker at 100F and dry for 1 hour, DO NOT apply smoke
• After 1st hour of drying apply smoke
  • I did 100% Maple because I read it was commonly used for pastrami
  • If not using Maple I would recommend a fruit wood and no more of a 35% blend of Hickory and some fruit wood. I feel Hickory will give too much of a bacon flavor, not a Pastrami flavor
  • Maple or fruit wood smoke should be applied for at LEAST 4 hours and can be applied for the whole cook time which is roughly 6-7 hours
• After 1st hour Bump up temp to 120F, 140F, 160F, 170F in that order every 30 minutes until you get to 170F (TIP: to get the last 5 degrees or so of IT feel free to bump to 200F)
• Cook to an IT of 160F (USDA recommended IT to kill E.Coli in ground beef as well as USDA recommendation to cook Wild Game meat that is not poultry, poultry is 165F)
• Let rest 20 minutes and pat off any fat/juice with paper towel, before knife slicing and eating
• Rest in the fridge 6-8 hours or over night to be able to slice very thin on a slicer (TIP: Flavor gets even better the next 36 hours in the fridge)
• Vac seal slices and freeze for best storage
• Eat and enjoy how amazing this is!

Also for reference I am posting the 1 pound seasoning numbers below. Sometimes you end up making a batch of 4 pounds of 7 pounds or whatever you have so seasoning increments of 1 pound and 5 pound are helpful in such cases.

Let me know if you have any questions!

1 Pound Seasoning Measurements

0.41 cups water
0.75 Tablespoon table salt
0.333 Tablespoon White Sugar (fine)
0.333 Tablespoon ground pickling spice
0.333 Tablespoon brown sugar
0.5 Tablespoons granulated garlic
0.333 Tablespoon ground coriander
0.333 Tablespoon coarse ground black pepper
0.083 teaspoon ground juniper berries
0.2 teaspoon Cure #1

(Recipe I referenced and altered - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/adam-gertler/reuben-dog-recipe-2125772)

Enjoy everyone!!!

 

[ab canuck]

Thx for posting, I may have to try this while out here working this summer. 

 

[tallbm]

 
Thx for posting, I may have to try this while out here working this summer. 

I say go for it!  This stuff is absolutely amazing!

Just an FYI, I had to buy the Pickling Spice on ebay and grind it myself using my Magic Bullet blender and the Grinding blade.  Same thing goes for the ground Juniper Berry.  I bought "ground" but it came more of a cracked form so I ground it as well.  Ground Coriander is much easier to come by in ground form.

I bought the ground Juniper on ebay from a vendor called "spicejungle" and the
Pickling Spice from a vendor called "homemademyway".

I mention these vendors so you can get the same flavor I got as there may be some liberty taken with Pickling Spice blends and I don't know if all Juniper Berry is the same.

Best of luck!

 

[GaryHibbert]

WOW THAT LOOKS GREAT!!!

If i have time to go deer hunting this fall, I'll definitely be trying this.

Thanks for posting the recipe.

POINTS

Gary

 

[uncle eddie]

Looks awesome and sounds even better!

Points!

 

[actech]

So... If you had the seasoning blend i'm thinking gyro loaf????  The ideas this could spring.

 

[tallbm]

WOW THAT LOOKS GREAT!!!

If i have time to go deer hunting this fall, I'll definitely be trying this.

Thanks for posting the recipe.

POINTS

Gary

No problem.  You wouldn't be disappointed :)

 
Looks awesome and sounds even better!

Points!

Thanks it is great!

 
So... If you had the seasoning blend i'm thinking gyro loaf????  The ideas this could spring.

Ooooh that would be good as well.  Do you have anywhere to start with that seasoning blend?

 

[mosparky]

This looks awesome. Point for the 1 lb increments. I'm trying to break several recipes down for smaller batches to test, tweek and get reactions before I make 5 pounds of mistake I have to eat by myself. This is going in my recipe file.

 

[tallbm]

 
This looks awesome. Point for the 1 lb increments. I'm trying to break several recipes down for smaller batches to test, tweek and get reactions before I make 5 pounds of mistake I have to eat by myself. This is going in my recipe file.

I understand.  If you buy a single pound of 80/20 ground beef you just need to mix the spices in and go :)

Word to the wise the ground Juniper Berry was more liked crushed so I ground it in my Magic Bullet blender with the grinder blade.  I couldn't even find Ground Pickling Spice so I just had to straight up grind the Pickling Spice into powder just the way I did with the Juniper Berry.  Best of luck! :)

 

[actech]

 
No problem.  You wouldn't be disappointed :)

Thanks it is great!

Ooooh that would be good as well.  Do you have anywhere to start with that seasoning blend?

No idea, but it sure sounds good. Maybe someone will chime in with a gyro blend.

 

[shyzabrau]

 
Ground Coriander is much easier to come by in ground form.

When I made my pastrami sausage, I used a lot of whole coriander. I loved the "pop" of flavor when I bit into one. You might mix them up next time (some whole, some ground)...

 

[tallbm]

 
When I made my pastrami sausage, I used a lot of whole coriander. I loved the "pop" of flavor when I bit into one. You might mix them up next time (some whole, some ground)...

That would be good to try as well.  I only had ground coriander on hand :(  A whole or cracked coriander and black pepper crust/layer on top of the loaf would be awesome.  I did a small attempt with the black pepper and it was cool.  The closer to real pastrami this can get the better :)

 

[Bearcarver]

Looks Great, TailMan!! 

---

That's gotta be Mighty Tasty!!

Looks a lot like my "Bear Loaf", but I love your ingredients list !!

Nice Job!

Bear

 

[ironhorse07]

This looks good!

 

[tallbm]

 
Looks Great, TailMan!! 

---

That's gotta be Mighty Tasty!!

Looks a lot like my "Bear Loaf", but I love your ingredients list !!

Nice Job!

Bear

Thanks Bear!  I didn't know what to think of the seasoning since I have never used pickling spice, juniper berry, and never that much coriander power with anything.  I was 100% legitimately shocked/amazed at how this turned out.  I'm also glad my hunch about omitting the binders worked out.  I like the idea of having the minimal necessary ingredients only.

I now have enough ground pickling spice and juniper berries to make this for years to come hahahaha :P

 
This looks good!

Thanks!  It was a very rewarding experiment for me.  I think the Pastrami Loaf is now going to be part of my yearly meat processing regiment after my big hunting vacation.  

I will now try to have Venison Brats (with pork fat), Feral Hog Franks (with pork fat), and now Venison Pastrami loaf (with beef fat) to rock and roll with all year long :)

 

[dwaytkus]

This looks fantastic!  I'm gonna have to try this for sure.

Points!

 

[tallbm]

 
This looks fantastic!  I'm gonna have to try this for sure.

Points!

If you follow what I did I can bet you have a great experience and product :)

 

[tallbm]

Just an FYI.  I have beef fat defrosting to grind and I plan to mix and form loaves for 10 pounds worth of Venison Pastrami.  I hope to have it smoked by the end of day tomorrow or at least over night tomorrow night.  I plan on using my 65% Maple and 35% Mesquite blend of pellets because I am out of just 100% maple pellets.   I hope the flavor comes out just as good as the batches I've done with just maple!!!!

I'll post when it is all done :) 

 

[tallbm]

 
Just an FYI.  I have beef fat defrosting to grind and I plan to mix and form loaves for 10 pounds worth of Venison Pastrami.  I hope to have it smoked by the end of day tomorrow or at least over night tomorrow night.  I plan on using my 65% Maple and 35% Mesquite blend of pellets because I am out of just 100% maple pellets.   I hope the flavor comes out just as good as the batches I've done with just maple!!!!

I'll post when it is all done :) 

Well the Pastrami is made and vac sealed.  I didn't bother taking any pics because it doesn't really look any different.

This time around I smoked with my 65% Maple - 35% Mesquite Louisiana Grills pellet blend and I did not like it as much as going with the Lumberjack 100% Maple pellets I used with my previous smokes.  The bit of Mesquite made things taste beefier than I wanted.  The 100% Maple gives a sweeter softer smoke flavor that allows the seasoning to shine more.

Also I did not weigh my meat and I just took my eight 1 pound bags of pure ground venison and started working with it.  I bet I had close to 9.5 pounds of venison so my seasoning was a little off.  I could have used more pickling spice and juniper berry in this batch but I was kind of in a rush to make all of this and it didn't dawn on me to weigh the meat to make sure I was precisely using 8 pounds and/or to adjust if over.

The last thing is that I think next time I may try a little soy protein for a binder.  The slices want to break on me a little too easily when folding them and handling them at times.  I really don't mind but I am curious to see if adding a little non-dairy based binder (soy) can give me some more flexible slices and help me expand on my ground sandwich meat skills.  I'm hoping a little binder will go a long way  :)

In any case I learned a few things and still produced a great pastrami that definitely beats the crap out of anything you can buy on the sandwich meat wall of a grocery store :)

I hope this info is helpful for any of you out there that are interested :)

Anyhow, the product is still way better then stuff you buy off the shelf at the store and I learned a few things without