Please follow me on a Pastrami adventure from A to Deeeeelicious

[fliptetlow]

OH Man!!!! Does that look good. I love Pastrami and that looks great. Might be a little advance for me right now, but will plan for it. Thanks for the great write up. Already logged in my bookmarks.

 

[wutang]

Beautiful. I gotta have one of those sandwiches. Very nice.

 

[alx]

You better bring a picnic basket full of that when we get together one day my SMF friend

Points.

 

[shooterrick]

Man you have got to be the Rueben King. LOL Pnts to ya

 

[meatball]

All I can say is ... WOW! Great job and an outstanding thread.

 

[mama's smoke]

At what temp did you have the oven for steaming? Did you steam to a particular internal temp? How did you know it had been steamed long enough? Smoking my first corned beef today, and your's looks so delish I have to try it. BTW, we also have a Katz's deli in Austin. One of our favorite places for Sunday brunch. Marc is an Austin fixture. Love the guy.

 

[fire it up]

It was done on the stove top and not in the oven, that would cook it more which isn't what you want, normally I use a large pot and inside place either a veggie steamer pan from a rice cooker or a steamer pot (just a pot with holes in the bottom), remove the handles and place into the big pot upside down.
Over a low flame with an inch or two of water, check on it to make sure the steam is flowing but not boiling the water, a slight simmer is fine though.
Let it go for 2 hours then check it by stabbing it, that will give you an idea of how close you are.
You want it to be very soft, 2-3 hours is usually good, if it goes longer that won't hurt, the ones in the restaurant steam for hours and hours until they get used, mostly it put moisture in the meat and makes it more tender.
I have tried it with pastrami that I cut a slice off of and it still works to steam it but doesn't really hold the juices in as well since they tend to run out of the cut section so I would say it's best to leave it whole and then steam.
Also if you bought a store bought corned beef be sure to give it a good long soak to remove the excess sodium, otherwise it will be really salty.
Do a fry pan test before smoking it to make sure it tastes right.

Good luck, any other questions feel free to ask or just send me a pm and I'd be happy to help.

 

[suthrngrllr]

Man that looks awesome, I got to try that when I grow up. I'd love to take a nap with a belly full of that.

 

[brae]

Oh my word. This is just fabulous and I have bookmarked your page to follow. I must do this...it just looks so good. Question: If you don't have a vacuum pack appliance, can you just put in a ziplock and turn or what. Will it spoil? Also, is there like a guideline on approximate smoking times per pound..just a rough one. I know we have to go by temp.

Once again, just beautiful.

 

[fire it up]

Thanks for the good words.
As for the vacuum sealer you can do it without and wrap good in plastic wrap, but do your best to get all the air out and I would wrap a few times after that so nothing leaks out into your fridge.
I suppose a ziploc bag would work but again you want to get out as much air as possible, be sure to give it a good injection and rub and massage and turn 3-4 times a day to ensure the meat gets a good cure going before anything even thinks about spoiling. Though not sure I would do a full 10 days that way, might be fine but I've never tried it that long without vacuum sealed but 4-7 days would even be enough depending on the size of your brisket.
Not really sure about time per pound on strami, it will cook quicker than a plain brisket would due to the curing process but still can give a stall.

I usually just toss it on the smoke, let it go for 2-3 hours and then put my probe in the meat to see where it's at but again, the size of the meat and temp of your smoker will make the biggest difference.
If worried about having it ready for a dinner you can always do a day ahead and reheat the next day with steam a few hours before dinner time.

 

[brae]

Fire it up: I am sorry for these stupid questions but I cannot wait to do this. You said yo added chipotle rub. You mean a chipotle rub complete with brown sugar, oreango, chili powder or just ground chipotle's.

Also, you said you wrapped in towels. I am assuming that you mean foil, then towels, right?

I am completely stupid about making pastrami but eager to learn from you.

 

[fire it up]

No worries on asking questions, glad to help.

As for the injecting yes, I put chipotle powder into the injection cure mixture, it does say chipotle rub in with the dry cure mix which I may have added in some rub at the time but that isn't how I do it anymore, I add chipotle powder to the injection and little to the dry cure mix and then begin the curing process and rub with whatever afterwards.
As for the towels I did wrap in foil then into the towels, I'll have to change that BUT if you plan on cooling it and steaming or slicing the next day it doesn't necessarily need the few hours of rest before cooling, lots of times I will pull from the smoker, let it sit out for just a bit until it is cool enough to stick in the fridge though allowing it to rest doesn't hurt.

 

[jak757]

WOW, that is some fine looking pastrami! I've given thought to doing the same thing -- from cure to smoke, totally homemade pastrami. You have inspired me -- and shown me the way. Fantastic Qview!!