I always worried about losing crust with the pressure finish but it doesn’t look like you lost much at all.
The bark is about as delicate as when steaming, but it sets up quickly. Think of a pressure cooker as hi-temp steam.
The higher temp in a pressure cooker will sometimes darken the bark a little. Here is a close-up of some pastrami cubes.
Looks fantastic. How much picking spice did you add?
Here is my corning brine:
My version of a corning brine brings a lot more flavor to the meat because of the many aromatics I use during the curing process. Instead of adding a few 'pickling spices' when cooking corned beef, I use spices and some beer when curing my corned beef. So I get 14 days of flavor when making corned beef.
Because I like Pop's Brine so well I designed my corning brine around his curing brine. The salt and sugar amounts have been adjusted to compensate for the aromatics and spices. Here is how I do it...
=========== Corned Beef & Porkstrami =======
For use on Brisket, Round Roast, Chuck Roast, Pork Butt in order to make Corned Beef, Corned Pork, Pastrami and Porkstrami.
112 ounces of water
16 ounces of beer
80g canning salt (Kosher is okay too)
30g white sugar
3 tablespoons pickling spice
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
1 tablespoon brown mustard seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
6 bay leaves
1 tablespoon Old Bay
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
1 tablespoon crushed ginger
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cloves
22g Cure #1 (note: this is added after the brine has cooled back down) (note 2: the amount of Cure #1 is 22 grams due to the large amount of aromatics used)
Step 1 - Combine all ingredients EXCEPT Cure #1 into a stock pot. Slowly bring up to a simmer and cook for 1 hour. Do not let this mixture come to a boil. Allow to cool on the stovetop, then refrigerate overnight.
Step 2 – On day 2, add the Cure #1 to the chilled brine and mix very well. Measure an amount of brine equal to 10% of the meat weight (for example: 2000g of meat needs 200g of brine for injecting). Inject the brine into the meat. Then add the meat into the chilled covering brine, and cure for 13 to 15 days, agitating the liquid daily. I prefer using a 2.5 gallon zipper bag, in a plastic bucket. Using the bucket handle, I spin the bucket 90° for about 30 seconds to agitate the liquid.
Step 3 - Remove meat from brine.... rinse well and soak about an hour or so in cold water. Pat the meat dry. Use your preferred cooking method and recipe for corned beef.
====== Pastrami ======
Step 3A - If you are using your corned meat for pastrami or porkstrami, add pastrami seasoning. Rest in the refrigerator 12 to 18 hours uncovered. This sets the rub and forms the pellicle which helps take the smoke.
Step 3B – Smoke the meat up to 5 or 6 hours or until it gets a nice color and the internal is ~160°. Either wrap with some beef broth and cook it tender or move to pressure cooker with some beef broth. Process for 35 minutes, then use natural release. Check tenderness and if needed…. Process again for 5 or 6 minutes. Steaming the pastrami is another good finishing method.
