Hi y’all! My names’ Uriel and I’m new to the world of curing and smoking. During my first trip to NY (I’m Argentinian) I was so taken by the katz’s pastrami that I had to try make one of my own.
After some research (youtube, mostly gugga foods and binging with babish … because #millenial) I ventured into the making of pastrami.
Because I work a full-time job and I am still very much green with my Kamado (the only smoker-like grill/oven I own, as I live in an apartement), I decided to go with brine + sous vide + rubbing + finishing in Kamado.
So, I started by making a brine:
here be my main issues and questions I encountered:
as a precaution, I still rinsed it with vinegar and water, and then put it in a bath of water and ice to desalinate for 24 hrs. meanwhile, I found a new insecurity for my hypochondria to prey on : maybe it was too much curing salt! so I researched some more on curing salt and now I’m worried. in my country there is no distinction between n1 and n2 of curing salts. there is only one: n2 so, the salt has nitrite and nitrate.
Is this ok? I read n1 and n2 are not interchangeable and that “only number 1 should be used for wet curing” --> Is this true?
Is my brisket safe to eat? will I die from nitrate poisoning because of the amount the brine had?
yesterday, I bagged the brisket and cooked it for 10hrs at 82.2 degrees celcius, as the prior one I did at 61 C for 15 hrs and was not convinced with the results.
when it was done, I transferred the bag with its contents (the cooking liquid expelled from the brisket and the cooked brisket) to the fridge so it could rest the night and be smoked today at the evening.
today I will rub it using worchestiere sauce as a medium and smoking it at 100 C for 3 hours aprox.
the rub will be:
- salt
- sugar
- crushed coriander seeds
- crushed peppercorns
- paprika
- red chile flakes
- crispy onion flakes
any advice on the rub and smoking process with a kamado will be much appreciated.
this is an experiment to me, I have some knowledge of cooking and good enough instincts but I am very much a neophyte when it comes to smoking, brining and charcuterie.
Thank you all for stopping by and your guidance! I promise I will post photos!
After some research (youtube, mostly gugga foods and binging with babish … because #millenial) I ventured into the making of pastrami.
Because I work a full-time job and I am still very much green with my Kamado (the only smoker-like grill/oven I own, as I live in an apartement), I decided to go with brine + sous vide + rubbing + finishing in Kamado.
So, I started by making a brine:
- 3.7 liters of water, boiled
- 409 gr salt
- sugar, I forgot to annotate how mcuh…
- 4 tablespoons (15ml) of pink curing salt
- garlic powder
- Coriander seeds
- Mustard seed
- Paprika
- Bay leaves
- Black peppercorns
- Cinamon sticks
- Ground ginger
- Red chile flakes
here be my main issues and questions I encountered:
- because I felt it might need a bit more of pink curing salt, 1tablespoon or maybe 1 and a half, so, 75cm3-80cm3 of pink salt for 7.4 litres of water
- the brisket does not exist as a meat cut here in argentina, therefore I had to use “tapa de asado” which would be the leaner part of a whole brisket.
- I portioned 2 of these; it was around 4-5 kg for sure as a whole. one smaller, around 2 - 1.5 kg and the other around the remaining weight.
- the first I took out of the brine at 4 / 5 days the brine was a liquid back then…
- the remaining piece I had it rest for another week, a total of 11 days and a half. when i went to remove it from the brine, the brine had become slimy, much like a viscous substance
- the smell of the brine was still nice, like pepper and cinnamon with salt.
- the colour was darker but no blue or white
- there was no visible bubbles of foam just small patches of a filmy substance, not unlike the one that appears over heated milk as it cools down.
- the meat was not grey as I would have expected, but pink.
as a precaution, I still rinsed it with vinegar and water, and then put it in a bath of water and ice to desalinate for 24 hrs. meanwhile, I found a new insecurity for my hypochondria to prey on : maybe it was too much curing salt! so I researched some more on curing salt and now I’m worried. in my country there is no distinction between n1 and n2 of curing salts. there is only one: n2 so, the salt has nitrite and nitrate.
Is this ok? I read n1 and n2 are not interchangeable and that “only number 1 should be used for wet curing” --> Is this true?
Is my brisket safe to eat? will I die from nitrate poisoning because of the amount the brine had?
yesterday, I bagged the brisket and cooked it for 10hrs at 82.2 degrees celcius, as the prior one I did at 61 C for 15 hrs and was not convinced with the results.
when it was done, I transferred the bag with its contents (the cooking liquid expelled from the brisket and the cooked brisket) to the fridge so it could rest the night and be smoked today at the evening.
today I will rub it using worchestiere sauce as a medium and smoking it at 100 C for 3 hours aprox.
the rub will be:
- salt
- sugar
- crushed coriander seeds
- crushed peppercorns
- paprika
- red chile flakes
- crispy onion flakes
any advice on the rub and smoking process with a kamado will be much appreciated.
this is an experiment to me, I have some knowledge of cooking and good enough instincts but I am very much a neophyte when it comes to smoking, brining and charcuterie.
Thank you all for stopping by and your guidance! I promise I will post photos!