Make Your Own Pastrami

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Low-N-Slow
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Make Your Own Pastrami

Post by Low-N-Slow »

Make Your Own Pastrami

After eating my fill of corned beef this week, it's rather ironic that it made me think that I should make some pastrami. Pastrami, as you may know, differs from corned beef in a couple of ways. The seasonings are different, and rather than being boiled, steamed, baked, or braised, pastrami is traditionally smoke cooked. It's not as difficult as you might think. If you have a barbecue pit, smoker, or even a charcoal grill with adjustable venting on the cover and bottom, you can make your own pastrami.

Before we get to the technique, there are a few considerations, and some items you will want to have on hand.

First, the curing process is going to take 3-4 days. Second, you're going to need a container, such as an oblong Pyrex baking dish or a small roasting pan, along with enough space in your refrigerator to house it for the duration of the cure. Also handy would be a 2-gallon Zip-Lock bag. Besides charcoal for the cooking, you'll need some smokewood, pecan being the preferred choice in this instance. Hickory is ubiquitous, however, and will do fine if that's all you can find. On cook day, plan for a session that will take 4 to 5 hours of actual cook time, plus time for charcoal prep, and resting the meat for an hour or two.

What you do not want is a super-trimmed flat like you typically see in supermarkets, where the fat has been removed down to a bare minimum. Instead, you'll want to get what's called an "untrimmed brisket flat in cryovac". Cryovac is that vacuum sealed bag in which you see many types of meat offered, primarily at warehouse clubs. Sam's normally sells both USDA Choice flats and USDA Select whole, or "packer" briskets. The flat is simply a whole brisket with the muscle known as "the point" removed. Try to find one between 5 and 7 pounds that has a fairly even thickness to it. I try to go with one on the larger end, as there is some shrink during cooking. Don't be tempted to try to use a packer, as the extra thickness of the point will not allow the cure to penetrate evenly and sufficiently.

Before anything else, however, you're going to need a meat cure product called Morton Tender Quick. It contains sodium nitrite, sodium nitrate, salt, sugar, and propylene glycol. It's the sodium nitrate that gives cured meats that reddish pink color. Tender Quick used to be readily available locally at Super WalMarts. They appear to no longer carry it. One place I know for sure has it is Hong Kong Market on the Westbank. If you know somewhere else on the Eastbank, please let me know. Not that I mind going to HKM.

Preparing the meat

Remove the flat from the cryovac bag and inspect for freshness. Rinse under cool water and pat dry. One side will have a layer of white fat on it. Trim down thicker parts so there is an overall layer of fat about 1/8 to 1/4". 1/8" is better as it will help insure a complete cure. The bottom side will likely have a thin membrane on it. If you want to mess with removing it, fine, but it's really not necessary. To further help insure an even and complete cure, I like to score the fat down to the meat at 1/2" intervals. Doing this "with the grain" (flip the meat over to determine the direction of the grain) I find helps facilitate slicing "across-the-grain" later.

Making the cure

For an average size untrimmed brisket flat:

1/4 cup Morton Tender Quick
1/4 cup freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 T. granulated garlic
2 T. ground coriander

It's a real pain to grind up 1/4 cup of pepper with a pepper grinder, so I use a dedicated coffee grinder for spices to make it fast and easy. Also, it's better to coarsely grind your own coriander seeds, but storebought ground is fine. Mix all ingredients together well.

Pour half on one side of the meat, rub it out evenly, and repeat on the other. Use it all, even if it looks like too much.

Place the meat in a 2-gallon ZipLock, squeezing out most of the excess air before sealing. Lay the meat in the bag flat in the dish or pan. If you don't have the big bags, use the non-reactive Pyrex dish, and cover it with plastic wrap. Let cure in the refrigerator 3-4 days. Smaller ones I start on Thursdays for Sunday cooks; larger ones on Wednesdays. Flip the bag over a couple times a day for the duration of the cure.

Next, the cooking process...
"I find the pastrami to be the most sensual of all the salted cured meats. Hungry?"
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Low-N-Slow
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Re: Make Your Own Pastrami

Post by Low-N-Slow »

Cooking day

You'll note by the collection of some juice in the bag/dish that the cure has also pulled some moisture out of the meat. Don't worry about it, it's normal, and will not affect the end product's moistness. Remove the meat from the bag and rinse it thoroughly under cold running water. I mean thoroughly. Rinse it all off. The curing process has moved the flavoring into the meat, and we don't need any of the excess on the outside.

Next, fill a non-reactive container suitable for holding the meat and about a gallon of water with cold fresh water. Use the Zip Lock if you have it, and it hasn't gotten any holes in it during the cure. Soak for 30 minutes, dump out the water and repeat. Soaking leaches out some excess salt, which is a good thing. At the beginning of the second soak is a good time to light your charcoal.

The rub

3 Tablespoons freshly coarsely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon freshly coarsely ground coriander seeds

Mix together completely and rub all over the meat, more on the lean side.

Cooking

You'll want your smoker or other cooking device fired up with an attempt to maintain the cooking temp at around 250-275°. Lower than that is really unnecessary; even up to 300 wouldn't hurt. On a charcoal grill, you will want to set up for indirect cooking, with coals to one side, and a water-filled pan under the meat to catch drippings and help moderate the cooker temp. Adjust the temp by closing down the vents, but try to always leave the top vent at least 50% open. Add a couple of small chunks of your smokewood to your charcoal when you put the meat on. Or you can do like the BBQ purists, and let your smokewood burn down somewhat before you start to cook, but at the expense of using up valuable BTUs from your charcoal. If you do the latter, use a couple extra chunks of the wood.

Place the meat fat side down on the cooking grate. Some believe fat side up "bastes" the meat. This isn't really true, as melting surface fat cannot permeate muscle tissue. Brisket has enough intra-muscular fat, however, to keep the meat sufficiently moist. The curing process has also, in a manner of speaking, brined the meat, making it better able to hold on to the moisture already in the meat.

You don't need to flip the meat during the cook, but, on a charcoal grill set-up, you may want to rotate the meat every so often so that it cooks more evenly. If your flat's thickness is not quite so uniform, bear in mind the thinner part will cook faster, so compensate by positioning the thinner part away from the fire. You may have to add extra charcoal during the cook due to the amount of time this kind of cook normally takes. Cook to an average internal temperature of 165°, measured in the thickest part of the flat. Bear in mind we are not barbecuing here, so we don't need to take this type of brisket to the kind of internal temp we would normally.

Remove the meat from the cooker and wrap it up tightly in heavy duty foil. Place it in a dry ice chest (that means no ice) fat side up for 1 to 2 hours. Wrap it in old bath towels to help retain the carryover heat. This will further cook and tenderize the meat.

Storage and serving

Nothing's better than hot pastrami, so if you want to make up a sandwich, go for it. Remember to slice thinly and across the grain.

Cool the pastrami in the refrigerator, and once chilled, wrap it up in plastic wrap, like they do at the deli. When you're ready for more, unwrap and slice off as many thin slices as you require. Spread them out in a shallow dish, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave at very low power a minute at a time until sufficiently warmed.

Note

When you slice the meat, you may note a brown area in the very middle of the meat that's not red like the rest. This indicates an incomplete cure, meaning the curing agent did not penetrate all the way through the meat. The solution is extra curing time, next time. The meat is completely safe to eat, as it has been cooked to a safe temperature, so the problem is mainly a cosmetic one.

In conclusion

I know you're saying, "that sounds like a lot of trouble", but the sense of satisfaction when you bite into your own pastrami sandwich makes it all worthwhile.
"I find the pastrami to be the most sensual of all the salted cured meats. Hungry?"
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NoNoNanette
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Re: Make Your Own Pastrami

Post by NoNoNanette »

L-N-S........

Thank you, my friend! I've always been crazy about Pastrami-

Dunno if I'll actually cure it myself, but shall keep this.... Thanks. :toast:
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Low-N-Slow
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Re: Make Your Own Pastrami

Post by Low-N-Slow »

You could also do what's called "cheater pastrami". Get one of those pre-packaged corned beefs (beeves?), throw away the "flavor packet", rinse off the viscous reddish goo, and do the soaks. Then proceed as from "The rub". It's not quite the same, but acceptably close.

Most pre-packaged corned beef has been injected with the curing agent, and has a texture more like ham, the John Morrell brand being the worst. The Cook's brand, if you can find it, is much better: http://cooksham.com/product/corned-beef ... point-cuts Dorignac's here carries it, although the Cook's Store Locator does not indicate it.
"I find the pastrami to be the most sensual of all the salted cured meats. Hungry?"
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