1st Pastrami Tips?

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dick bullard

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Jun 22, 2007
226
10
Lombard, Il.
Want to try and make my 1st pastrami and was wandering if it is pretty straight forward or if there are any tips you might be able to give me!

I plan on starting with a corned beef brisket and possibly using DJ's Smoking Pit rub recipe.

RICK
 
I second the Dude Abides reference. Guided me through mine without difficulty or surprise.

Thanks Dude Abides.
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Thanks guys. I'm humbled.

Here's a link to a better one that I did because I didn't forget about the meat overnight during the soaking process.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=81353

The soaking process is my best advice. Most of these prepackaged Corned Beef Briskets (CBB) are just loaded with sodium. Often CBBs are cooked slowly on the stove top in water (al a my mom's recipie for Corned Beef and Cabbage) this leaches out much of the salt content. With smoking you're not going to get that benefit. So while I won't go as far as to say that you MUST soak it, I'd say it's a good idea.

What does the label say the sodium content is? Most I've seen are over 1,000mg per serving. That's a lot of salt. Probably enough to bury most of the taste of the smoke and/or your rub. So I usually give it a minimum of a 6 hour soak and do a couple of water changes duing this time. And of course for safety reasons...
1) Use a food grade container
2) Use ice cold (below 35*F) water
3) Keep it refridgerated the entire time

From here, you can do a fry pan test. Just slice off a small piece and fry it on the stove top. Here's where you'll need to decide if you've soaked long enough, or if you need to soak longer.

Then rub it with whatever you choose. You can use the DJ's or search the internet and look for more traditional pastrami rubs. Usually they're pretty heavy on the cracked black pepper and garlic. But I don't go that route. Once you've smoked a CBB it is now pastrami.

Other ramdom thoughts...
-I recommend trimming the fat off prior to smoking
-Foil at 165* add a little liquid of your choice and continue to cook to 190*
-Let rest in a towel lined cooler for an hour or so
-Refriderate overnight and slice the next day
-Many steam (traditional) to reheat, but often I just nuke it in the vacubag on the defrost setting til heated through.

Good luck with this one! If you have any questions I'll do my best to help. You can PM me if you want. Don't forget the qview!!!!
 
Found the tutoral....daaa!!! didn't back up enough pages. Thanks guys for both links will check them out better tonight.

RICK
 
Thank you DUDE....By the way what do you mean by I can PM you if I need more help??? New to all this lingo, ya know!!!

Thanks.....RICK
 
I used The Dude's method and a rub I found on the internet and it was awesome. One thing, as The Dude mentioned, the store bought ones are loaded with sodium. I would suggest staying away from rubs that want you to put salt back on the pastrami.
 
The Dude (jay) will set you on the right path for the pastrami. He has led a many of us down the road to great pastrami's
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If only I had the patience or skills to pull off what Rivet and Fire It Up have done. Taking it right from the uncorned, full packer brisket to the final pastrami is surely a more meaningful sandwich in the end. But those prepacked babies are sure simple and will satisfy those cravings.
 
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