# Looking to Make Pastrami



## mjohnson7usmc (Nov 5, 2020)

Hey everyone,

I love Pastrami and I have been looking to make one at home. I'm picking up a brisket flat tomorrow.  I just ordered some prague powder No. 1 and have been looking at the mixture for the brine. The more I'm reading the more confused I'm getting...should I brine? dry brine in a vacuum seal? ...do I brine for 7 days? 5 weeks?!?!.... Do I inject the brine into the meat?!?! Do I rinse the meat after the brine? Do I soak it in water for 4 hours and change the water after two hours?!

I have so many questions. I think I want to do the most simple thing for my first try, but I am not sure what that is anymore.


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## agaffer (Nov 5, 2020)

You use the brine for the first step, making corned beef. You brine it for about 5-7 days. I can't remember a good corned beef brine recipe off the top of my head but, you can find them on the internet. They all consist of pickling spices, salt, prague powder and other spices. After you make the corned beef then you use a pastrami rub of pepper and spices, especially coriander. Take a look at the pastrami recipe on Amazing ribs. It works perfectly.


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## zwiller (Nov 5, 2020)

All this stuff is debatable.  However, one thing most tend to agree on is the rate of curing is 1/4" per day.  This determines your brine/cure time unless you inject.  For a flat being around 2" or so I think injecting is not necessary.  A week should be good for either dry or wet cure.  I do a quick rinse and no soak.  Some good info here: https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/pastrami-rub-recipe.299669/page-2


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## chef jimmyj (Nov 5, 2020)

Thanks Zwiller.

What I make and my family loves. Not too salty so no need to soak, YMMV.

Killer Corned Beef Brine

1Gal Cold Water
1/2C Morton Kosher Salt (3/4C if Diamond Chrystal)
1/4C Pickling Spice
1C Diced Onion
4 Cloves Garlic, chopped.
1Ea Carrot, diced
1Ea Rib Celery, diced
1T Fresh Thyme Leaves (1tsp Dry)
2T Brown Sugar
1T Cure #1

Toast the Pickling Spices in a dry 2 Qt Pot over medium heat until fragrant.
Add 1Qt of the Water and the remaining EXCEPT the Cure #1.
Bring to a Boil and simmer 5 minutes.
Add this " Tea " to the remaining 3QT Cold Water in a food safe container and stir in the 1T Cure #1.
Measure the thickness of the meat at the thickest point.
Brine One Day for each 1/2 inch of thickness of the thickest part.
Soak completely submerged, weight down with a bag of water.
Everything may fit in a Ziplock 2 Gallon Bag if you don't have a Food Safe Container.
Place Bag in another container or roasting pan in case of leaks.

*Better 'en NY Pastrami Rub*

2T Turbinado Sugar
2T Black Peppercorns
1T Coriander Seed
1T Dill Seed
1T Dry Minced Onion
1T Dry Minced Garlic
1tsp Allspice Berries (6-8ea)
1tsp Mustard Seed
1tsp Dry Thyme Leaves
3 Bay Leaves, crumbled
1tsp Juniper Berries (6-8ea)

All Spices are Whole and were toasted in a dry pan over Medium heat until fragrant.
Let the Spices cool then Grind in a cheapo Coffee Grinder until slightly less than Coarse. The Garlic and Onion do not need to be toasted. If grinding do so only slightly as the Minced size is pretty close to perfect for Pastrami.

Lots of methods to Smoke and Cook. Since Cured, you can get extra Smokey by Cold Smoking, 40 to 100°F for how ever long you wish, 12 hours works for me, then  go in the Oven and cook to get a nice Bark and Slight Resistant Probe Tender meat. You can Smoke Straight 225 until SR probe tender. Or Smoke 225 to an IT of 160°F,  then Steam until SR probe tender. Go No Higher than 250°F or leave the Sugar out of the Rub...JJ


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## Fueling Around (Nov 5, 2020)

Great information.
Pastrami is fun to make and experiment on recipes.
I've got a smoked and corned brisket point in the freezer.  I'll serve it after a good steaming.

A side note:
If using canning salt (NEVER use iodized table salt) cut the quantity in 1/2 to 2/3 when a recipe calls for "salt" or kosher salt.  It's a density thing.  Recipes using weight are good.  50 g of kosher is 50 g of canning is 50 g of sea salt


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## tallbm (Nov 5, 2020)

mjohnson7usmc said:


> Hey everyone,
> 
> I love Pastrami and I have been looking to make one at home. I'm picking up a brisket flat tomorrow.  I just ordered some prague powder No. 1 and have been looking at the mixture for the brine. The more I'm reading the more confused I'm getting...should I brine? dry brine in a vacuum seal? ...do I brine for 7 days? 5 weeks?!?!.... Do I inject the brine into the meat?!?! Do I rinse the meat after the brine? Do I soak it in water for 4 hours and change the water after two hours?!
> 
> I have so many questions. I think I want to do the most simple thing for my first try, but I am not sure what that is anymore.



Hi there and welcome!

I did a liquid cure and brine for mine and it turned out well.

I have a post here where I made liquid cured/brined pastrami.  I break down all the seasoning measurements, including cure, for 10lbs of brisket flat.
You can do the math to work for your amount of brisket :)






						First Time Traditional Pastrami and QView!!!
					

These days there aren't many first for me in the world of meat smoking but this was one of them.  I got two 15lbs briskets for sale $1.67/lb a few weeks ago and made the decision to make pastrami out of the Flat muscles.  I have made Pastrami from ground venison meat + beef fat but never made...




					www.smokingmeatforums.com
				




I hope this info helps :)


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## SmokinAl (Nov 6, 2020)

I think if your are going to make your first pastrami, I would just buy a nice corned beef flat or point ( point preferred) and soak it in water for about 4-5 hours, changing the water a couple of times, then coat with a pastrami rub, I just use CBP, but 

 chef jimmyj
  has a great rub. I smoke mine until a IT of 150, then SV it at 155 for 24 hours. But you can use smoke it to an IT of 205 or until it’s probe tender. Good luck!
Al


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## Inscrutable (Nov 6, 2020)

When I couldn’t get a good deal on brisket, I’ve also used chuck roast and top round (aka London broil) ... fairly decent, still tastes good but the top round is too lean for classic pastrami (though probably a tad healthier too).


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## 1MoreFord (Nov 6, 2020)

SmokinAl said:


> I think if your are going to make your first pastrami, I would just buy a nice corned beef flat or point ( point preferred) and soak it in water for about 4-5 hours, changing the water a couple of times, then coat with a pastrami rub, I just use CBP, but
> 
> chef jimmyj
> has a great rub. I smoke mine until a IT of 150, then SV it at 155 for 24 hours. But you can use smoke it to an IT of 205 or until it’s probe tender. Good luck!
> Al



Another option would be to steam it to finish with a pressure cooker.


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## LanceR (Nov 7, 2020)

It's always interesting how so many  folks can use so many routes to get to the same place.

I inject cure into the brisket, AKA "spray pumping", with an injection syringe and then submerge it in brine.  I spray pump as I feel it makes for more consistent brining and usually just use a water, salt, cure mixture.  If  you weight the meat with a bag of liquid to keep it submerged, the liquid in the bag should be the same concentration of cure as the rest of the the liquid so that if the bag leaks it doesn't dilute the brine to an unsafe level.

If you inject brine you'll only need 3 days or so for the full cure.

You can find some pretty big zipper lock bags and depending on how big your hunk of critter is you might fit it into a 2 or 2-1/2 gallon zipper lock bag from the grocery store which makes keeping it submerged easy.

After brining, I rinse the brisket well and liberally coat it with a mix of minced garlic, coarsely cracked black pepper, coriander seed and black and brown mustard seed.  Everything but the garlic is toasted.  If the brisket had a too long swim and I didn't get back to it as soon as planned I give it a soak for a few hours in a couple of changes of cold water and let it sit one more day with no water or brine for things to equalize before moving on.

For something the size of a brisket I take the easy way out when it comes to minced garlic and use the jars of minced garlic from the grocery store. I sometimes add some of the juice from the minced garlic to the brine but go easy on that the first time you try that; it's potent.

After a 2-3 day rest in the fridge  for the flavors to penetrate and meld it goes into the smoker for a few hours of light smoke at 120* F or so and a gradual ramping up of the temperature to 185*F over 6-8 hours until the internal temp is at 165*F.  I usually eat around a half pound as soon as it is out and a little bit cooled then let it cool to room temperature and refrigerate it to make slicing easier and makes it easier to slice really thin which is a great way to make the flavor pop.






						Pastrami!!  With Q-Vue!!
					

Without going into too much detail I trimmed and cured a 16.5 lb Angus brisket in brine for pastrami.  After a rinse and few hours soak in cold water it got a rub of cracked pepper, toasted and cracked mustard and coriander seed and granulated garlic.  Then it got a few days rest for the rub to...




					www.smokingmeatforums.com
				




Best regards to all,


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## LanceR (Nov 7, 2020)

mjohnson, where are you?


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## mjohnson7usmc (Nov 10, 2020)

LanceR said:


> mjohnson, where are you?


Rosedale, MD


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## LanceR (Nov 10, 2020)

Ahh, I'm a little north of Winston-Salem, NC so we're 6+ hours apart.  If we were closer and we could do it safely I'd have offered to grab a couple of briskets from the local Restaurant Depot and walk you through what I do.

Still, it's pretty straightforward and I'm sure that you'll make great pastrami.

Give it a shot and post lots of pictures.  We like pictures.


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## kawboy (Nov 10, 2020)

Inscrutable said:


> When I couldn’t get a good deal on brisket, I’ve also used chuck roast and top round (aka London broil) ... fairly decent, still tastes good but the top round is too lean for classic pastrami (though probably a tad healthier too).


I'll second the use of chuck roast. I use a Tender-quick  dry rub method, but as said before, there are many ways to it.


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