Jerome D.
TVWBB All-Star
I've been wanting to try cooking pastrami for quite a while, so now was good a time as ever...
Started off with a corned beef brisket from a local butcher that does the curing in house (went with a point cut since I prefer my pastrami on the fattier side). The seasoning consisted of a coarse ground combination of black peppercorns, coriander seed, mustard seed, ground ginger, and brown sugar (courtesy of Steven Raichlen's new Project Smoke book).
The cook was done on the trusty 14.5" WSM for about eight hours at 250°F, using sugar maple lump charcoal as the fuel and beech wood chunks for smoke. Wrapped in foil when the internal temperature reached 170°F. Pulled out of the WSM at an internal temperature of 200°F, and allowed the pastrami to rest in a styrofoam cooler for a couple hours.
Here are various shots of the sliced pastrami. I'll be vacuum sealing it and freezing for future meals, so unfortunately I don't have any sandwich photos to share today. Overall, I had no complaints on the results, as I didn't run into any problems during the cook and the flavor & texture were pretty much what I was hoping for. Thanks for taking the time to check out the pictures!
Started off with a corned beef brisket from a local butcher that does the curing in house (went with a point cut since I prefer my pastrami on the fattier side). The seasoning consisted of a coarse ground combination of black peppercorns, coriander seed, mustard seed, ground ginger, and brown sugar (courtesy of Steven Raichlen's new Project Smoke book).
The cook was done on the trusty 14.5" WSM for about eight hours at 250°F, using sugar maple lump charcoal as the fuel and beech wood chunks for smoke. Wrapped in foil when the internal temperature reached 170°F. Pulled out of the WSM at an internal temperature of 200°F, and allowed the pastrami to rest in a styrofoam cooler for a couple hours.
Here are various shots of the sliced pastrami. I'll be vacuum sealing it and freezing for future meals, so unfortunately I don't have any sandwich photos to share today. Overall, I had no complaints on the results, as I didn't run into any problems during the cook and the flavor & texture were pretty much what I was hoping for. Thanks for taking the time to check out the pictures!
