Pastrami Advice

I have a pork butt that I have already brined and am getting ready to smoke it. I was thinking of making a Pork Pastrami with it. Now here is the question. When I smoke it should I pull it at somewhere around 150 degrees and then steam it or should I do it like pulled pork and pull it at 195 degrees. I don't know if anyone has done this but I have heard of turkey pastrami and I was just thinking why not pork butt. I love pork so why not pork pastrami. I am sure you guys will figure it out. Let me know

Thanks

Bill,

When you say you brined it do you mean you cured it in a brine or you brined it in a normal weak pork brine?

This will make a significant difference as to the final product you produce. If the latter, you're not going to get the pink color and piquant flavor you get from a cured beef or turkey pastrami.

If you did indeed cure it it will be hammy, almost bacon-like. There's a dry cure on the market for butts called "Buckboard Bacon" which I have used in the past to make a type of bacon/ham hybrid. You might be able to get some pastrami flavors out of it with coriander garlic and black pepper, anyway.

I think generally cuts for pastrami are supposed to be leaner than a pork butt. That doesn't mean you couldn't use a pork butt, but it will be significantly fattier and will take much longer to cure than normal pastrami cuts.

All that said, if you want to charge ahead, you should take it to 160 maximum and slice it very thin for service. No harm in experimenting. Don't forget to photograph it... good luck!

Thanks Dave I did a wet bacon type brine water,salt, sugar, pink salt, pickling spices and cured it for 7 days. I figured as cheap as pork butt is I would experiment and give it a try. I will post pics and let you know how it went. Either it will be a disaster or I might be on to something here.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Thanks Dave I did a wet bacon type brine water,salt, sugar, pink salt, pickling spices and cured it for 7 days. I figured as cheap as pork butt is I would experiment and give it a try. I will post pics and let you know how it went. Either it will be a disaster or I might be on to something here. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

uhhh... I think you made ham.

cook it to a reasonable internal temp like the 150* you mention and slice thin and serve. Steam only to reheat.

For added fun, rub it down with a saltless mixture of spices and glaze it the last 45 min or so.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by j biesinger:

uhhh... I think you made ham. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I may have made ham but it tastes like Pastrami. Here is the post that I did the other day. Here