Dry Cured Pastrami


 
D

Dan N.

TVWBB Pro
Over on the "Conversation" section there is a descussion on Charcuterie dry cured recipes. Several months ago I did a dry cured pastrami based upon experiences recorded on the Charcuterie forum (Here)

This is what I did (except the latter cooling and weighting bit). But did try the steaming after it was done.

SUMMARY DRY CURING RECIPE
Recipe for Dry Curing Brisket/Plate into Pastrami.

With a mortar and pestle (or a coffee grinder) grind the following to a course texture:

1. 3lbs course kosher salt
2. 2lbs peppercorns
3. ½lbs sugar
4. ½lbs coriander seeds
5. 3 Tbs whole cloves
6. 10 whole bay laurel leaves
7. 2 Tbs saltpeter

Rub a 7lbs plate (flat) with raw garlic then coat with salt mixture. Let sit, covered, in the cooler for three days. (I used a glass rectangular baking pan). Turn it over every 12 hours. Recoat turned over top with mixture.

Rinse the meat under cold running water for 5 minutes and remove all the surface salt mixture. Let it soak in fresh water (change the water every half hour) for 3 hours.

Coat the meat with two parts cracked black peppercorns and one part cracked coriander seeds. Press the mixture into the meat. Weight it down and place in the cooler for eight hours.

Smoke (cherrywood) over medium-low heat for eight hours or until the internal temperature reaches 165f. Immediately weight the meat down and let cool for 24hours in the cooler.

Steam the meat for three hours. Immediately weight the meat and let it cool for 24 hours in the cooler.

Re-heat the meat in the steamer for half an hour. Slice and serve.

Now the dry cure quantities were way too much so I just proportionally cut back. I use this website to assist in adjusting quantities:

Conversion Calculator

This was really easy and truly a great pastrami.

Dan
 
Dan, That sounds interesting. You said you scaled back the cure but to what quantity for the 7 lb flat?
 
Wish I could tell you exactly how much I scaled back, but made enough of the mixture to cover both sides of the meat a 1/4" or so. I think it was somewhere between a third and a half is what I made.
 
Wish I could tell you. I only did it to warm up a piece for making sandwiches. Here is a partial quote from the above link (you really need to read the info from there):

Incredible tutorial. If you could please explain the importance, and procedure for \"weighting down\" the pastrami after smoking.
As a second note, my senses tell me, that after steaming, some if not most of the smoke flavor would be negated.
Do you find this to be true?

woodburner

I have never even thought about why I weigh down food after I have cured/smoked it. I just always have. Smoked salmon, gravalax, cured duck are all finished by applying weight to them for 24 hours...

I am going to make an educated guess at the reason for this technique. I imagine it is to press down any swelling, at the molecular level, of the cells in the protein. A lot of osmosis and reverse osmosis occurs when you are curing a protein and this leads to excess, unwanted moisture diluting the final product.

And you are right, the smoke flavour is reduced after steaming, but the meat was smoked for eight hours! The flavour remaining was in the right balance for the pastrami.
The weight would also cause friction, again at the molecular level that would help in the 'cooking' (curing) of the meat.

I have tried to slice a piece of gravalax that was improperly cured and it was slightly mushy and soggy. I also tried my first pastrami this year right out of the steamer and it was full of water. After it sat overnight (under weight) it was firm and moist. With the excess water removed the fat content was the primary moisture in the meat and it produced a very appealing textural experience in the mouth.


Perhaps Kevin can chime in here with an explanation?
 
Sure.

You are correct about the weighting removing excess moisture.

Though most delis don't weight after steaming, many steam (and I do too) as a 165 finish really isn't all that tender for brisket. Steaming is used to finish cooking by further rendering and it does so gently, steam not being very hot in itself. Steaming gives pastrami its characteristic moist/tender-from-edge-to-center feel, something that cooking in total dry heat conditions doesn't often accomplish.
 
Originally posted by K Kruger:
Steaming gives pastrami its characteristic moist/tender-from-edge-to-center feel, something that cooking in total dry heat conditions doesn't often accomplish.
Click to expand...

I'm going to be persistent about this because I'm getting ready to smoke a dry-cured pastrami using Chris' recipe from the Cooking Topics page.

While I'm sure it will come out fine, would you say that having a full water pan in the WSM would help negate the "total dry heat conditions" that you mention above?

Do you think that steaming is a necessary step or merely an enhancer?

And finally, where the heck am I gonna get a steamer big enough to steam a 6 lb brisket flat?
 
While I'm sure it will come out fine, would you say that having a full water pan in the WSM would help negate the "total dry heat conditions" that you mention above?
Click to expand...
No.

Do you think that steaming is a necessary step or merely an enhancer?
Click to expand...
To me it's necessary. But many here (and elsewhere) are happy with the recipe as written.

And finally, where the heck am I gonna get a steamer big enough to steam a 6 lb brisket flat?
Click to expand...
A 6-pound flat isn't very big, especiaaly after smoking. You can put it on a rack in a small roasting pan, water under the rack, and steam. covered, over one burner--or use a larger pan set-up and steam over two. Alternatively, you can put it in a colander over a pot of simmering water, covering the whole shebang with foil.
 
I'm wondering if steaming is perhaps what I'm missing with my Montreal Smoked meat? I've steamed to reheat and mentioned I saw them being held in steamers at authentic places for what appeared many hours ... but maybe it's more than reheating and more than holding ... they finish cooking in steam??

The end product has a fairly deep red color where mine are pink. The fat is soft, tender and delicious ... a real treat!

I was thinking some of the color difference had to do with ingrediants (they say marinated in wine for example). Would steaming make pink dry cured beef darker or redder?

My Dry Cured:

6.jpg



Schwartz's:

photo2.jpg
 
I knew Kevin would respond. Thanks. Ya, that's what I used a roasting pan with a rack over the water. I found one at my Ace that had collapsable handles and sets up fairly high over the water. It was in with the grilling stuff. Glad this post came up because I have two frozen packages that need to be eaten next week that I forgot about.
 
Hi,

I've made lots of pastrami both steamed and un-steamed. The difference is that when steamed the meat is far more tender and can be sliced thick. Delis usually call this "Hand Cut". Without steaming the pastrami MUST be cut as thin as possible to be tender enough to chew.

Al
 
Nice work Dan, you earn the slow food medal for this month.

I've been so fixated on dry curing and hanging meat that I overlooked that recipe.

As far a Ruhlman/Polcyn book goes, people can have their criticisms of it, but it truly is awesome at the variety and rarity of the recipes it contains. Since I received the book, I've read/bought anything I could find on the topic and I haven't come across anything else with as much diversity or interest (typically, charcuterie books list lots of variations on sausages, pates, and terrines). Not to mention a book that will touch hot smoking bacon.

Thanks for the heads up (and the leg work), I'm going to add this to my extremely long list of things to do.
 
My pastrami came out great.

Kudos to Chris for the great recipe, and thanks again Kevin for the tip on steaming it - it's very moist and tender.
 
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