first pastrami

[david brociner]

Did my first pastrami last week. Couldn't find a brisket flat so I bought a whole brisket at RD. The selection was limited and I ended up with a 14 lb. one. Decided to separate the flat from the point but cured both pieces. Meat stayed in the cure for 3.5 days. Smoked Sunday for around 5.5 hours and had to keep open the vents to keep the temp up around 250. I'm thinking this was due to having so much meat in the cooker.

Was really pleased with the results. The pictures are from the point which was enough to feed a dozen people a sandwich each. Didn't open the flat till the next day. One thing I noticed was that at the thickest part of the point the cure didn't reach the center. I'm not sure if this was because of the amount of fat inside the meat or because of the lack of a uniform shape called for more time in the cure. The flat was perfect all the way through.

Didn't have the patience to soak the meat for an hour after curing. I simply put the meat in the sink and covered it with water for about 5 minutes and hosed it down with the sprayer. Then I reapplied the rub and it was on to the WSM. I was very pleased with the results.

Re-heated a small portion in my stovetop steamer the next day to give it that deli feeling. Thanks for this recipe and method, this is a real winner.

 

[david brociner]

sorry to be so bad with the computer, there must be a way to show the pictures better. I know around here that if you don't have a picture then it didn't really happen so I wanted to provide you with the proof. Now if someone could give me some computer help, I'd be grateful.

 

[John Solak]

Your pastrami looks perfect!!!!t. I'm a big pastrami fan. I have made pastrami with a store bought corned beef but want to try it using a brisket flat like you did.

 

[S Mitchell]

I'm glad that someone else feels the pressure of pics.

It aint easy, that's for sure! The food looks very tasty, so it looks like you have the hard part taken care of! The folks around here sure are helpful when it comes to problems with food or computers. Heck, I just read somewhere that Lampe drank beer out of his keyboard. If he can do that, surely he can help with posting pics!

 

[JimK]

That looks magnificent. Well done.

Is that a Calphalon knife in the first pic? Looks a lot like mine.

 

[david brociner]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by JimK:
That looks magnificent. Well done.

Is that a Calphalon knife in the first pic? Looks a lot like mine.

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Actually, it's a Wusthof classic chef's knife.

 

[Ron... L.]

Very nice.

Pastrami is one of my favorite WSM projects.

Ron