Pastrami question


 
R

RobK

TVWBB Member
Looking at a recipe that says brine for 3 weeks, smoke
And then boil. Has anyone done this before??
 
Originally posted by RobK:
Looking at a recipe that says brine for 3 weeks, smoke
And then boil. Has anyone done this before??
Click to expand...

I'm looking at one that says brine for 6 days then cold smoke. I've never done it before. I'll let you know how it turns out when i get around to it. I'm not sure why you'd need to brine your meat that long and then boil it. Would the recipe call for boiling it to remove excess salt? I would think if the correct amount of salt with nitrite and dextrose powder was used in the brining step then this extra step wouldn't be necessary.
 
I noticed on one commercial website,they talked about both brine strength and time based on how long the meat is expected to be stored. So perhaps the difference in time is aimed at a finished product that has a substantially longer shelf life?
 
Boil? You're kidding, right? Why would one want to boil any meat?

3 weeks is a very long time for brisket. It is unnecessary.

Extending the brine time will not make the shelf life longer.
 
I have made about a dozen pastramis, and my only reaction is "***?"

As pointed out, I suppose you COULD brine for 3 weeks with a lower salt concentration, but why? I brine briskets of between 13-20 pounds from between 5-7 days.

Also, BOIL? Pretty harsh treatment. After brining, I will give my brisket a half day soak in fresh water to pull out some of the saltiness. Then it's a relatively low heat smoke. Before serving, I STEAM (raised on rack in roasting pan, foiled tightly, in oven) for about 2-3 hours until temp hits 185-190. Brisket isn't fall apart tender at that point, but you don't WANT a pastrami to be fall apart tender.
 
Thanks folks, so it is approaching 2 full weeks,can't smoke till Sunday. So should I remove from brine & soak? Can it wait?

Thanks
 
DSnowden said:
I like the Pastrami - Dry Cure recipe on The Virtual Weber Bullet site. Leave it on the cure for 6 days though.
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Agreed - and the variations Kevin Kruger posted of it are great, too. I'd say 3 days is pretty close, but I had a stripe of grey in the center of my last batch. At least 4 or 5 days, 6 should be plenty.
 
If one does a decent job of curing, would the finished product last longer in the fridge than normal smoked meats ? I found a few references to letting the pastrami age for at least three weeks in the fridge between smoking and steaming, which suggests "yes".

I should probably mention that I'm not looking for Hostess Twinkie shelf life here -- but if an unopened, unsliced hunk could be safely kept for a week between smoking and steaming that would avoid an awful lot of freezing and thawing.

Curing obviously helps the meat last longer, but I don't know if that extra time is all used up by the curing process itself ;)
 
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Yeah, I don't worry about my cured and smoked pork chops for at least 2 weeks in the ref. I wouldn't worry about a cured piece of meat in the ref for a week before smoking providing it was well cured. Time before last I cured 2 inch thick chops and did not inject them. The barest 1/4 inch of the center of the meat did not get the cure. Not a problem because I smoked and ate them within a day or so. But if you plan to store them longer, you want to be sure that whatever you cure is completely done.
 
Thanks. Another adventure begins ;)

I cut a 6-pound eye of round in half at the balance point, maybe an 8" long thinner part and 6" long thicker part, then butterflied the thicker part, ending up with two 3-pound pieces between 2" and 3" thick. Got about 2/3 of the silverskin off (I wonder if that stuff stops bullets ?), poked holes in the rest, then applied the usual cure/sugar/pepper/coriander/garlic dry rub and put each piece in a 1 gallon ziploc bag (the biggest I could find).

Pink salt and Tenderquick both seem to disappear from the store shelves this time of year (even Bass Pro was out of stock) so I ended up using the cure from a jerky kit (1 bag cure and 1 bag of seasoning). The cure seemed like typical mix of salt/sugar + sodium nitrite at 0.84%, so the directions (2/3 Tbsp per pound of meat) seemed in line with other recipes. Ended up with 4T of cure, 4T ground black pepper, 4T brown sugar, 2T ground coriander, 2T garlic powder.

Only question is whether the extra salt in the seasoning mix, which was supposed to be used at the same time as the cure, would have contributed to penetration rate (the instructions said the combination would penetrate at ~1/4" per day, which seems typical, but I only used the cure then added sugar & spices) The cure was mostly salt already, so hopefully this will be OK.

Anyways, will start a new thread when I have pics to post.
 
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What wood do you plan to smoke the pastrami with? I will be hunting some brisket here to make pastrami with and I normally smoke with hickory. But when I mentioned this to a Jewish friend, he was not very enthusiastic about hickory. I have a bit of apple and cherry sherds I could use. Would those be better choices for a more "traditional" pastrami?
 
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I hadn't thought that far ahead... but my initial impression is that apple or cherry would be better. I've mostly used apple so far but was going to try either cherry or hickory instead. I don't know what is traditional but will try to find out and post back. Good question !

EDIT -- I forgot to stock up on smoking wood so ended up smoking with a couple of small bits left over on the ground after stacking 2 cords of firewood. Not sure what kind of wood they were, hopefully something non-toxic.

Thought I was getting a lot of smoke from a couple of scraps of wood but I think it was actually steam from the water bowl ;)
 
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Quick question.
I picked up a whole packer Brisket to make pastrami. I understand I should seperate the point from the flat and just use the flat for the pastrami. Any ideas on what I can use the point for? I'm thinking I will just freeze it and save it until next time I am in the mood to make sausage. Any other ideas?
 
Can you make pastrami from the point? I am still looking for brisket here and may not have a choice between a packer, a flat, or a point. I'll have to take whatever I find. I'll go with a flat or a packer if I have a choice, but I'll take a point and try it if that is all I can get. But if a point really isn't suitable for pastrami, I'm sure it will be fine for grinding into burger.
 
Here's a related question: It appears that most pastramis here are smoked to 160F, sliced and served. And that seems to give people a (much better) approximation of what you get at a deli counter. Very tasty. However, my sights are set much higher:

Katz' Deli. 1/4" thick, hand sliced, fork-tender, salt-cured beefiness. Anyone who has had this knows that it's like comparing deli turkey to Thanksgiving dinner. No comparison. Having made more than a few briskets, I know that 160F is not nearly high enough to render the fat and collagen enough to be tender. So how would I do it?

Right now I'm thinking of smoking to 160F, followed by steaming to 180-190F.

Thoughts?
 
Depends a lot on the quality of the brisket, but yes, in general, if slicing thin, 165 or so is fine, when slicing thicker, up the temp.
I like my pastrami very well marbled and sliced thin.

~Martin
 
My reading recently has included pastrami. What I've read are two approaches after smoking. One is steaming such as with a stock pot of water and basket (above the water). A second one is doing the same but with a pressure cooker. Neither submerge the pastrami while "finishing" but both want a steamed and tender result. I've not tried either but look forward to it.

Thanks Martin, I'll grab whatever brisket I can get my hands on then and give the 'strami treatment! :)
 
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