Pastrami questions


 
R

Rick Kramer

TVWBB All-Star
My co-worker and good friend was looking for a smoked pastrami recipe to try out so I sent him here. He joined and wound up using Chris's recipe and like most of the recipes on this site it turned out great! So he wants to do it again but there's been a little snag in the process. Thing is he's a little shy and a bit unsure about posting so I told him I'd do this one post for him. After that, he's on his own.
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He was planning on smoking the flats on Friday and started curing them last night. Now he found out he may be working Friday and won't be able to get to cook them until Sat or Sun. His question is: How will the extra cure time affect his meat? Is there anything he needs to do to assure he still gets a good finished product? Thanks for any tips or suggestions!

Rick
 
Saturday should be no problem. I regularly cure the flats between 3 and 4 days. From what I understand, even waiting until Sunday should be OK. But, when faced with a very similar situation, I rinsed the flats one day, and cooked the next. So you friend could rinse on Saturday, and cook on Sunday.
 
You can increase the cure time by a day or two and it shouldn't hurt--if anything it may improve the flavor. It is possible that they will get salty. The way to test is after rinsing and soaking for an hour, cut off a sliver and fry it up with a little oil just to check for salt content. If it is too salty, continue with the soak process for another hour or longer depending on just how salty it is.

Although the recipe does not call for time to air dry, you will develop a nice pellicle if you air dry in the frig for 12-24 hours, so you have some time built in there as well. You would do this after rinsing and soaking. The pellicle is a tacky surface to which smoke adheres to very nicely. Typically when you are curing and smoking meat, it is good to air dry in the frig for several hours or set in front of a fan at high speed for 30-60 minutes or so.
 
I have went over by a day on the cure before without any difference results. I have had a couple of flats that the normal cure didn't penetrate to the center. The pastrami had a brown rectangle in the center.

I wouldn't worry about it. If you are nervous rinse it Saturday. I would definately do the extra day to ensure the cure has penetrated to the center.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Although the recipe does not call for time to air dry, you will develop a nice pellicle if you air dry in the frig for 12-24 hours </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I read about that in the salmon recipe but didn't realize that pertained to meat as well. I am going to have to try that and see if there is any noticeable difference in taste.
 
I assume you are curing the meat with Tender Quick or some other curing salts with nitrates. I have seen recipes that brined pastrami for a couple of WEEKS!!! I think you'll be fine with just a couple extra days.
 
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