Quick Pastrami


 
K

KenB

TVWBB Fan
Weather was good this weekend and corned beef was cheap so I smoked a quick pastrami from the homepage recipe this weekend. All went well and I followed the recipe. Meat came out great and tastes like authentic pastrami but the rub is WAY to peppery. I've eaten a lot of pastrami at Katz's and Second Avenue Deli and don't recall them being this spicy. Recipe is great but if you decide to use it cut down on the pepper by quite a bit.
 
I've done the quick pastrami a number of times and was very pleased with the result. Cole slaw, Russian dressing and a good rye bread makes it a work of art. Soaking to reduce the saltiness was key. I think I soaked it for two days, changing the water a couple of times a day worked well. When I put whole peppercorns into a spice grinder, the result was very peppery, but when I used coarse or cracked pepper from Penzy's Spices, it was considerably mellower. Use fresh ground sparingly.
 
KenB said:
Recipe is great but if you decide to use it cut down on the pepper by quite a bit.
Click to expand...
Glad you gave it a try.

I was reading an article about famous pitmaster Aaron Franklin who said about his use of pepper with brisket, "I don’t like fresh-ground pepper, by the way. It’s too strong." So a lot depends on which variety of pepper you're using, how much of it you're using, and if it's freshly ground from whole peppercorns or "fresh" or "aged" from the shaker jar. :) You'll have to adjust according to your taste and the pepper being used.

I used Kirkland Signature Coarse Ground Malabar Black Pepper when I last made this recipe.
 
I used fresh ground peppercorns. Sounds like the course ground would have been a better choice. Oh well, I just cut off the bark before making my sandwich. If. I can find a corned beef on sale I may try another one this weekend. Have two racks of spare ribs that I picked up for 1.99 a pound that I'll also be cookin this weekend. I need to find out how to post pictures.
 
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