Taking a whack at corned beef/pastrami...


 
Frank H

Frank H

TVWBB Gold Member
Ok , a few weeks ago I bought a point cut CB because it was st paddys time and corned beef was dirt cheap. The label sez I have to cook it or freeze it by June something , but since I had the day off and the WSM was already out from last nights cook I said what the hey.
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The brisket is currently soaking in a bath of cold water and ice cubes to leech out some of the salt. The WSM is full of charcoal , the chimbly is ready to light and the smoker is set to go. I am going to go with just a foiled water pan , no heat sink or water. I want to see if I can control the temp with just the vents. Worst case scenario , it turns into a HH brisket cook. More later.
 
Hope it turns out good for ya, Frank. I've been thinking about making some pastrami lately since everyone else seems to be doing it and I love the stuff. I don't have any problem controlling the temp over a dry foiled pan with the vents. It's just not set it and forget it like with water (well...nearly) or my PartyQ.
 
It doesn't look like much yet , but the beef is on the smoker...since about 11:40 AM
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The wind has been kicking up gusty this morning so I deployed my wind diversion apparatus (WDA;))
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Dave Russell said:
Hope it turns out good for ya, Frank. I've been thinking about making some pastrami lately since everyone else seems to be doing it and I love the stuff. I don't have any problem controlling the temp over a dry foiled pan with the vents. It's just not set it and forget it like with water (well...nearly) or my PartyQ.
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Yes. I remember reading your posts and also dwain pannell goes the same route. I like not having to fuss with water and not having that nasty grease water when the smoke is done. The temp seems to be holding at about 225 with the 3 bottom vents just cracked about an 1/8 of the way....thanks dave.
 
Dave Russell said:
You gonna wrap or let it ride?
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funny you should ask ! I didn't foil it , per se , but I did pop it into a foil pan , just to save some of that great brisket juice. I'm not sure if that hastened the finish , but it hit 205 pretty quickly after that. It was probing like buttah at that point so I pulled it off and let it cool down and then wrapped it good and I'm holding it for dinner. Here's a pic right after I took it off.

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here is the aforementioned juice.....
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i'll take a few pics when I slice it....can't wait.
 
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Your CB looks good Frank. I like your cart and side table for the WSM too. Did you use any wood with the charcoal?
I make mine on a kettle, indirect with some applewood, and a foil pan underneath the beef. Did you soak it in water
to leech the salt out before you put it on?
 
Bob H. said:
Your CB looks good Frank. I like your cart and side table for the WSM too. Did you use any wood with the charcoal? I did. I threw on a few hunks of oak.
I make mine on a kettle, indirect with some applewood, and a foil pan underneath the beef. Did you soak it in water
to leech the salt out before you put it on?
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I did give it a good soak. After rinsing it off real good after opening the pkg , I threw it into a couple gallons of water and ice and left it for a few hours. I hope that was enough.
 
Ok , here it is. Slicing time. This came out perfect. Very tender and nice and juicy. Good smoky corned beef flavor. Maybe I'm missing the boat on the pastrami thing because this tastes totally like corned beef , but I'm not complaining. Maybe after it's refrigerated I can slice it real thin and steam it like pastrami.
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I know this is a horrible picture but I promise that is corned beef on a hamburg roll with cheese and mustard. And a big kosher pickle cuz a guy needs a vegetable once in a while for cryin out loud !
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Looks good Frank!
Pastrami to me means a real black peppery crust, the mustard seeds from corned beef don't do it IMO.
Still I'll take a sammy or two of that.:wsm:

Tim
 
timothy said:
Looks good Frank!
Pastrami to me means a real black peppery crust, the mustard seeds from corned beef don't do it IMO.
Still I'll take a sammy or two of that.:wsm:

Tim
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yeah , I coated it really well with black pepper before I smoked it , I just figured the spice packet was there so I threw it on. It's actually pretty peppery....maybe I'm being too critical ...I just know it tastes good!
 
Looks great to me, Frank! Pastrami that tastes like corned beef? Well, heck. I like both and sometimes I can't decide between the two, anyhow. Glad it turned out good for ya!
 
Looks pretty good, I did my 1st St. Patty's day along with one that was cooked the traditional way. People loved the smoked one.
 
Dang Frank, I meant to do one this year, didn't get around to it.
Thanks for making it for me, I'll PM you my address. :p

Looks super!
 
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