Pastrami

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Butterbean
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Re: Pastrami

Post by Butterbean » Fri May 22, 2020 21:23

Butterbean wrote:
Fri May 22, 2020 21:20
Started out making some corned beef using an EQ dry cure for 20 days then sous vide'd the brisket for 2.5 days then since I had the smoker going I thought I'd go ahead and make use of the smoke so I put pastrami spices on the corned beef and hot smoked it for a little less than an hour just to bake the pastrami spices on the brisket and to give it some hickory smoke flavor.

End result was incredible. My daughter gave it a 10 and she can be demanding when it comes to food.

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Served with homemade hard cider and pickles it was pretty good stuff.
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Bob K
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Re: Pastrami

Post by Bob K » Sat May 23, 2020 11:20

That looks good! And that Cider has a nice head, looks like quality stuff all around!
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Butterbean
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Re: Pastrami

Post by Butterbean » Sat May 23, 2020 12:07

Thanks Bob it turned out really good and I really like the process because it gives consistent results. I got inspired with the cider from a trip to Scotland a couple years ago. Not something I've ever drank much but the trip got me hooked and I've been making it ever since. My favorite is Perry made from the sand pears that grow here. Most are overlooked and I can get all I want because few people eat them.
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Re: Pastrami

Post by wkw » Sat May 23, 2020 12:09

Is your pastrami cure posted here?
Thanks
Ken
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Re: Pastrami

Post by Butterbean » Sun May 24, 2020 02:38

wkw wrote:
Sat May 23, 2020 12:09
Is your pastrami cure posted here?
Thanks
Ken
I may have posted something a while back about making corned beef but I can't remember and I stink at search but if you are interested in trying this I'll give you the details. It may not be the "right" way of making it but it works for me.

When I started I was going to make corned beef using the dry equilibrium cure method.

With this, I chose to use 2.5% salt plus 0.25% cure 1 and on a whim I added some sodium erythorbate to insure good color.

To this I added 1.75% spice mix.

To make the spice mix in a frying pan I toasted
3 tablespoons black peppercorns
1 tablespoons brown mustard seeds
2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds

to. bring out the fragrance and the oils. I then added this to

1 tablespoon smoked hot red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons allspice berries
1 tablespoon whole mace
2 broken cinnamon sticks
6 fresh bay leaves, microwaved for 10 seconds to release fragrance
2 tablespoons whole cloves
1 tablespoon ground ginger

I then combined all this and ran it through a spice grinder to form a fine powder.

Mixing 1.75% of this spice powder to 2.5% salt and 0.25% Cure 1 I rubbed the brisket down well with it and then vacuum sealed the bag and set it in the fridge for no less than 14 days. I did 20 because I can't stand seeing areas of uncured meat in the center of my stuff and patience will prevent this from happening.

Once this was done I placed the bag in a sous vide tank for 2.5 days I was going to do do 3 full days but I was fixing to hot smoke some chicken that day and I decided I'd make pastrami.

So with the change, I just removed the brisket from sous vide and patted it dry then coated it well with the normal pastrami spice mix black pepper and coriander then placed it in the smoker with the chickens and hot smoked it in a heavy smoke between 220-300F (mostly on the cooler end) for about 45 minutes to an hour until the exterior spice coating looked like it had set well and I felt it had picked up some smoke flavor,.

A lot of little things over time but nothing really that hard and in the end it was really worth the time.
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Re: Pastrami

Post by wkw » Mon May 25, 2020 15:43

Fantastic! Many thanks!!!!!
What temperature did you sous vide at?

Thanks again!

Ken
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Re: Pastrami

Post by Butterbean » Tue May 26, 2020 14:26

wkw wrote:
Mon May 25, 2020 15:43
Fantastic! Many thanks!!!!!
What temperature did you sous vide at?

Thanks again!

Ken
140F. This seems the best for this product since it is not hot enough to render the fat so your slices are tender and juicy yet still have a lot of structure.
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Re: Pastrami

Post by wkw » Wed May 27, 2020 12:32

Thanks
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Re: Pastrami

Post by Scogar » Tue Jun 16, 2020 13:14

Butterbean, that looks awesome. I typically make corned beef every year and have converted a lot to pastrami over the years. Ivemostly used Ruhlman's recipe but need to convert to equilibrium. I do tongue this way as well
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