Pastrami

[Nini8r]

Hey guys,
Got a few days off thought I'd have a go at pastrami. Got a topside roast from wollies got it in brine now, have to wait a few days So to get my smokering fix now I grabbed sum belly rashers and ribs. Trying sumthing diffrent with the rashers dipping them in soy sauce and then letting them dry for a few hours then smoking. Gotta wait for my ribs to thaw as the only ones i can get in Mt Isa are frozen. Will post sum pics later on.

Neil

[skuzy]

looking forward to reading more on this.. pastrami is my next cook up... but im going to short cut the brining process and just buy a piece of corned beef and go from there

[peteru]

I had a go at pastrami over the last few weeks and got to finally taste it today. Cured in brown sugar, salt, ground coriander, paprika and pepper for about 16 days, the soaked in water (changed every 8 or so hours) for another 3 days to get as much salt out as possible.

Covered in cracked black pepper, ground coriander, sweet paprika, brown sugar and just enough crushed garlic to make the crust a bit sticky. Smoked for 4 hours at 96C, then about 45 minutes at 160C, until internal temp got to 77C. Wrapped in foil and towels, rested for about 3 hours, then into the fridge overnight.

Tasted it this morning. Crust was very moist, but still stuck well enough to the meat. Makes sense, given the rest. Way too salty for my liking (and I like things salty), so I decided to experiment. I put the pastrami in a sauce pan, covered it in cold water, brought to the boil then let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Wonderful aroma filled the house. I then pulled the pastrami out and let it dry off for a few minutes, then wrapped it in foil and back in the fridge for another few hours. Tasted it this afternoon. It's delicious and less salty, but still beer inducing! Kind of like a beef prosciutto, but completely lean.

Any tips for making it less salty next time? Obviously using less salt when curing would help, but I'm allergic to nitrates and nitrites, so can't use them as curing agents and I don't want to take any health risks by skimping on the salt when I have raw meat sitting in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.

[urbangriller]

I do the same thing with supermarket Corned Beef, but I boil a pot of water with spices, pepper etc, wait till its almost cool then drop in the Corned Beef and let it sit there overnight...this seems to leech a bit of the salt out and infuse the spices a bit.

You can also get your butcher to do a low-salt pump for you.

Chris

[Nini8r]

Well I pulled the topside roast out of the brine, it ended up in there for nearly 2 weeks. Looked like the brine had done a good job the roast it had reduced a fair amount and the nitrates had given the meat that pinkish apperance. I soaked it over night in fresh water then let it rest for about an hour then I applied the ground corriander and course grained pepper. Due to the wind I had trouble with the UDS eventually got it smoking and put the pastrami in with my remote temp probe set at 74C but i feel asleep, woke up at 1230 had been in there for roughly 4hrs LOL but still hadnt reached the 74c was sitting on 70C so I pulled it and straight into the fridge. Sliced it up this morning really wish I had that slicer today. Posted pic from along the way let me know what you think. Tastes good but might try rubbing off excess coating before I slice next time.

Just out of brine.









With the rub.







After smoking sliced up









Not bad if I dont say so myself.

[Livewire]

Good smoke penentration

My pastrami comes out a lot darker maybe because dry cure method

http://www.aussiebbq.info/forum/viewtop ... 921#p40166



Glenn

[ant]

Any tips for making it less salty next time? Obviously using less salt when curing would help, but I'm allergic to nitrates and nitrites, so can't use them as curing agents and I don't want to take any health risks by skimping on the salt when I have raw meat sitting in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.

Pastrami is the only charcuterie I've failed at so far. Mine came out too hard, way too salty and not much fun too. I also don't use nitrites, mainly because my mother is allergic to them but also, bugger them.

I always read the pastrami topics in the hope of finding a good recipe... if there's nitrites I just leave them out, usually you use the same amount of salt in the cure, with nitrites added.

What was the quantities for your cure, how big was the meat, and how long did it cure for? When I do a bacon belly (little one) a short week is sufficient, and then I do some soaking to get the worst of the salt out, but if the cure's too salty, the meat stays salty too. With a ham, you can fix it when you cook the ham (I boil it), but it sounds like that might not have been effective enough with the pastrami? Or it might have been just too salty to start with.

[peteru]

What was the quantities for your cure

1/2 cup of cooking salt and 1 cup of brown sugar made the bulk of it, the spices accounted for about 1/4-1/2 cup all up.

how big was the meat

Lean beef chunk, about 15cm x 8cm x 5cm. I didn't weigh it.

and how long did it cure for?

I used about 2/3 of the cure at the start and turned daily. I discarded the soaked cure after 3 or 4 days, rinsed the meat and repacked in the remaining 1/3 of the cure for the next 12 days, turning once every day or two. Then in the last 3 days, just fresh water every 8 hours or so. I was hoping that it would draw more of the salt out, but obviously not.

When I do a bacon belly (little one) a short week is sufficient, and then I do some soaking to get the worst of the salt out, but if the cure's too salty, the meat stays salty too. With a ham, you can fix it when you cook the ham (I boil it), but it sounds like that might not have been effective enough with the pastrami? Or it might have been just too salty to start with.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I used too much salt. I probably didn't need to cure it all that long either, it turned out fairly dry and firm. Mind you, once I let it age in the fridge for another week, it ended up being softer and moister. It can't have been all that bad, since it's gone now

Had I done this with pork, I would have ended up with a nice piece of speck and the saltiness would have been just right.

[skuzy]

Quickquestion.. even with the supermarket cornedbeef.. i would still need to boil this to leech the salts out? was thinking of simply covering it with rub then smoking for xx hours..

[urbangriller]

Quickquestion.. even with the supermarket cornedbeef.. i would still need to boil this to leech the salts out? was thinking of simply covering it with rub then smoking for xx hours..

I don't boil them, just rinse in cold water and you are good to go!

Chris

[skuzy]

been a whie... and yes.. this is still on my to do list!!
Chris thanks for confirming ! fingers crossed ill have this finally done in 2 wks!

[skuzy]

Hi folks
i finally made this and the results were fantastic.
I was wondering.. is there much of a difference if the pastrami made from coles corned beef vs pickling it yourself??

[urbangriller]

Long two weeks brother!

Tha advantage of pickling your own is, no chemicals and control over the flavour......otherwise it works fine with the shop bought "Corned Beef"....too easy really!

Cheers
Chris

[skuzy]

makes sense and good enough for me..thanks again Chris.