Made some Pastrami.

My third attempt.

A previous attempt

My best one flavor wise. Salt content was much better. The other two were a touch salty. Anyway:


15lb Choice Packer. Cut a chunk of the point to grind for burgers, and trimmed. What remains is about 9.5 lbs.


Sunk it in a brine (recipe below), and let it sit for 9 days


Removed from the brine, rinsed, and soaked in plain water over night to draw some salt out.


I used some Wagyu tallow as a binder, and applied the rub (recipe below)


On to the Gator Pit @ 225 deg with mainly Pecan, and a little Oak.



This was it about 6hrs in and the internal temp was close to 160 deg.


I let it go a little longer then wrapped it to get through the stall. A lot of recipes call for steaming the Pastrami toward the end, but I didn't do that. I read that wrapping it in foil negates the need for steaming it.

Let it go to 203 internal, pulled it and let it rest a good 2 hours before slicing.



Sliced Flat



Sliced Point


Rueben with some homeade Russian Dressing and some tomato bisque.


Little Rueben Slider things we made for a Chirstmas party




Brine Recipe:
6 quarts water
1.5 cup kosher salt
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons pink salt
4 cinnamon stick, broken into several pieces
2 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 tablespoon black peppercorns
15 whole cloves
8 whole allspice berries
5 bay leaves, crumbled
12 crushed garlic cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Rub:
Waguy Tallow for binder
3 tablespoon crushed peppercorns
2 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
1 tablespoon coriander powder
2 tablespoon brown Sugar
1 tablespoon smoked Paprika
2 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon mustard power
1 teaspoon mustard seeds