Pastrami. While it is one of my favorite meats, there is a world of difference between good pastrami, and mediocre pastrami. Good pastrami is like eating slices of heaven. There are very few things I enjoy more than a pastrami sandwich. Tasty, juicy, flavored just right. Some good bread (I don’t like rye that much) I prefer Ezekiel sprouted grain bread, lightly toasted, Mayo, horseradish, some alfalfa and clover sprouts, butter lettuce and some sweet/hot pickles. That’s my go to with pastrami. It has to be sliced super thin, but not so thin it becomes mush.
I understand that this is a blasphemy sandwich, but damn, it sure is tasty.
I do pretty well in the kitchen, the foods I cook are always pretty tasty, and everyone else thinks they’re amazing. I understand basic chemistry and I very much understand food chemistry and what causes foodborne illness.
Prague #1. This is essential. I wouldn’t consider making pastrami without this. Many call this pink salt, but it’s not the Himalayan pink salt. This is regular salt with 6.25% sodium nitrate. This is critical to use as it kills bacteria such as botulism, e-coli, and salmonella. Specifically it is used to kill botulism, but the death of the others is just a nice side effect.
***Using the correct amount is pretty critical. I would suggest you do your own research and decide on the correct amount for your recipe.
Also, here’s a fun science fact. Pastrami isn’t pink in the middle because it’s rare. Pastrami is brisket, which needs to cook to 190°-200° to break down the connective tissues and make it tender. If you don’t cook it to those temps, it’ll be chewy and tough.
The pink color doesn’t come from the dye in Prague #1. The dye is only in there so you don’t mistakenly salt your dinner with it and make yourself very ill.
No, the pink color comes from the nitrite reacting with the myoglobin and hemoglobin present in the trapped red blood cells, eventually producing nitric oxide myoglobin.
Special shout out to my brother Stewart. He guides me through some culinary adventures. Best friend of 40 years, and a true culinary genius. Thank you brother, you are my culinary mentor.
So I stopped at Costco and picked up a small brisket. My brine is as follows:
9qt water
15oz kosher salt
3oz Prague #1
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c brown sugar packed
1/2 - 3/4 c honey
The rest I did approx measurements
Allspice whole 1 tbsp
Cloves whole 1-2 tbsp
Black mustard seed 1 tbsp
Yellow mustard seed 1 tbsp
Rainbow peppercorns 2 tbsp
Black peppercorns 2 tbsp
Coriander seed whole 2 tbsp
5 large bay leafs
4 Pequin chiles
I heated half the water with the salts and sugars and spices. Brought to a boil to make sure everything dissolved. The other half of the water I measured the container with ice and then filled the gaps with water. That way the brine was instantly cooled. Placed in the fridge to chill.
At that point I broke down the brisket. This is pretty easy to do, but since my hands were a mess, I didn’t take pics. The whole brisket is two muscles. Take your thumb and push it between the muscles. You can start to separate the muscles with your thumb. This should give you a clean line that you can see. Now take a very sharp knife and start to cut the connective tissues. Go slow, and just cut a little at a time. You only want to cut sinue and fat. If you’re seeing red meat, you lost your line. Keep at it and you’ll end up with two nice pieces of meat.
The top muscle has a large and beautiful section that I cut off at an angle so that all the pieces stayed relatively equal in thickness.
Place the meat in the brine and let it soak for six days. I used some heavy bowls to hold down the meat so it didn’t float. I flipped it daily and repositioned it so that it was always getting a new side to the brine.
Now six days has passed and out of the brine she is. I dried it off with some paper towels and discarded the spices stuck to it.
Seasoning:
2 parts ground coriander
1 part coarse black pepper
I have coated the brisket with a generous amount of seasoning and will let it rest and warm while sitting on the kitchen counter for two hours.
I’ll set the smoker to 180° and smoke it for about 5 hours. From there I’ll transfer to a roasting Pan with some water, onions and celery, wrap it super tight and and braise until the internal temp reaches 195°. It’ll rest for two hours after that before I slice it.
Day Three of Brining
This morning
And three hours of smoking. God this smells delicious. I wish we had smello-posting. I wish I could share the smells with you guys.
Side note, while it was smoking, I drove to every store that sells pots and pans in Cottonwood AZ. I was hoping by some miracle I would find a good Dutch oven. I did not. I found some Lodge, but they were small. So yeah, the three stores that sell these items: Walmart, Fry’s grocery, and Ace Hardware.
I never thought I would say this, but I want a Home goods, Bed Bath Beyond, Marshall’s (they have good deals on La Creuset cookware).
So now it will braise. There an onion, celery, and some thyme sprigs. The French training is hard to break, even when making Jewish meat.
It is sealed tight in its sarcophagus. I use Saran Wrap to keep the moisture in. It’s only set to 275° convection, so the plastics won’t melt. If you’re going to get all hippie on me and tell me that baking plastic, yada yada yada, don’t bother. I smoked cigs for 27 years. I’m not worried. And I quit smoking.
So this is on its way to becoming something.
Here are some pics for your enjoyment.
So the pastrami is done..
I made some Brussel sprouts too. Olive oil, balsamic, maple syrup, salt pepper, roasted.
Now, the pastrami. Holy s***. I’m in disbelief. I should have payots and a hat. Spinning a dreidel. (No offense to our Jewish members, trying to be funny).
This is the best pastrami I have ever had. Now I haven’t been to Katz’s deli, but I am a pastrami connoisseur. I don’t say my s*** is better because I have cooked it. I’m hyper-critical of my cooking. Like super-hyper-critical. I f*** outdid myself tenfold what I thought I was capable of. This has to go down as one of the top three meals I have cooked in my house, ever. I’m still in disbelief at how good this is. f*** hell mate. Amazing.
Here are some pics of the gloriousness.
f*** brussel sprouts. Who cares about those...
