Pastrami help

JM3

My mom and dad have a store bought corned beef brisket that they want to make pastrami with on their small. They asked me for some help. Here is what I have so far. Can someone help fill in the blanks.[p][p]Soak brisket for 2 hours, changing the water at least twice.
Coat brisket with following rub:
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?[p]Put on BGE, indirect at ???? degrees
cook to an internal temp of 165.
Let cool.
Slice thin across the grain.

Charbon

JM3, I'm going to try one of these today. I was going to soak and rinse several times and then coat with cajun spice and lots of black pepper. I figure about an hour per pound at 325 with hickory. In looking at past posts some folks may be confusing this salty,nitrated, fatty, vacume sealed red meat is the same as brisket which is like pot roast. Worst that can happen is to chuck it if too tough or salty.

fishlessman

JM3,
from what i can tell, the spices in a corned beef are different than whats in a good pastrami, there seems to be much more salt, and not enough garlic in the corned beef. i still make pastrami from this cut though. soak over nite, change water frequently, no salt in the rub, no mustsrd (its got salt). lots of pepper and lots of garlic,a little italian seasoning and onion powder. inderect at 250-275 until about 170.rest,chill,slice paper thin on a slicer. i like this cut better reheated in boiling water with tongs for about 30 seconds. served hot from the grill and its still too salty for me

Unknown

JM3,[p]I will try to give you a hand with this wonderful treat. I pastrami many different meats and usually always have good luck with this method of cooking. [p]If you have the time, I would try to soak a store bought corned brisket overnight with 4-5 changes of water. Even then, it may turn out way to salty. It is best to corn your own meat if you plan to pastrami it as you can control the recipe for the final results. [p]A good finish rub for this treat would be fresh cracked black peppercorns, fresh cracked corrinder seed, some Turbinado sugar, and maybe some garlic powder. Do not add any salt to this as it may be too salty to begin with. As for a recipe, I would start with about 2 TBL of peppercorns, maybe about 2 tsp of whole corrinder seed, about one TBL of Turbinado sugar and about 2 tsp of garlic powder. Put the peppercorns and the whole corrinder seed in a mortar and use the pestle and just crack each piece into about 4-5 pieces. Then add the other ingredients to this mix and it will work well with your meat. On smoking day, take your meat out of the fridge and rinse it off well. Pat it dry with paper towels and let it sit for about 30 minutes to air dry on the counter top. Add the above rub heavy to your piece of meat. [p]Place the meat on the Egg and do use some chunks of wood for smoke flavor and your finish temp of 165 degrees internal is just fine if you are cooking a brisket flat but it will need to be cut paper thin or it will come out too tough. If you are cooking the point, it will need to be taken about 15 degrees hotter to get some of the fat out of it. [p]I am a lazy cook and like to have all my pastramied beef a little thicker and always cook mine to about 180-185 degrees where it is tender cut into about 1/4" thickness as this is the way I like it. [p][p]This is a plate of my corned and pastramied brisket that has been done from scratch. [p][p]This is the way I like to eat this treat along with a little horsey sauce. [p]Hope this helps and you are in for a great treat if your meat doesn't come out too salty. [p]Dave[p]

fishlessman

<p />JM3,
i forgot to mention, i roll the flats so that the pieces fit on a roll nice after slicing. this was a corned beef that was made by the butcher near me, not much tender quick is used in his corning process which yeilds a less red character

Unknown

JM3,
I did one this weekend. I pulled it at 145 internal. Came out really nice.[p]Jerry

Bordello

fishlessman,
Very nice, now please tell us about your slicer, how do you like it and anything else that come to mind.[p]Thanks,
New Bob

UnConundrum

It's been years and years since I did a pastrami, but you should be aware that a brisket is NOT the original cut of beef. A "proper" pastrami is made from what some of us call flanken (not to be mistaken for flank steak). Flanken is what you'd have if your butcher took what I believe is called the plate, and deboned it, leaving the meat in one piece. This is actually short ribs with the bones removed, left in one piece. The recipe I followed required the meat to be brined in a plastic bag for several days, and then I hung it outside on the porch for 24 hours. Only then was it smoked. There was a good bit of work to it, and it was hard to convince the butcher exactly what I was looking for, but it was excellent....

Dr_Redwine

JM3,
I ain't no expert, but I have done this. Here is a copy of the rub that I've used. I've done this 3 or 4 times now with good results. I soak a store-bought corned beef for at least overnight, changing water, etc.It doesn't come out too salty -- if you shake this stuff on and not really coat it. In fact, I really more or less dust it on. Smoke it at about 200 with whatever floats your boat for smoke until 160 internal.[p]Pastrami Rub[p]5 tablespoons kosher salt
4 tablespoons paprika
3 tablespoons coriander seeds
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
1 tablespoon white peppercorns
8 cloves garlic, minced (I used a heap of garlic powder here instead of fresh) [p]Grind the seeds and corns (coarse) then add the other ingredients and apply. I also used a little Hungarian paprika in addition to the paprika listed above for a little bite.
DrR