Pastrami - Two Ways

smokingal

Very few things in this world are tastier than cured meats and pastrami ranks pretty high on
my list of favorites.  My last purchase from Wiens Waygu fell a little short on weight and they
included a small slab of full-blooded black Waygu short ribs to account for this.

 

Making another slab of short ribs didn’t interest me so I decided to add it to the list of cuts I
planned to cure.  Brisket point and a small cut I thought to be beef navel which was removed from another slab of beef short ribs were also on the menu.

 

A pickling spice blend, garlic and onion was used as the rub for the short ribs after applying
the cure and the ribs were then vacuum sealed in a FoodSavor bag to cure for 4 weeks.

 

 

The same was done for a 2.5 lb brisket point, with the rub including pine smoked black tea,
fennel pollen and additional black peppercorn.

 

I originally thought this was a navel cut due to its appearance and it’s attachment to the short
plate ribs.  The marbling and layers of fat indicated otherwise but nevertheless, I decided to
cure it like bacon.  The rub consisted of brown sugar, garlic, onion, black peppercorn and
fennel pollen.

 

 

After 4 weeks time, the various cuts were thoroughly rinsed and then soaked to removed some
of the salt.  They were then air dried in the fridge to allow a pellicule to form while the salt levels equilibrated.

 

 

After their stint in the fridge, the pastrami cuts were coated in a rub made of garlic, onion and
black pepper before being placed on the Egg.

 

 

The pastrami and bacon went on the Egg with black cherry and hickory wood chunks at a
temp ranging from 180 – 200F.  Yukon gold potatoes and eggs that were hard boiled and
separated for a smoked deviled egg potato salad were also tossed onto the Egg.

 

 

After a few more hours.

 

 

Some of this meat was destined for sandwiches, so I made some rye sourdough.

 

 

The deviled egg potato salad was prepared by mashing the egg yolks with Lawry’s seasoned
salt, mayo, mustard, pepper and sweet relish.

 

 

The bacon was pulled at 150F, while the short rib and brisket point pastrami were pulled at
165F and 168F, respectively.  The two pastrami cuts were vacuum sealed in a FoodSavor
bag and cooked via sous vide for 48 hours at 168F and then immersed in an ice bath to
cool down.

 

 

In preparation for dinner, the two cuts of pastrami were thinly sliced and steamed.

 

 

I had some beer marinated sauerkraut to top off the sandwich.

 

 

Slices of the rye sour dough were buttered and topped with havarti cheese and sauerkraut.
The slices of brisket point pastrami were placed on the right side of the sandwich and the
full-blooded Wagyu short rib were placed on the left.

 

 

The brisket point pastrami had the rich, fatty unctuous flavor that pastrami needs.  But the
Wagyu short rib pastrami fat had something special.  There’s just something about Wagyu
fat.  It melted as soon as it touched my tongue, with the meat doing so soon afterwards.  The
flavor profile was slightly different from the brisket point pastrami, which was also very fatty
and enriched with the garlic, onion and pickling spices.

I forgot how delicious smoked potato salad can be, as it had been quite some time since I’ve
made any.  The cherry wood smoke really brought out the natural sweetness of the potatoes.

The next meal included the Wagyu beef bacon and brisket point pastrami on 72 hour pizza
dough, with fresh mozzarella, beer sauerkraut and garlic.

 

 

The following meal involved trying something new with pizza dough.  I found an online video
where people were cooking flattened pizza dough rounds for sandwich bread and thought I’d give this a try.  A rough of pizza dough which had been fermented for 96 hours was flattened and baked until puffy.  The steamed Wagyu short rib pastrami, havarti cheese, and beer sauerkraut topped off the pizza sandwich.

 

 

After a quick bake to melt the cheese and further toast the bread.

 

 

The pizza sandwich was served.

 

 

I think I found my new favorite sandwich.  The crunchy exterior and pillowy soft interior made
me reminisce about the sandwiches I used to get from Schlotzsky’s Deli.  Truly enjoyable and
definitely good eats.

lkapigian

Just Wow

The Cen-Tex Smoker

sweet jebus. 

HeavyG

Epic post and food!

marysvilleksegghead

WOW!   heck of a post with great looking food

conman

Crazy! Thanks for sharing

ninnymugs

I would have to give this post an award for the best post of the year. I am not on as often as I would like. (I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old and we are building a house) but this post has renewed my passion and love for not only this forum but for all things big green egg in general. The passion and care that went in to all you did is inspiring to say the least. Well done!

smokingal

@ninnymugs Thank you very much for your more than gracious compliment.  I love cooking and think that since life is short and food is a requirement, we should take every effort to eat well.

BTW, it's 'Ms.' not sir.  

ninnymugs

@smokingal. I am so sorry. That was unfortunate of me. I realized my mistake and fixed as quick as I could. No way meant to imply anything by that. My apologies. 

GrateEggspectations

This reads like the final exam answer key of forum cooks. We are not worthy.  

bgebrent

A few too many pictures. 

mEGG_My_Day

As always, you knocked it our of the park.  Thanks for posting your cooks!!!! 

JohnInCarolina

Lady, you are knocking it out of the park.  Holy cannoli!  

GrateEggspectations

smokingal said:

@ninnymugs Thank you very much for your more than gracious compliment.  I love cooking and think that since life is short and food is a requirement, we should take every effort to eat well.

BTW, it's 'Ms.' not sir.  

Probably symptomatic of the fact that your handle could be read as an interation of either i) Smokin’ Gal (which is the original intent, I assume), or ii) Smoking Al.

Reminds me of that now-defunct, reportedly legitimate domain of expertsexchange.com, a forum for IT experts, that has now (wisely) changed its address to experts-exchange.com.

YukonRon

I just go to Arby's

GrateEggspectations

Was going to post an epic KD and Egg’d hot dog cook tonight, but now you’ve got me bashful. 

smokingal

@bgebrent  I thought about putting up a warning regarding the pic count.
@GrateEggspectations I would update my name by capitalizing the S and the G if it were possible.  For now, I just have the disclaimer in my signature.

smokingal

@YukonRon The Arby's in Louisville must be better than the ones in the Atlanta area, lol.

@GrateEggspectations Post away.  What's KD short for?

GrateEggspectations

smokingal said:

@YukonRon The Arby's in Louisville must be better than the ones in the Atlanta area, lol.

@GrateEggspectations Post away.  What's KD short for?

Based on your posts, I am not surprised you’re unfamiliar with KD.

Kraft Dinner. 

buzd504

Unbelievable.

Cookbook_Chip

This is one of the best cook posts this year.  Wow!

Color_My_World_Green

Girl Power. I love this post.

Color_My_World_Green

smokingal Where do you purchase your spice ingredients? They look like premium ingredients and not not from a traditional grocery store.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

you mentioned you brined these for 4 weeks. I have never seen such a long soak/brine recommendation. Why so long? 

And tell me more about fennel pollen.

smokingal

Color_My_World_Green said:

smokingal Where do you purchase your spice ingredients? They look like premium ingredients and not not from a traditional grocery store.

I purchased the spices used in the cure and the rub off of suppliers on Amazon.  Things like fennel pollen and lapsang souchong tea aren't going to be found in your average grocery store.  For the other items, like peppercorns and granulated garlic, it makes more sense to buy them at Costco or Sam's as you'll get more bang for your buck.

smokingal

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

you mentioned you brined these for 4 weeks. I have never seen such a long soak/brine recommendation. Why so long? 

And tell me more about fennel pollen.

I don't brine when I cure meat, I use a dry cure.  As it's an equilibrium cure, it's not possible to over cure the meat, so I can leave it be until I have time to deal with it.  Doing so also allows the flavors of the rub I've used to really seep into the meat. 
For instance, the bacon took on a really dark mahogany color and a flavor that I've never produced before.  You can taste the black tea and the nuance of the fennel pollen.  Even the caffeine was transferred (I'm sensitive to caffeine and instead of slipping into a meat coma, I was bouncing off the walls).

Fennel pollen is sweeter and has a much more intense flavor than fennel seed.  It goes well with red meat, fish, and poultry--even vegetables.  You should give it a try.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

smokingal said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

you mentioned you brined these for 4 weeks. I have never seen such a long soak/brine recommendation. Why so long? 

And tell me more about fennel pollen.

I don't brine when I cure meat, I use a dry cure.  As it's an equilibrium cure, it's not possible to over cure the meat, so I can leave it be until I have time to deal with it.  Doing so also allows the flavors of the rub I've used to really seep into the meat. 
For instance, the bacon took on a really dark mahogany color and a flavor that I've never produced before.  You can taste the black tea and the nuance of the fennel pollen.  Even the caffeine was transferred (I'm sensitive to caffeine and instead of slipping into a meat coma, I was bouncing off the walls).

Fennel pollen is sweeter and has a much more intense flavor than fennel seed.  It goes well with red meat, fish, and poultry--even vegetables.  You should give it a try.

I think you are on to something with caffeinated bacon. I have just trademarked the name Wakin' Bacon. Look for it in stores this spring

I'll give the fennel pollen a try. Sounds fun. 

 

CigarCityEgger

Good lord, that all looks incredible. Thank you for sharing!

HeavyG

smokingal said:

Color_My_World_Green said:

smokingal Where do you purchase your spice ingredients? They look like premium ingredients and not not from a traditional grocery store.

I purchased the spices used in the cure and the rub off of suppliers on Amazon.  Things like fennel pollen and lapsang souchong tea aren't going to be found in your average grocery store.  For the other items, like peppercorns and granulated garlic, it makes more sense to buy them at Costco or Sam's as you'll get more bang for your buck.

Which fennel pollen did you buy?

I bought some via Amazon a few months ago (Delitaliana Premium Organic Fennel Pollen) and what I got was kinda like sand without much flavor, tho it did have a nice licorice-y aroma. It didn't really look at all like the photo in the description. I bought it to make a rub from Tuffy Stone's "Cool Smoke..." cookbook which came out this Spring but haven't used it yet since I wasn't sure that what I got was really a good batch/representation of fennel pollen. So I set it aside and forgot all about it until reading your comment.

smokingal

HeavyG said:

smokingal said:

Color_My_World_Green said:

smokingal Where do you purchase your spice ingredients? They look like premium ingredients and not not from a traditional grocery store.

I purchased the spices used in the cure and the rub off of suppliers on Amazon.  Things like fennel pollen and lapsang souchong tea aren't going to be found in your average grocery store.  For the other items, like peppercorns and granulated garlic, it makes more sense to buy them at Costco or Sam's as you'll get more bang for your buck.

Which fennel pollen did you buy?

I bought some via Amazon a few months ago (Delitaliana Premium Organic Fennel Pollen) and what I got was kinda like sand without much flavor, tho it did have a nice licorice-y aroma. It didn't really look at all like the photo in the description. I bought it to make a rub from Tuffy Stone's "Cool Smoke..." cookbook which came out this Spring but haven't used it yet since I wasn't sure that what I got was really a good batch/representation of fennel pollen. So I set it aside and forgot all about it until reading your comment.

That's the brand I bought and it smells and tastes strongly of anise.  I didn't see an expiration date on the package.  Perhaps you got an old or bad batch?

CtTOPGUN

 Truly impressive. I must up my food game!