Montreal Smoked Meat vs Pastrami

smokingal

When I got my hands on a 15.5 lb Wagyu beef brisket, I thought it was as good of a time as
any to try my hand at making Montreal smoked meat (MSM).  In order to gauge the difference
between it and your typical pastrami, I decided to make both.  The pastrami started out with a
4.5 lb. chunk of beef navel, as that’s the original cut and I went with the standard rubs for both.

 

 

 

Both pieces of beef received a base sugar cure.  The rub for the MSM consisted of black pepper, coriander, ground bay leaves, and ground cloves.  The pastrami rub (no prep pics) contained a standard pickling spice blend, pepper, garlic and onion powder.  The meat was vacuum sealed in FoodSavor bags and due to their thickness, allowed to cure for 21 days.

 

 

After the curing process completed, and everything got rinsed, soaked, and allowed to air dry,
I applied more rub to each cut.  At this point, I switched it up a bit.  The cooking processes I’ve
tried include hot smoking then sous vide and vice versa.  Adding some smoke flavor by cold
smoking prior to cooking sous vide followed by hot smoking was a new prospect.

Hickory, cherry, maple and apple wood pellets were used with the A-Maz-N pellet smoker and
it ran for about 11.5 hours.  The average temp during this time was 65F.  The meat was then
cooked sous vide for 36 hours at 155F, dipped into an ice bath to cool and refrigerated overnight.

 

 

I should note that the brisket was super flexible, so fitting it on the top rack during the cold
smoking effort was a cinch.

 

 

The meat got another coat of rub the next morning and placed on the Egg with oak wood
chunks at 250F.

 

 

Smoker shot after 6 hours.

 

 

The pastrami and MSM were pulled when they were somewhere in the range of 190-193.  After
a 2 hour FTC, it was pretty late, so I left it to cool down and stuck both pieces in the fridge.

 

 

The next day I cut and steamed slices from the point and flat of the MSM for a sandwich.

 

 

The pastrami along with some gouda was used to make a melt.

 

 

For breakfast I used both meats, cold smoked beef bacon, diced oak smoked potatoes and
onions to make some MSM-pastrami hash.  Croissant french toast rounded out the meal.

 

 

So what’s the verdict?  Well, initially the MSM had the pastrami beat, but this analysis was
made after sampling small pieces that were cut off when testing the salinity of the meat after
the soaking step.  The MSM had this robust flavor that the pastrami lacked, but after it was cooked, that flavor seemed muted.  Also, while beef navel may be the original cut for pastrami, it is very fatty and tough.  I prefer the brisket point for pastrami and I preferred the point cut of the MSM over the flat.  I’ll reserve my opinion on this matter until after I try this again using brisket point for both, omitting the cold smoking step and using the hot smoke then sous vide approach.

All in all, very good eats.

OhioEgger

Great description and everything looks wonderful. Thanks for posting this.

But as a guy who grew up in NYC, I have to say that it would take something truly awesome to beat out a well made pastrami.

marysvilleksegghead

another great well documented post,  I envy your energy 

gdenby

Many thumbs up smokingal.! Possibly the best set of pics and comments I've seen here.

I know nothing about beef navel, and don't know how it might be best cooked.  I do think that cooking a point for both is a better way to compare the 2 methods.

And from the looks of what you made, I'd be happy to have the failure.  Can't imagine how good your breakfast was.

smokingal

gdenby said:

I know nothing about beef navel, and don't know how it might be best cooked.  I do think that cooking a point for both is a better way to compare the 2 methods.

And from the looks of what you made, I'd be happy to have the failure.  Can't imagine how good your breakfast was.

@gdenby Beef navel can be cooked just like brisket.  Typically it gets ground up for burgers (or used to make beef bacon like I usually do).  It's just that the only cut tougher than the navel, I believe, is the shank.

I wouldn't say anything was a failure, as I don't have any prior experience with Montreal smoked meat.  They both tasted great, especially after the steaming.  And yes, the breakfast was amazing.

lousubcap

Another extremely well documented experiment and exceptional outcome.  I envy your ability to create, design and execute such an undertaking.  
And that breakfast... dang!

GrateEggspectations

Eggscellent post, as usual. I live not too far from Montreal and they’ve got some rippin’ delis. This being said, I bet yours rivaled them.