Another Habs pastrami! (now with junipers) i love the stuff!
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(http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/Gitster59/jb.gif) (http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/Gitster59/tst.gif) (http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/Gitster59/hp.gif)
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Have a great weekend all! (http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Happy/happy-047.gif)
LilSmoker (http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/Gitster59/Tip-Hat.gif)
Wow!
Nicely done. Have a great weekend.
Carter
I had to see that before I had my dinner. That looks real good.
First thing tomorrow I'm headed for Sam's Club to get at least one brisket.
Is this the batch that went to the pub? I want pictures of the establishment and the patrons with their meal and beverages.
More importantly, I want a lot of advance notice and an invitation. :P
Looks great. Follow up question on my last batch. I used a brisket point and so got different IT readings as the meat cooked. Wish I pulled it at the earliest 160 reading; would that have resulted in a more moist finish?
Boy that looks good, could go for a nice breakfast pastrami sammich right now. I'm with Habs on this on, off to Costco this weekend for a brisket. ;D
Looks absolutely awesome. You created a drool pool here.
Make that drool pool II. Get me some rye bread and spicey mustard and I'm toast!! My husband is begging me to make it!!!
Looks Great!
Thanks guys ;)
QuoteIs this the batch that went to the pub? I want pictures of the establishment and the patrons with their meal and beverages.
More importantly, I want a lot of advance notice and an invitation.
Looks great. Follow up question on my last batch. I used a brisket point and so got different IT readings as the meat cooked. Wish I pulled it at the earliest 160 reading; would that have resulted in a more moist finish?
Hi Mike, yes this batch was destined for the pub, but there's not much of it left now ::) ;D, so now i have to do another, and quickly! ;)
Regarding the IT, i used to aim for anything in the range of 160-165, but now i go for 160 max as imo it is more moist ;)
LilSmoker (http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/Gitster59/Tip-Hat.gif)
Great looking L.S. I guess it's off to Sams Club. Again!!! Just when I think I'm done smoking for a bit you guys post pictures like this and I can't help myself from firing the thing back up and smoking more. Geez I swear the ADEC is spying on me to see if I'm selling all the stuff I've been smoking. :D ;D
Looks awesome.
Just made some myself and its gone. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so nice to my family.
Quick question: How does this freeze? Was curious if I make a couple if it froze OK or if I should just make 1 at a time.
Thanks,
Hi NewToSmok, if you vacuum seal the pastrami it freezes fine, if it isn't vacuumed i think it might lose a bit of it's zing! ;D
Generally though it's ok to freeze, i never seem to have any left to freeze even when i do 2, it all gets devoured! ;D ;)
LilSmoker (http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/Gitster59/Tip-Hat.gif)
I agree with LilSmoker. I vacuum seal and freeze mine, and the texture and flavors are just as good as when you first made it.
Hab and L.S. are on spot. Vacum sealed tastes just as good as fresh. I also have LilSmokers problem of never having enough left over to freeze. Seems the more I try to make the more visitors show up and poof! All gone. :D ;D
I'm going to try giving this a whirl...I'm on my 3rd day of curing...I don't have any apple wood...can I just smoke the whole time in pecan (haven't used pecan yet) so I'm not familiar with it's flavor.
Hi La Quinta, pecan will be fine, it gives a sweet mild flavour, i've used it myself in the past with pastrami, very nice! ;)
LilSmoker(http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s62/Gitster59/Tip-Hat.gif)
Either pecan or oak would work well.
Great...thanks guys. I'll take pictures!!
Though I feel that dry curing makes the best pastrami, many prefer the texture of the deli style pastrami. Using a dry cure gives the pastrami a different texture. I found using commercial corn beef does not give as good of flavor, and I have a bad after taste after eating it.
Having said that, pastrami is traditionally steamed cooked after the smoking period. So I may attempt to steam cook it in the Bradley after the smoking stage, using the method Kamanodental posted on steaming sausage. Or maybe braising it in the oven. I am working a on pickle (wet brine), that will give me the same flavors of the dry cure I use. I'm not sure which method I will try first, or maybe I will try both at the same time. Hopefully I will have some results by the end of the month.
Ok, so how do I steam it in the Bradley?
La Quinta;
I'm not sure it will work in the BS, but it was one of the options I was going to explore. Here is a link that describes how to steam in the BS. It is a method used by Kamano to finish sausage.
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=5735.msg54114#msg54114
I'm having second thoughts about steaming pastrami in the BS. For pastrami you will probably be using a higher temperature, and a longer period of time. I'm recalling a time when I smoked 10 pounds of chicken wings at one time. The moisture build up was so great that a lot of the seasoning peeled off my cabinet walls. Steaming sausage would be different. You wouldn't use such a high temperature, and the amount of time you apply steam would be much shorter. For the pastrami I would go with braising in the oven. I would also use a rack to keep the meat out of the liquid.
I think you're right...I'm gonna go with the oven method. I'll let you know what happens! Thanks for all your help Habs...going to do it today!!
I look forward towards your results. I'm sure this will produce a more moist pastrami, then smoking/cooking it completely in the smoker.
Have another question...should I FTC before steaming? Or straight from the smoker? Thanks for putting up with my questions!!!
Quote from: La Quinta on August 20, 2007, 03:20:30 PM
Have another question...should I FTC before steaming? Or straight from the smoker? Thanks for putting up with my questions!!!
The last time I did Habs pastrami I put it on a rack in the steamer pan right out of the smoker and covered tightly then into the oven. No FTC at all and it turned out fantastic. I used drippings from the smoker bowl in the steamer. Temp was at 220F for over an hour to get the texture I liked. Just my 2 cents. I think your on the right track.
I'm going to do that...I have a big pot with a steamer insert...couldn't i do it on the stove at a slow boil? Sorry to sound like an idiot but...I'm really excited about this...made rye bread today for the eventual eating!!! Which reminds me..of another ?...can I steam and eat? or should I still wait a couple of days? Help me...I'm hungry!!!
I couldn't wait last time so it was sliced right out of the oven and on to some fresh marble rye. It does get better after a spell in the refer though. Your stove top idea sounds like it would work. Heck give it a go. ;)
La Quinta;
Yes! You can steam (braise) using your range burners. You can eat it at any time, but you will notice that the following day (if it last that long) it will taste better. Homemade rye bread is a nice addition.
Iceman;
Thanks for the tip on steaming. Your way, there is a lot less clean up.
I'm off to Coscto today and hopefully can get a brisket, for some reason they're hard to find in my area. I've been wanting to make pastrami for some time and the tips here are greatly appreciated.
La Quinta,
I was also thinking about the stovetop method and can't see any reason why not.
Iceman,
What temp did you have the oven on? 250? This way seems like an easy cleanup.
Thanks guys for your help.
Mike
Quote from: HCT on August 22, 2007, 06:00:32 AM
Iceman,
What temp did you have the oven on? 250? This way seems like an easy cleanup.
Thanks guys for your help.
Mike
I ran the oven at 225 but I never checked it with a remote to see how accurate it held.
The search is over, I finally found my brisket sourch and picked up 2 yesterday. Now to get one processed. Trying to locate my 45rpm record of "Hot Pastrami". :D :D :D Okay, who sang it? Joey Dee and the Starlighters? Can't get the dang song out of my head. ::) :P :P
Oh, Costco didn't have it, only flats trimmed to the meat, I got it in shoprite in it's cry-o-vac. Hot pastrami yeah..............
Geez HCT, here I was humming "No butter, no putter" by "Harley and the Kick Starts" for the last two weeks and now it's "Hot Pastrami"!!! :o :D LOL. ::)
Just kidding. Hope you have fun with the brisket. Keep us posted.
Haha! you know you've got it bad when you start singing pastrami songs! (http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Laughing/hahaha-024.gif)
Mind you, i've tasted some great tunes by a group called " Bradley & The Puck Burners" (http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Music/blues-brothers-076.gif)(http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Music/music-059.gif) (http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Laughing/lol-049.gif)
LilSmoker (http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Happy/happy-cowboy-036.gif)
ok...my pastrami came out tough...what did I do wrong...got it to about 10 degrees below done...then steamed to temp for added moisture...did I over cook or under? My guess would be over...Habs...advice? Can I fix it or no?
Pastrami is going to be a little tough, so you need to cut it thin and against the grain. That will improve the texture.
Just to clarify, what was the final internal temperature that you took it to? I take mine to 160°F-165°F, and it comes out just right, as long as you cut it correctly. If you did not reach the 165°F mark, then you can try braising it longer. Going beyond 165°F, would not make it any tougher, unless you are using to high of a heat source. You mentioned that you were going to use low heat, during the steaming (braising).
I never tried steaming pastrami at the end. That may have something to do with it being tough, but I don't know what that could be (at this time).
Besides being tough, did the crust stay on during the steaming process? Can you give more details on what you did? I am planing to steam my next batch of pastrami. I thought I would get to it at the end of the month, but it looks like it will take longer then that.
First off...yes..the crust stayed on for the most part...the steam "loosened" it a bit..I got it to 165 and took it out...FTC'd it...just to let the smoke and water rest inside the meat...(maybe I shouldn't have?) Tried the first bite (against the grain...I know that much) and it was tough...still is...do you think I over cooked it?