Pastrami question

[Grouperman941]

Everything looks like they came out good. Have you had a chance for taste comparison.

The dry cure ended up a moister product in both cases.

Taste is pretty close -- the dry cured meat is a little saltier and the wet cured meat has a little more of the other flavors.

I should have boiled, instead of steamed, the corned beef -- it came out a little tough for fork and knife -- but it is perfect deli-sliced.

The flavor on the pastrami is phenomenal. I did some hot pastrami sandwiches. Wow.

[Habanero Smoker]

Everything looks like they came out good. Have you had a chance for taste comparison.

The dry cure ended up a moister product in both cases.

Taste is pretty close -- the dry cured meat is a little saltier and the wet cured meat has a little more of the other flavors.

I should have boiled, instead of steamed, the corned beef -- it came out a little tough for fork and knife -- but it is perfect deli-sliced.

The flavor on the pastrami is phenomenal. I did some hot pastrami sandwiches. Wow.

I prefer dry cured to wet curing. The meat is more moist, and I prefer the texture better. When dry curing the saltiness depend on how much salt you have in your cure mix and how long you cure it, almost the same as wet brining. I see that you soaked it, but didn't go into explanation, on how much water it was soaked in and how long. I always slice a piece off, fry it, and taste. Then soak if it is still too salty.

If corned brisket is too tough, you can try a more tender cut. Since the price of brisket has sky rocketed I've been using different parts of the round or chuck for pastrami. Several members are using cuts for the chuck or round with good results. Though they don't give as much beef flavor as the brisket, those other cuts are more tender. For rounds I only take them up to around 140°, I don't cure many chuck cuts, but I usually take those cuts higher.