Hot Pastrami, Yeah............

[HCT]

Made my first pastrami today and all I can say is YEAH!!! It came out great, beautiful texture, not pull apart but also not tough. I just pulled it out of the oven about 45 mins. ago and just sliced a small piece now. Wowza's!!! okay here is how I performed this piece of Bradley magic.
1. Brined a 5 1/2 lb., untimmed brisket for 3 days. Pretty big for a flat I think.
2. Pulled out of brine, rinsed is good for a few minutes, got all of the brine spices off as well as the salty brine. Dried it well.
3. I used Hab's rub on it before smoking, all sides. I had to use garlic powder instead of the dried garlic flakes. Used a scant tablespoon.
4. Placed it on a roasting pan rack, fat side down, and put the rack on a tray. I figured use a rack so the  fat side can get some smoke to it instead of just placing it on a tray.
5. I used 4 hrs of smoke, half pecan and half apple.
6. When I put the brisket in the box was cold, no preheating. I did this so the meat can absorb maximum smoke at a cool temp.
7. Final smoking temp was at 180-200, pulled the meat at internal temp of 154.
The meat reached this temp just as the final biscuit burned out.
6. Pulled the meat out of the box and finished it off in the oven at 275 for another 2 hrs. of steaming.
Here is how I set up the steaming;
  I used a large roasting pan filled with about an inch of simmering water. I placed the brisket in a large springform pan wrapped with saran and foil to keep the water out. The brisket was placed fat side up for better taste. Lastly, I tented the whole kit-n-kaboodle with foil.
After 2hrs 15 mins I pulled it, peeked at it, poked it with a fork and had to eat the little piece of yum that came out with it.
Finally, abrakadabra, Bradley magic!!!!

[Wildcat]

Don't ya love it when a plan comes together.  Congradulations.  If you need a second opinion on flavor I will be glad to give you my address to ship it to.

[Mr Walleye]

Sounds fantastic HCT!

Any Pictures?  ::)

Mike

[LilSmoker]

Sound delicious HCT ;) i'm trying not to think of pastrami, now you've got me going again!  ;D

LilSmoker

[HCT]

No pics, just can't get into that.
I must give credit to Habs for his help with this project and previous ones. The man is a world of knowledge.

[Habanero Smoker]

This is great news! I can't wait until my briskets thaw out. The cheesecake pan is a good idea. As far as the texture would you consider the meat moist?

[HCT]

I cut a piece of the pastrami this morning and yes it is still moist. The texture is nice, not like a fall apart corned beef, but firm and I think it should hold up well on the slicer.
I think the moistness was obtained by letting it steam fat side up and in it's own juices, not on a rack. It's amazing how 12 hrs. mellows out the spices, tomorrow it will be even better if it lasts til then. ;D

[Consiglieri]

Having difficulty following the cheesecake/springform pan steaming method. Did you wrap the pan with plastic wrap to prevent water intrusion, then place the meat in the springform, then cover with foil, and then place in the water loaded roasting pan? 

Do you guys think the same result could be achieved with a roasting pan (with an inch of water), a roasting rack, and a foil cover?

[HCT]

Consiglieri,
   What I did was wrap the springform pan on the outside with wrap then foil. That was to prevent water from seeping in the pan. Then I placed the brisket in the spring pan, luckily it was a perfect fit. Put the springpan in a roasting pan and fill the roasting pan with simmering water, about an inch. Cover the whole set-up, not seperately, roasting pan and spring pan with foil. This way the brisket gets the steam but is not in water, it just is laying in its own juices. The brisket is fat side up.
   Your way would be another way to go, just make sure the meat isn't submerged in any of the water. Crumple up a few pieces of foil in balls and use them as posts to keep the rack up higher from the water.

[Habanero Smoker]

What I am planning on doing is using either a braiser or roasting pan and set a cooling rack (or the BS rack if it fits) in it. I will use balls of crumble up aluminum foil to raise the cooling rack so that the meat sits 1.5-2 inches above the water. I was thinking about just inverting the BS rack, but I don't think it will provide enough clearance above the liquid. I'll probably use beef broth instead of water.

[HCT]

 I finally feasted on the pastrami, 2 days of waiting. Yup a nibble here and a nibble there but nothing to speak of til today. Made a nice pastrami on rye with melted swiss and some grainy mustard. All I can say is I had to have a cigarette when finished. :P

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

All I can say is I had to have a cigarette when finished. :P

This sounds classified.....   :o

Arcs_n_Sparks   8)