Pastrami, pic heavy

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SuperiorBrew

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Picked up 2 corned beef flats, 3.5 & 3.75 lbs.
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Soaked them in cold water for 30 hours, changing it several times.
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Rinsed and dried.
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Oiled with some olive oil and rubbed with:

4 T fresh coarsely ground black pepper
1 T yellow mustard powder
1 T dark brown sugar
1 T sweet paprika
2 T granulated garlic
2 T granulated onion
2 T Kosher Salt
4 T Spice House Corned Beef Spice Mix**
½ T ground celery seed
**Was specifically designed for marinating beef brisket. Use 3-5 tablespoons for a 5-pound brisket, along with salt brine. This is a popular blend for St. Patrick's Day celebrations.
Hand-mixed from mustard seeds, Moroccan coriander, Jamaican allspice, Zanzibar cloves, Turkish bay leaves, Indian dill seed, China #1 ginger, star anise, black pepper, juniper berries, mace and cayenne red pepper.

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Vacuum sealed and let it rest in the fridge for 24 hours.
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Put in the FEC-120 at 160º with AMNPS Tube for 3 hours.
They had to share the smoke with some pastrami jerky and turkey wings.
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Then upped the temp to 230º for 2 more hours.
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Until the IT hit 152º then foiled and coolered until IT hit 160º
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Then it went into the fridge for an overnight rest.
Steamed it for 1.5 hours on a rack above beef broth & crab boil.
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I steamed it untill the Thermapen probe slid in how I would call "slicing easy" in all areas (not as easily as I would have on a packer brisket) the temps were in the 195-200º range.
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Sliced some a little thicker for dinner.
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Sliced the rest thin for sandwiches.
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Vacuum sealed the leftovers.
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It turned out great, although I never had real deli pastrami before so nothing to compare to other than grocery store lunch meat pastrami and this blew that away. Will for sure make it again, might have to watch the newspaper and see who has it on sale after St. Patty's Day and stock up for another batch.
 
Get them today. These are a St Paddy's day loss leader. Depending on size you can save about $9 each off the normal price. Smoked one yesterday and it was delicious. Crushed the seasonings in the packet, added garlic and crushed red pepper for the dry rub. Smoked with pear wood for 5 hours and finished in the oven. Made for a tasty sandwich.
 
Planning to pick up pork bellies tomorrow to do the bacon, and now I see this thread. Looks like pastrami will be on the menu now too. :mug:

What temp probe setup are you using?
 
Planning to pick up pork bellies tomorrow to do the bacon, and now I see this thread. Looks like pastrami will be on the menu now too. :mug:

What temp probe setup are you using?

Give us details on your bacon, I'll be trying that soon too.
 
Thanks for posting. I bought two of these Corned Beef Briskets. Rubbed them last night and going in the smoker this morning.
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Turned out really good. Still a little salty. I don't know if I didn't change the water enough during the soak. I'll try it again.

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That is amazing! Right down to the crab boil sauna.

I am impressed. Nearly spit coffee on my keyboard, your damned temp graph is enviable!
 
To sum it up in a general sentence fauxstrami is what you get when you make pastrami using corned beef on a smoker vs making pastrami the traditional way. Taking a hunk of corned beef, rinsing, rubbing, then smoking will produce a product that is darn tasty and pastrami like however it is not actual pastrami. Hence the term fauxstrami. It is however a VERY tasty treat that I encourage any who own a smoker make at lest once. One look at the ops pics above should be enough to convince anyone to try it. Google the word fauxstrami and you will find the term used over and over again along with many methods + recipes to try on the many smoking and bbq forums. :) You may even stumble across a post or two from me in those forums while you are at it.

The process for making corned beef vs pastrami are similar how ever they are indeed different. While corned beef is made using the famous brisket cut most pastrami is traditionally made using a beef naval cut. Pastrami is also made from the brisket cut by some and even from a round cut by others. Corned beef is simply cured in a salt brine with some curing salt added (gives the red color) along with spices such as bay leaf, coriander, and such. Most use just a basic pickling spice. Pastrami is cured either via a brine or in some cases such as at the famous Katz deli in New York it is cured with a dry cure and spices. The brine and or dry cure for pastrami also contains spices that are different than those used in a Corned beef brine such as pepper and a few others...... After curing pastrami is rubbed with a dry rub, smoked, then steamed. Corned beef is pulled right out of a brine and simply boiled till tender.
 
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