Making Pastrami: Pastrami, Corned Beef, Beef Bacon, Smoking Meat, Making Sausage, Making Cheese, Making Jerky, Brewing Beer, Canning, Dehydrating

Deejay’s NY Deli Style

Pastrami

Don’t you just love a good juicy pastrami sandwich on dark rye bread with a big ole slice of your favorite cheese? I do to but it is kind of pricey to eat all the time … unless you make it yourself!

Most people think pastrami is a Jewish deli meat but it was first made by the Romans somewhere around 500 BC. They loved the stuff and started making it on their own. Because there was no refrigeration smoking the meat made it last a little longer.

There are four steps to making great homemade pastrami – Trimming, the brining, rubbing and the smoke. It really simple I often wonder why it’s so expensive.

There are 3 totally different types of meat options using these same processing steps. Corned Beef (steps 1 and 2), Beef Bacon (steps 1, 2 and 4) and Pastrami (steps 1,2,3 and 4). It’s all a mater of when you stop in the instructions!

Step One

Start with a fresh brisket or lean bef roast. I used to get big cryo-packed briskets for a great price but these days they have pretty much disappeared up here so I have switches to a good size, lean cut of beef.Same instructions though except you can skip the section on trimming. This one started out at 11 pounds before trimming.

I also like my pastrami lean. Not much fat so I trim them a little closer than most people do.

Then I separate the flat from the point. Again this isn’t necessary if you don’t mind a layer of fat in the middle of your sandwich but I can’t stand fat!

You can actually see were the two pieces of meat come together - right where that huge solid piece of fat is! If you grab it really tight and pull it will almost separate it self. You just need to tap a scarp knife where the pieces are pulling apart. Let the meat hang and keep slicing at the two pieces as it falls away until they are completely separated.

That big piece of fat goes all the way though the meat so as long as you stay between the fat you won’t make a mistake separating them and waste any meat.

Now you can decide if you want to turn both pieces into pastrami or save the point for smoking (it makes the best burn ends).

Step Two

Making the brine

The brine uses the more types of spices than the rub believe it or not.

1 gallon cold water

1 cup kosher salt

Prague powder #1 (by meat weight)

3 oz white sugar

6 bay leaves (crumbled)

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons juniper berries (crushed)*

2 teaspoons black peppercorns

Juniper Berries are optional but I think it gives it a nice flavor and that’s what makes it Italian! Juniper berries were originally used by the Romans as pepper.

A good source for juniper berries and a good course Butchers Ground Pepper is Con Yeager Spice Company. I buy most of my spices from them in 1/2 gallon containers. I saves me a fortune not having to buy by all those tiny $1 bottles and the freshness is wonderful!

Mix the spices together in a pint or so of hot water to dissolve it well then add the rest of the water, mix well then add the meat.

Pump/inject meat with brine every few inches up to about 10% of it dry meats weight and refrigerate in the brine for 5 to 7 days.

This is a good time to use vacuum sealer if you have one, if not just put a heavy plate on top of plastic wrap to keep the meat fully submerged during the brining process and keep air from hitting the meat.

After 7 days in the brine remove the meat and rinse in clear cold water to remove excess salt. Do this for about 20 minutes or it will be VERY salty. DO not forget this step. Any time your brine food it MUST be rinsed in clear clean water, beef, pork, chicken or cheese it doesn’t matter rinse after a brine !

If you wanted to skip the first two steps or can’t find a nice fresh brisket you could buy a corned beef brisket from the grocery store trim off some of the fat and go to step three.

What Do I Get When I Brine A Brisket?

Corned Beef ! That’s right Corned Beef ! You can stop here and eat it as Corned beef

Smoke that corned beef and it becomes Beef Bacon

Continue on to make Pastrami.

Step Three

The Rub

1/3 cup Butchers Ground Course Black Pepper

* 1/3 cup juniper berries (crushed)

1/4 cup coriander

· again Juniper berries are optional but I think it adds a wonderful flavor.

A Note about pepper. Do Not use regular ground pepper form the market!

Regular and butcher ground are worlds apart! Here’s a few photos to make this distinction clear:

2Peppers 2Peppers2

Regular Grind Course Butcher Ground Regular Grind Course Butcher Ground

You can see how one using the wrong ground pepper will be a big mistake! 1 teaspoon of course ground pepper is equal to about 3 teaspoons of regular ground pepper! That’s hot!

Mix these spices together and rub it into every nook and cranny of the meat. Pack it on there, wrap it up tight in several layers plastic wrap and set it in refrigerator for 2 or 3 days. If you have a vacuum sealer that will work well here also.

Step Four

Smoking

We’re almost there! I can almost taste it! Bring your smoker up to about 200^o F and once stable add the meat and slowly smoke the meat between 200^o F to 225^o F with hickory, apple or your favorite wood. Spray every hour or so with apple juice or 50-50 mix of apple juice and white wine or apple juice and unflavored brandy. It should take about 1.5 hours per pound – but temperature is the key!

You only need apply smoke for about 3 hours so after that you can just use heat (no wood chips) or transfer it to your oven for convenience. I prefer to add some smoke slowly the whole time it cooks, but I don’t’ find a huge difference. Once the meat gets up to about 160^o F you may double wrap it in foil and continue cooking until the internal temperature reaches 180^o F, then remove it from the smoker and cool.

If you don’t have a smoker you could add liquid smoke to the brine according to the manufacturers instructions and bake at 200^o F with a bowl of hot water in the bottom of the oven.

Let meat cool and refrigerate it over night. Don’t attempt to eat it right out of the smoker it won’t taste right. Keep it cold over night to let the flavors meld and the meat stiffen - then slice it nice and thin. Save all the juices from the foil and add it to the bag when you’ve finished slicing the meat. I tend to package mine in one pound packages so I can pull it out of the freezer and make a sandwich anytime I want to or throw it in my lunch box and take it to work. I like to fry or broil mine a bit before making a sandwich, but you can throw in a microwave to heat at work if that’s your only option. Enjoy!