Lets make pastrami(its my first time) live smoke!!!

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bjarolim

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So, been brining a brisket flat for 8 days. Yesterday I pulled it from the brine and cut off a little piece and pan cooked it to taste test it, was over bearingly salty. So I dumped the brine threw in some water in the bowl and let it soak just a little under 24 hours. Then this morning I changed the water and let it soak again for about another 4 hours. Pulled it from water cut another piece and pan cooked it, way way better and really really good. So gave it a dry rub, a variation of Ron_L's pastrami rub, fired the smoker up and put her on.

Smoker is cruising at a nice 250-275° on some oak splits, smoker is liking the low and slow right now I think. Most cooks I've done on Yolanda have been 325° or more due to time constraints. She has been holding steady around 250° nicely.

You can look here for my bringing thread

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3597139

Here some pics right now, more as it progresses

Outta of the last water soak.


2 cuts I'm using and ingredients


Liberal coat of some rub, looks awesome IMO


Insert beef in Yolanda


And the beer


Enjoy, more pics to come, they've only been on not even an hour so will get some pics in a bit.

Thanks for looking
 
Here we are about 1.5 hours in, smoker shot up to 325° for a second(got busy mowing yard) so choked intake down and now we cruising around 250° again. Beef checked in at about 140 IT for now



Oh ya am digging my split warmer...suppose to be a heat deflector when I don't have grill top on but it warms the splits nicely. They ignite instantly when I throw them on.

 
Well I failed...I had salt in my rub, wasn't very much cause my taste test earlier seemed like I could have a little salt but i guess I was wrong, was pretty daym salty eating it. Pretty disappointed about it. Was really looking forward to this. So much time into an epic fail.

Here it is finished and sliced.


It also pretty dry too...what coulda caused this? IT was 170 and I followed Ron_L's advice and he said no hold time is neccessary and to pull it when it hits 165?

What is the deal?
 
bjarolim said:
Well I failed...I had salt in my rub, wasn't very much cause my taste test earlier seemed like I could have a little salt but i guess I was wrong, was pretty daym salty eating it. Pretty disappointed about it. Was really looking forward to this. So much time into an epic fail.

Here it is finished and sliced.


It also pretty dry too...what coulda caused this? IT was 170 and I followed Ron_L's advice and he said no hold time is neccessary and to pull it when it hits 165?

What is the deal?
Click to expand...

I cook mine a lot like regular brisket where I'll wrap in foil around 150-160 and then cook till tender which can be 195-200+. Or I'll cook to 150-160 and then finish in a pressure cooker to "steam".

And ya, a lot of bbq is taking a bunch of time to do something only to have mediocre or sub-par results :-D.
 
Well get back on the horse and try again. For what it's worth, it looks pretty darn tasting1 It wouldn't be a skill if it was easy brotha! I'll be on the lookout for the next go round.
 
Jason TQ said:
I cook mine a lot like regular brisket where I'll wrap in foil around 150-160 and then cook till tender which can be 195-200+. Or I'll cook to 150-160 and then finish in a pressure cooker to "steam".

And ya, a lot of bbq is taking a bunch of time to do something only to have mediocre or sub-par results :-D.
Click to expand...

Maybe I needed to cook longer...it is a bit tough too. Thought the brine would make it moist and tender already. That was my understanding. Could also be there wasn't much fat on it to begin with and wasn't enough to render out to be tender...I dunno. I'm just a bit pissy about it I guess.
 
bjarolim said:
Maybe I needed to cook longer...it is a bit tough too. Thought the brine would make it moist and tender already. That was my understanding. Could also be there wasn't much fat on it to begin with and wasn't enough to render out to be tender...I dunno. I'm just a bit pissy about it I guess.
Click to expand...

Ya that low finish temp just doesn't seem high enough. Again for the ones I take off the smoke at that temp I finish in a pressure cooker (at least the smaller ones that fit).

While brines do help with moisture the meat still has to hit the window of doneness, but just give it another whirl :grin:. In the beginning when I first started smoking corned beef I would just buy the ones already corned in the store. They are ready anytime and you don't have to wait a week or more to corn yourself :-D.

This is one I corned and smoked (just the point in this thread) and then finished in the pressure cooker. But wrapping and finishing in the smoker works great too.

I do like salty things, but don't put any extra salt into my rub. Some say to soak the corned beef for a day changing out the water every "x" amount of hours, but I don't do that. So you could try that to also see if that helps it not be as salty, but sounds like your rub was the culprit.
 
Jason TQ said:
Ya that low finish temp just doesn't seem high enough. Again for the ones I take off the smoke at that temp I finish in a pressure cooker (at least the smaller ones that fit).

While brines do help with moisture the meat still has to hit the window of doneness, but just give it another whirl :grin:. In the beginning when I first started smoking corned beef I would just buy the ones already corned in the store. They are ready anytime and you don't have to wait a week or more to corn yourself :-D.

This is one I corned and smoked (just the point in this thread) and then finished in the pressure cooker. But wrapping and finishing in the smoker works great too.

I do like salty things, but don't put any extra salt into my rub. Some say to soak the corned beef for a day changing out the water every "x" amount of hours, but I don't do that. So you could try that to also see if that helps it not be as salty, but sounds like your rub was the culprit.
Click to expand...

Been waiting for your input on this. So what temps do I need to hit on the meat...the 190+ range or just probe tender? I did let mine soak 24 hours and changed the water once as I stated above and pan fried a piece and it tasted fantastic....you got any ideas how to salvage the other piece of pastrami that is probably the same as the first?
 
Oh man, that is disappointing. But you did many things right, so you should focus on those. The color of that looks right on, so it seems you have the corning down. I think next time you crush it.

The way they say the delis do it is to cook to stall and then steam the whole piece to normal brisket IT 200-205. I was thinking when I attempt I might wrap instead of steaming. That is just something I wanted to play with.
 
bjarolim said:
It also pretty dry too...what coulda caused this? IT was 170 and I followed Ron_L's advice and he said no hold time is neccessary and to pull it when it hits 165?

What is the deal?
Click to expand...

Sorry if that post was misleading. It was a cut and paste from a post from 2004 by Big Belly that is no longer in the database and that was his recommendation. I was posting it for the brine recipe. I either cook mine to 165-ish and foil, or take it all the way to 195-200. Both work.

If you have any left just pout it in a foil packet and them steam for a while. It should still get tender.
 
I've always done Alton Brown's corned beef method for mine. And I don't even rub it usually, since it seems salty enough. I also go really long in the brine (several weeks), at the advice of some guy from the homebrew store :p

I bought a meat slicer after my first one, and it does help with the tenderness. Or masks it, whatever. :twisted:

Our second favorite way to use it (behind sandwiches/reubens) is to make a corned beef hash. Those tough ends and dry pieces seem to work well when diced and mixed with taters, cheese, and runny egg yolks.
 
Take it to 165 and rest if you're going to pressure cook or steam finish. Take it to 195-203 if you aren't. If it is way too salty then reheat by boiling or steaming. Should lose some of the saltiness.
 
Luckily I have one more piece of brisket that wasn't cooked yet...was gonna make corned beef and cabbage with it, rather than pastrami but I might concock a new rub and try the pastrami again.
 
Don't give up on it. Take that other piece and throw it in a steamer and steam until tender. You may need to take it to 200 or so. You just need to finish cooking it.
 
I don't own a pressure cooker, but I steam finish pastrami in the oven by placing it on a rack in a roasting pan, fill with water to just below the rack, and seal with foil. Once it is finished I wrap, refrigerate, and slice the next day for sammies and some thick slices for hash.
 
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