Offal Pastrami

Lately I had been thinking about why you never really hear of beef headcheese.....of course, that pondering led to being pretty sure I had to make one just to see if there was some problem with it that I could not foresee. Once I was convinced to do it, I was thinking about flavors and decided to go the pastrami route.

I thought I would go large diameter since I really enjoyed the large pork cheese I did recently. Once I started looking at cow heads, I realize that most that I could find were picked pretty clean and I would need a bunch of them to make this work. So, I thought I would add heart and tongue to the mix as well. Going through the freezer, I came across some store bought corned beef and thought, yeah, let's put him in the mix as well.

Anyhow........here is the result of my crazy thoughts.

1 small cow head. I guess my wife is just used to seeing pig heads in the kitchen since she walked in and said "what the fark?!?".



1 large heart



1 small tongue....came as a package deal with the head.



Made a brine based on this recipe.

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-pastrami

All into a big ice chest for just shy of a week.

Pulled them out and removed that outer layer off the tongue, opened up and trimmed all the crap out of the heart that I was pretty sure I didn't want to eat.



Hit all of it except for the head with a rub from that same recipe and in the fridge over night for the date with the smoker.



Beef feet in the pot to brown and then fill with water, add carrots, onions, and celery and simmer until it was down the consistency I was looking for.



I added no seasoning to the stock as I figuered the pastrami spices would bring enough to the party.

Tongue out of the smoker...gave a little taste test before proceeding with things.



Pulled the head meat, chopped up the other parts, and all into a 4" casing with the reduced broth to hold it all together.



Vac pack and into the sous vide at 150 overnight to let things all come together. Took it out yesterday morning and hit it with the ice bath and then into the fridge.

Last night, got busy in the evening and then remembered.......I had to crack it open and see.





Tasted just like pastrami with a bit of that organ kind of kick.

It was late and I had no intention of eating........but I had to try it so I through together a quick sandwich.



All in all I was very pleased with it. I needed to have more head meat/shredded meat in the mix to help with the bind as it took very little effort to pull apart, but it did hold while slicing.

Fun project and something different. As always, it made me happy to put the "throw away" parts to use.

Need to give it more of a proper use tonight. :becky:

Thanks for looking.

daninnewjersey said:

"....a bit of that organ kind of kick..."

Ummmm...what kind of kick is that? Just wondering since I'm not familiar with it.....

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Hmm...not %100 sure how I would describe it. Very beefy with a sort of gaminess to it. Very concentrated flavor........not sure that helps.

Jrogers84 said:

well done but....dude.....gross

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LOL I understand. Not for everyone.

Yeah......really, I was kind of at a loss on what to call this and took a swing. Interesting info there Adams.

daninnewjersey said:

"....I guess my wife is just used to seeing pig heads in the kitchen since she walked in and said "what the fark?!?"..."

Oh to be a fly on the wall....:mrgreen::mrgreen:

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Quick story.....I was soaking a pig bladder in the kitchen and the process is basically to keep soaking and changing the water until you don't smell any urine. My wife walked through and said "do you smell pee?". I told her that I did and she said "one of the dogs must have peed on the rug". So she cleaned the rugs, the she would come through again and say "I still smell pee" and clean something else. This went on all day. Eventually the kitchen and surrounding rooms were sterilized and the bladder no longer smelled either. I pulled the bladder out of the water to stuff it and she asked what it was and when I told her, she said, "Is that why I smelled pee all day?" I told her that was most likely the case. She wasn't happy and I reminded her that she never once asked me if I knew what smelled. :bow::bow:

BTW - We have been married for 24 years and still going strong despite my best efforts. :becky: