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Guest
Guest
For a very long time (probably years) I have wanted to make pastrami. I have eaten good pastrami at wonderful delis in NY, Miami and Fairfax (LA). All I can find here on this tiny island is Boars Head pastrami which is pathetic when put up against the "real deal". My issue has been not being able to find brisket on the island. None to be found for as many years as I've been here (36). I look always. A week ago last Saturday I was in Costco and to my great surprise, in the big slabs of meat section there was a whole brisket staring at me!!!! 14.88 lbs of joy. It was prime so it was $54. Did I care? Nope. I grabbed it, stopped at Home D to buy a little smoker box and chips for our gas grill and wondered all the way home if I had the right type of curing salt, did I have all the right spices "in stock"? I did. I consulted many sources to find out how to brine and smoke it. All conflicting with each other of course. So I made my own choices and made a brine. I cut the brisket in two and chose to use the flat flap side then froze the other half. I cut off the fat cap but left about 1/4". Into the cooled brine it went and into the fridge for 6 whole days, turning it ever two days. My DH is the grill master here so he helped get all in order for the smoking. I pulled the brisket out of the brine, washed it thoroughly, dried it, covered both sides with a combo of crushed black peppercorns and coriander seed. Smoker box went into the gas grill and we fired it up. When ready at 225 the brisket went on. I figured 5-6 hours. But along the way it was not smoking well and even though I pulled the brisket off, fired the grill higher to get more smoke then brought the heat down to 250 before putting the meat back on, it still was not doing what we thought it should. I gave up on the smoking part, pulled the brisket off, put it on a rack above about 4c water in a roasting pan and encased the whole thing in foil. Into a 300 degree oven it went and after 3-1/2 hrs I took it out. Oh the smell was WONDERFUL. After half an hour we tasted it and found it to be amazing. The meat fell apart when sliced, juicy, tender, delicious. Reubens for dinner on homemade rye bread and sauerkraut I cooked with bacon, onion, garlic, gin, chicken broth. Success! The pastrami flavor reminded me of Canter's in Fairfax.
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