Re: How to make pastrami


"notbob" <notbob@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:slrngi6of4.33c.notbob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On 2008-11-19, Christine Dabney <artisan2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

It is a pretty involved process, and several pages long, if I recall
correctly. If you guys want the recipe, go to the library and take
out the book. I am not going to repost it here. ;)

While I see your point, if I had wanted to go to the library, I wouldn't
have posted the query on rfc. ;)

nb



What is pastrami and how do I make my own?


For best results, use trimmed briskets.





Start with a curing brine. This makes enough for 25 lbs of meat.





5 quarts ice water (about 38-40F)

8 oz. salt

5 oz. Prague Powder #1

5 oz. powdered dextrose

1 Tb garlic juice



Prepare and cure as for corned beef.



After curing, remove from brine and rub liberally with cracked black pepper
and coriander seeds.



Smoke at 140F until the meat is dry and then increase smoker temperature to
200-220F and hold until internal temperature of meat reaches 170-180F.



Chill overnight before using. This meat is fully cooked.







Corn Your Own Beef
Categories: Beef, Cured, Preserving Yield: 1 Beef



1 1/3 c Kosher salt

1 tb Peppercorns; cracked

2 ts Ground allspice

2 ts Ground thyme

1 ts Paprika

1 ts Dried sage

1 ts Bay leaf; crumbled

10 lb Top or bottom round of beef

or eye round, boneless chuck or brisket; fully trimmed



Combine the salt, cracked peppercorns, allspice, thyme, paprika, sage and
bay leaf in a bowl.



Place the meat in a plastic bag roomy enough to hold the meat comfortably.
Rub the combined seasonings all over it. Press as much air out of the bag as
possible, then tie it securely closed and set it in a pan or bowl. Cover
with a second pan, fill the second pan with weights and place it in the
refrigerator, where the temperature should remain at 37 or 38 degrees F.



Within a few hours, red juice will begin to exude from the meat. The cure
has begun. Once a day, without opening the bag, massage the meat with its
juices and spices and turn the bag over. You might want to put a sign on
your refrigerator to remind yourself. In two weeks the cure is done and the
special flavor has been achieved.



The beef will now keep, still in the corning liquid, several months under
refrigeration, but turn it every few days to be sure all is well.



Before cooking the beef, wash off the salt cure and soak the meat in a large
bowl of cold water in the refrigerator, changing the water two or three
times. As the salt leaves the flesh, the meat softens and when thoroughly
desalted it will feel almost like fresh beef. Cut off a snippet, cook it in
simmering water and taste it tom make sure it's thoroughly desalted.
Desalting may take two or three days if the meat has been cured a number of
weeks.



Once the meat is desalted, it is just as perishable as fresh meat, so keep
it in the fridge and cook it soon!



Put it in a large pot of cold water. Bring the water to a boil, turn down to
a simmer and cook the beef 3 to 4 hours, until the meat is fork-tender.
Serves 20.



The brisket is the traditional cut used to make corned beef, but the top or
bottom round will slice better. And don't expect the meat to be pink. Doing
it at home results in a brown or even grey color.



From the Hartford (CT) Courant, 3/13/96



MMed and posted by Dave Sacerdote









Home-Cured Corned Beef


Categories: Beef, Preserving, Cured Yield: 10 Lb beef



10 lb Beef roast

5/8 c Curing salt

5/8 c Pickling spice

10 Whole cloves

1/3 c Peppercorns

5/8 c Brown sugar

2 1/2 ts Saltpeter; for color, opt

2 1/2 tb Garlic cloves, crushed



Combine garlic, bay leaves, cloves, coriander seeds, peppercorns, and
mustard seed in blender. Blend until coarsely chopped. Add brown sugar. Set
aside.



Trim roast (venison, beef, etc.), weigh and measure 1 level Tablespoon of
curing salt per pound. Add measured curing salt to spice mixture you set
aside.



Rub spice mixture into roast, pressing in well. Measure roast at thickest
point. Place into heavy freezing bag and close securely. Place in shallow
pan in refrigerator. Cure 5 days per inch of measured thickness, turning bag
daily.



At end of curing time wrap and freeze.



To cook: Drain juices, if desired rinse thoroughly under cold running water
to remove extra salt and spice pieces, wrap in foil and bake sealed at 300
degrees 2 to 3 hours or until tender. Or use in any corned beef recipe.



Dorothy's comments: This recipe has been tested by my whole family on both
beef and venison with the results that if I do not have one either in
process or residing in the freezer ready for instant cooking I certainly
hear about my oversight! It has become the most requested top of the list
for both Birthday and Christmas gift lists. For ease in converting the ratio
of meat to spices I have set my serving size to the most often used size of
roast by my family. I have used this on several different cuts of meat,
however, our favorite is bottom round. Recently I became lazy and instead of
grinding the spices in my blender I left them whole. The result was exactly
the same in flavor and since I hate to bite into a spice by mistake and
rinse them off before I cook the corned beef, it made the rinsing task a
whole lot easier! I haven't tried using brisket myself, however since that
seems to be the only cut of meat that you can get as corned beef in the
supermarkets around where I live, I imagine it would work fine. Actually,
avoiding brisket was one reason I decided to corn all my own meat at home!
IMHO briskets "might" make good doorstops! Seriously though, the main reason
we don't care for brisket is only because mostly it has a high amount of
fat. The corning process does such a good job of tenderizing that there is
no problem with the toughness. Our favorite cut of meat to corn is the
bottom round since it seems to be a leaner cut of meat. Usually I just cook
the corned beef in the oven with a few potatoes, carrots and celery with it.
Or my husband likes to wrap it in foil and cook it on the barbecue grill,
unwrapping and browning it the last 15 to

20 minutes of the cooking time.



Sylvia's comments: on brisket, it produced a very flavorful corned beef,
usable after about 12 hours in the crockpot. I substituted 4 Tb. pickling
spice for 3 bay leaves, 2 Tb. coriander seeds, and 1 Tb mustard seed. I
also used whole spices without grinding them.


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