Due to safety considerations in curing meats I decided to make this a teaching recipe, which is one reason why it is longer than typical recipes in Food Nirvana. Note that I have a variety of teaching recipes for different foods in Food Nirvana when the process steps/measurements need to be done very accurately and done in a particular order.
I sometimes use 2, 3 pound chuck roasts instead of one 5 pound beef brisket for making both corned beef and pastrami, due to the price of beef brisket. I cut away all large fat areas and cut the chuck roasts into the two sections with different grain directions before cutting it into 2" thick pieces across/perpendicular to the grain. I then cure the meat for at least seven (or up to ten) days using the brining recipe shown below. That produces raw corned beef. You can choose to use either brisket or chuck roasts.
If I am using chuck roasts, I apply McCormicks® bromelain based meat tenderizer to all surfaces of the raw corned beef, and then I apply the pastrami rub mixture to all surfaces of the meat. The meat is refrigerated overnight and then smoked in an electric smoker at 250°F for two hours.
The meat is then allowed to finish cooking/steaming with a shallow aluminum foil pan of steaming water (pour two cups of boiling water into the pan once it is inside the smoker on a low shelf, and more later, to keep the steaming happening) placed in the smoker, to a final internal meat temperature of 205°F. Note that I use a wireless thermometer to monitor the internal temperature of the meat. You then use an Instant Pot® pressure steamer to make the pastrami from the smoker become moist and tender.
The final step is to cut very thin slices (1/8th inch thick or less) of the pastrami, cross grain.
Use the hot pastrami slices with partially melted Swiss cheese on top to make the sandwiches on (optionally grilled) rye bread slices that have been spread with brown deli style mustard. Now you have a delicious hot pastrami and Swiss on rye sandwich. Serve a Kosher dill pickle and some potato chips on the side. Serve cold beer or some other cold carbonated beverage.
You can also make either a Reuben sandwich or a variation of a Rachel sandwich (usually made with corned beef or turkey), the first using warm (but not wet) sauerkraut and thousand island dressing (instead of mustard) and the latter using room temperature coleslaw (moist but not dripping wet) along with thousand island dressing.
I hope you make this pastrami. It looks like it takes a long time and is difficult to make, but in reality it is easy ... there are simply multiple steps, but you do need to have various essential items like a kitchen scale, an electric smoker and a pressure steamer to make great pastrami, and a wireless thermometer is important too, as is a vacuum sealer. If necessary you can use an instant read thermometer and aluminum foil wrapping instead of vacuum sealing. You can also steam slices of pastrami on a stovetop steamer if you lack a pressure steamer, but the final product will be less tender and less moist. You also need to be careful in doing all measurements of weight and volume of ingredients. The prize at the end is more than worth the effort. Just think of the bragging rights you will have as a fine chef!
Now let's proceed to make pastrami with the first of six steps ...
Step One: Prepare the meat to be cured
Ingredients:
5 lb. beef brisket (or two 3 lb. chuck roasts, defatted, separated into sections by grain direction, and sliced vertically across the grain into 2" thick pieces)
Directions:
If you are using beef brisket, cut away the exterior layer of fat and silver skin, but do not cut out any interior fat layer. If you are using chuck roast cut away all large areas of fat and any sinew/silver skin. Note that removing the fat and silver skin from brisket is a tedious task due to the large area of the meat surface that is affected. Use a very sharp knife. I use a boning knife as it is easier to push it under the fat/silver skin layer due to it's long thin shape and sharp point. Chuck roast may also have some silver skin that must be cut off if it covers a meat surface that will need to be penetrated with curing brine.
Weigh the meat after fat/silver skin removal. You will want to make the correct amount of brine, where the amount of curing agent is matched to the real weight of the meat being cured, not to the weight shown on the supermarket package, and not the weight before you remove fat. Otherwise, you will use too much curing agent, and that is not a good idea. Specifically, you risk making the brine toxic. I typically wear latex or nitrile gloves when working with curing agents.
Put the prepared meat into the refrigerator on a plate.
Step Two: Make the curing brine
Based on the actual weight of the meat to be cured, you will use pink curing salt (Prague #1) at the rate of 1 teaspoon per pound of meat. That is the reason the list of ingredients below shows a variable amount of pink curing salt, for you don't actually know the weight of the meat until you have removed any excess or otherwise unwanted fat. In short, weigh the meat accurately after fat removal and adjust the exact amount of pink curing salt you use based on the exact weight of the meat.
Ingredients:
Curing: (If you are curing two chuck roasts then increase the water volume of the curing mixture shown next by 25%)
½ gallon of water
4 to 5 teaspoons of pink curing salt (Prague #1), based on the actual final weight of the meat to be cured [1 teaspoon per pound of meat]
¼ cup of granulated sugar
10 garlic cloves, chopped or sliced thin
½ cup of Kosher salt
Seasonings: (If you are curing two chuck roasts then increase the seasoning ingredient amounts shown next by 25%)
2 teaspoons each of black peppercorns, yellow mustard seeds and coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of dried red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons of whole allspice
2 teaspoons of ground nutmeg
2 whole cinnamon sticks, broken up into around eight smaller pieces (or 1 tbsp. of ground cinnamon)
6 bay leaves, crumbled
2 teaspoons of whole cloves
2 teaspoons of ground ginger
Directions:
Mix the seeds and seasoning powders and pieces of cinnamon stick and bay leaves in a bowl. You will use half of that mixture when you brine/cure the brisket/chuck roasts, and the other half to store in a canning jar for future use the next time you want to make pastrami. (But if you are making corned beef instead of pastrami you can use the other half of the seasonings after the curing step, when you simmer the corned beef in water for 3 to 4 hours before serving it).
Combine the water, pink curing (Prague #1) salt, sugar, chopped garlic cloves and Kosher salt in a two gallon pot.
Put the seasonings into the larger of the two Magic Bullet® mixer containers, then mix for 30 seconds. That will partially crush the seeds in the seasonings. Alternatively, you can seal the seasonings in a Ziploc® freezer bag, spread them out roughly flat, and pound them briefly with the flat side of a kitchen mallet. Add half of the partially crushed seasonings to the pot. Set the other half of the seasonings aside in a tightly closed small canning jar to use at a later time. Put a label on the jar to identify the contents.
Bring the brine to a simmer on high heat, stirring until the sugar and salts have dissolved. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the brine to cool to room temperature.
Refrigerate the brine for a few hours until it is completely chilled.
Use a volume marked pitcher to measure the exact volume of brine. You will want to distribute the brine to the different curing bags based on the comparative weights of the meat in each bag. If all you are curing is one beef brisket you can skip this step, unless you have cut the brisket into halves to make handling of the bag, brine and meat easier.
Step 3: Cure the beef
Put the refrigerated beef into one or more 10" x 16" vacuum sealing bags. Alternatively, you can use two, one gallon Ziploc® freezer bags for a beef brisket that has been cut in half, or two or more, one gallon Ziploc® freezer bags if the meat you are using started as two chuck roasts.
Hold the vacuum sealing bag(s) [or Ziploc® freezer bag(s)] vertically and add the chilled curing brine/seasonings. Divide the brine volume across the bags based on the weight of the meat in each bag. For example, if one bag contains 2.5 pounds of meat and the second bag contains 3.5 pounds of meat, then the first bag should get about 42% of the brine and the second bag should get about 58% of the brine. Then, let's assume the actual brine volume is 2.5 quarts, due to added solids and salts and sugar. 42% of 2.5 quarts is about 17 volume ounces of brine, and 58% of 2.5 quarts is about 23 volume ounces of brine. So that is how you determine how much of the brine to put into each bag.
Vacuum seal the meat and brine in the 10" x 16" vacuum seal bag(s). Alternatively, expel the air from the Ziploc® freezer bag(s) by partially folding them and then close/seal them manually.
Refrigerate the vacuum sealed meat and brine (or the sealed Ziploc® bags of meat and brine) and let the brining happen for at least 7 or up to 10 days. Turn the bag(s) over once each day. Note: If you are using Ziploc® bags you will want to put them in disposable aluminum foil pans with a 1" high border all the way around, to protect your refrigerator in case brine leakage occurs from the Ziploc® bags.
Note that the penetration of the brine and curing agent in particular is usually about 1/4" per day, starting from all surfaces to the inside center of the meat. So if the meat is 2" thick at its thickest part, then the brine should be at the center of the meat in four days. But that is a highly variable result, such that providing extra days to know for certain the curing agent has penetrated all the way to the center of the meat is a smart idea. That is why you cure the meat in this recipe for at least seven days (or up to ten days), not four days.
All it takes is one bad experience where not enough penetration occurred and you will recognize with serious disappointment that you cannot trust the uncured area to be safe to eat later or to look right or taste right after the remaining steps in making the pastrami. In short, don't make that mistake.
After seven days (or a few more days to be certain of the cure especially if the meat is more than 2" thick) of brining, put the vacuum sealed bag(s) [or Ziploc® bag(s)] into the sink, then cut or open it/them and drain off the brine. Then rinse the meat.
You now have raw, brine cured, corned beef. No further directions are provided in this recipe if all you want to make is corned beef. Refer to the Food Nirvana recipe for making corned beef.
Put the raw corned beef into a pot somewhat larger than the height of the combined pieces of meat and cover it with cold water.
Refrigerate it for at least 8 hours, changing the water once, after 4 hours. That removes excess salt absorbed by the meat during brining.
Thinking ahead: Buy rye bread (seeded or not), deli style brown mustard, sliced Swiss cheese, Kosher pickles and potato chips. Also good beer, and chill it.
Step 4: Make the rub that will be used to coat the raw corned beef.
Ingredients:
To tenderize corned beef made from chuck roasts:
About 2 tbsp. of McCormick's® Meat Tenderizer at the rate of one teaspoon per pound of meat
Rub seasonings: (You will want to increase (by 50%) the rub seasoning ingredient amounts shown below if you have multiple pieces of cured meat, i.e., chuck roasts.) The reason is that you have increased the total surface area of the meat to be coated with the rub.
1 tablespoon of whole black peppercorns
2 tablespoons of whole coriander seeds
1 tablespoon of coriander powder
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
1 tablespoon of onion powder
½ teaspoon of whole yellow (white) mustard seeds
Directions:
If you started with chuck roasts, then apply the meat tenderizer all over the surfaces of the raw corned beef.
If you do not have a Magic Bullet® mixer then put the peppercorns, coriander seeds and mustard seeds into a Ziploc® freezer bag, seal it flat with the air expelled, then break up the seeds with the flat side of a kitchen mallet. Then combine the cracked seeds with the rest of the seasonings in a bowl and mix them with a spoon. Then skip the next two instructions.
If you have a Magic Bullet® mixer, then put all of the rub ingredients into a bowl. If you had to increase the ingredient amounts then use the larger of the two Magic Bullet® containers in the next step to hold the seasonings.
Spoon them into a Magic Bullet® mixer container and run the mixer briefly (about 30 to 60 seconds) until the whole seeds are "cracked" but not completely powdered.
Apply the rub liberally to the cured meat and press it into the entire surface of the meat by hand to help it adhere.
Refrigerate the (pieces of) meat overnight on a rack (or racks) placed on a disposable aluminum foil pan(s). Smaller pieces of meat should be placed against each other on a rack to make what looks like a larger piece of meat.
Step 5: Smoke the cured, rub coated beef
Set up your electric smoker:
Decide what type of wood you want to use for smoking the meat. Hickory chips are a good choice, as are apple, maple or cherry, or a mixture.
Put 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the wood chips into the smoke tray and put it into the smoker.
Preheat the smoker to 275°F.
Once the chips are smoldering/making smoke, reduce the smoker temperature setting to 250°F.
Put the rack(s) of cured meat into the smoker on a high shelf/shelves, and put a disposable empty aluminum foil tray/pan on a low shelf to catch any rub or drippings that fall from the meat during smoking. There will be a lot of liquid and that is good as it will start part of the steaming process.
If you used chuck roasts, insert a wireless thermometer into the center of one of the smaller pieces the meat. If you lack a wireless thermometer you will have to use an instant read thermometer to periodically (every fifteen to thirty minutes) check the internal temperature of the meat.
Smoke the meat for two hours. Then add two cups of boiling water to the foil tray/pan used to collect meat drippings, then close the smoker door, to create a steam environment. Note that there will already be some water from drippings in the foil tray/pan. About 30 minutes later, check the water level and add boiling water as necessary to continue steaming the meat.
If you don't have an Instant Pot® pressure steamer, you must smoke and steam the meat in the smoker until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 205°F. Add water as needed to keep up the supply of steam. If you plan to use an Instant Pot® pressure steamer later then you can end the smoking process when the internal temperature of the meat is 190 degrees F. Why? Pressure steaming will take care of the remainder of the cooking.
The smaller pieces of meat will be done first, so remove them when they reach 205°F (or at 190°F if you will later be using an Instant Pot® pressure steamer).
Insert the wireless thermometer into the center of one of the large pieces of meat. Or use the instant read thermometer periodically. Continue the smoking/steaming process until the meat is at 205°F, or 190°F if you will later using an Instant Pot® pressure steamer. Be sure to keep water in the steaming tray in the smoker.
Remove the large pieces of meat from the smoker and allow all of the meat to rest/cool to room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Vacuum seal all of the pieces of meat once they have cooled to room temperature and then refrigerate them. Alternatively, wrap the pieces of meat tightly in aluminum foil and refrigerate them.
I wondered if I could pressure steam smoked pastrami to force an increase in meat moisture and tenderness and the answer is yes. Why? To make the meat juicy and tender, which is exactly what you want. The original recipes I found did not call for pressure steaming so I proceeded according to the directions given above. But I also bought an Instant Pot® pressure steamer and I used it with the pastrami produced by this recipe, with great results.
Here are the Instant Pot® instructions: Add one cup of beer (or water) to the bottom of the Instant Pot® and place the smoked pastrami on a rack in the Instant Pot®. Cook at high pressure for 45 minutes. Turn the steamer off and use the steam release lever/tab to exhaust all of the steam, until the steamer is no longer pressurized. Take off the lid and check to see if the meat is moist and tender all the way through. If not, then repeat the pressure steaming of the meat for ten to twenty minutes longer or until it is moist and tender internally. I did not find it necessary to do a second round of pressure steaming.
If you lack a pressure steamer then proceed to the next step, noting that you will want to steam the slices of pastrami in a stovetop steamer before making sandwiches.
Step 6: Serve the pastrami
Refrigerate the wrapped or vacuum sealed/pressure steamed pastrami for a few hours. Note that if you try to cut it immediately after smoking or after pressure steaming it will tend to break apart rather than cut into nice slices. The idea is the pressure steaming process makes the pastrami very tender and very moist. Chilling the meat first will help it hold together later during slicing.
Look at the meat and notice which way the grain is running.
Use a wood cutting board and cut the pastrami by hand (using a large, sharp knife) into thin slices, 1/8" thick, cross grain. Alternatively, use a good electric meat slicer like I do and you can (maybe) cut slices even thinner than 1/8th inch thick, which is very nice.
Rewrap any remaining piece of pastrami with aluminum foil (or vacuum seal it). Then put it into the refrigerator (along with any other wrapped/sealed pieces of pastrami that you will use later).
If you used a pressure steamer the pastrami slices are now ready to eat. Otherwise steam the pastrami slices for 15 minutes in a stovetop steamer.
You want to serve the pastrami hot with the rye bread, deli style brown mustard and partially melted Swiss cheese.
You might want to grill the rye bread first (Yes, you do), using a thin spread of butter on one side of both pieces, and grill them in a medium hot skillet, until the grilled surfaces are slightly crisp but not burned.
The final steps described below are for making a grilled pastrami and Swiss cheese sandwich on rye bread. If you are instead making a Reuben sandwich or a Rachel sandwich then do not put mustard on the slices of rye bread. You will instead use thousand island dressing, and warm (but not wet) sauerkraut for the Reuben sandwich, or room temperature coleslaw that is not dripping wet for the Rachel sandwich. For both of those types of sandwiches you do not want the sauerkraut or the coleslaw filling to make the rye bread wet.
Pile the thin slices of pastrami for one sandwich on a plate and put the Swiss cheese on top, then microwave it for 30 to 60 seconds to partially melt the cheese (This also heats the pastrami). Then make the sandwich, using the grilled rye bread with the mustard spread on the soft surfaces of both pieces. Cut the sandwich in half using a partially diagonal cut. Repeat these steps for any additional sandwiches.
As a last step you might choose to microwave one or more cut sandwiches briefly (15 to 30 seconds each) to make everything warm or hot.
Serve each sandwich on a plate with a Kosher dill pickle and potato chips to the side.
Cold beer is the perfect beverage to accompany this fine sandwich. Be sure to serve it, or at the least serve some cold carbonated beverage.
Enjoy! You have truly earned this delightful treat.