There Will Be Food Tomorrow

Got the hallway all ready for the wife to paint tomorrow; fixed a couple loose cupboards; glue set a small table that was getting very unstable (it is where we have the cat food so the dog does not eat it, he will eat it all if he can get to it); and a few other home chores. Nice.

There Will Be Food Tomorrow
Nice weather finally! I threw out that I was going to be cooking and amongst the many items I can cook baby back ribs and pastrami were the lead contenders. Kid Dynamite is a pastrami addict (his words) so I figured why not take another shot at one? I made one last year almost exactly at this time of year!

Via Wikipedia:

Pastrami (Romanian: pastramă, Yiddish: פּאַסטראָמע pastróme), is a popular delicatessen meat usually made from beef and, traditionally in Romania, also from pork and mutton. Like corned beef, pastrami was originally created as a way to preserve meat before modern refrigeration. For pastrami, the raw meat is brined, partly dried, seasoned with various herbs and spices, then smoked and steamed.

So pastrami is not just a beef brisket, it must be corned or brined and then smoked.

Anyways, here is the food for tomorrow's cook:

I could not get over to the butcher shop, but I was glad the baby backs at the grocery store were meaty and looked good.

To make pastrami, you will have to desalt the corned beef otherwise the final product will be so salty you cannot eat much of it. That's not good. While on the smoker the meat will shrink around 30% so everything gets concentrated. I soaked the brisket in water for 7 hours changing the water every hour. Here is a look at how much salt pours out:

The water was clear but gets colored as the brining solution runs out.

Here is the brisket after soaking:


I made a pastrami rub of the following:
.25 cup kosher salt
.25 cup paprika
3 tblsp coriander seeds (will add tomorrow before putting on smoker)
2 tblsp ground coriander
3 tblsp light brown sugar
2 tblsp ground black peppercorns
2 tblsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tblsp ground white peppercorns
1 tblsp minced garlic

Here is the brisket all rubbed up and ready to refrigerate overnight:

Yeah it was premium beer time, Budweiser! (BUD)

I like to apply rib rub to the baby backs right before I put them on the smoker, just my preference. Seems to give a better outside "bark" but maybe that's juts me. The Big Steel Keg will be in action tomorrow! More pictures ans results tomorrow.

Have a good night.