beef pastrami

A Smoked Pastrami Recipe That's Close To Katz's

corned beef, preferably

pastrami rub

This homemade pastrami recipe is complex and smoky, but not in the way that other smoked meats are smoky. The smoke in this beef pastrami is not overt. It is blended in thoroughly. Much like Katz&#039;s pastrami, this is highly seasoned, but the black pepper and coriander rub is never domineering, and swimming across all your buds are a range of other herbs and spices. Once you try this recipe you may need to open your own deli!

Simple And Smoky Homemade Pastrami Recipe

corned beef, preferably our homemade recipe

Prep the corned beef. If possible, make your own corned beef. It is just plain better than storebought. For pastrami, the flat section of the brisket is favored by many because it makes nice even slices for sandwiches, but I prefer the point section of the brisket because it is fattier, richer, and more tender. It can also be made from flank steak, or leaner cuts, or even from boneless short plate (rib meat). If you are using brisket, one side of the meat will probably have a thick layer of fat on it called the cap. Remove all of the fat cap except about 1/8" and if there is any filmy membrane on the other side, remove it all. That thin layer of fat is important. The process takes about a week.

Desalinate. Put the corned beef in a pot slightly larger than the meat and cover it with cold water in the fridge for at least 8 hours. This removes excess salt. Trust me, you need to do this or you will be gulping water all night after your meal.

Rub. Make the rub. Rinse the meat, and while it is damp, apply the rub liberally, about 4 tablespoons per square foot of surface, and press it into the surface to help it adhere. If there is a thin part of meat, use less rub. Put in the fridge for a minimum of 2 days. Don't wrap it. The rub just sticks to the plastic wrap. Normally I say you do not need to let meats marinate in a rub, but the wait seems to help this particular rub adhere.

Fire up. Set up your grill in 2 zones for smoking or set up your smoker. If you can, use a charcoal smoker. It produces a deeper darker crust than any other cooker. Preheat to 225°F. Pick your wood. I don't think it makes a huge difference with all the other flavors banging around in there. My best batch was with cherry wood.

Cook. Place the meat on the smoker or on the indirect heat side of the grill. If you plan to steam it before serving for maximum tenderness, you only need to smoke it with indirect heat until it reaches the stall at about 150°F. You can wrap in foil and refrigerate for a week if you wish or proceed to the steaming step. The downside is that steam softens the crust. You can skip the steaming and smoke it up to 203°F and have a nice firm smoky bark, but the meat will not be quite as tender. But it will be tender. And delicious. Your call. Try it both ways and pick the method that suits you best.

Steam (optional). If you want to steam it for maximum tenderness, if you have a bamboo or metal steamer in which the meat will fit, you can use that. If not, you can make a steamer by putting a wire rack in a baking pan. If necessary you can sit the rack on wads of foil to keep it out of the water. Unwrap the meat and put it on the foil in which it was wrapped or the steam will wash off much of the rub. Do not slice the meat first.

If you made a steamer with a baking pan, cover it with foil. If the pan is steel don't let the foil touch the meat. The salt, the water, the steel, and the aluminum can interact and create electrical charges that can melt the foil! This is a phenomenon called the "lasagna cell" because it happens to lasagna often.

Put the pan on a burner, turn the heat to medium low, and steam it an hour or two until heated through to 203°F. Add hot water as needed, making sure the pan never dries out. Don't rush this. Take it all the way to 203°F. Note that the crust tends to get soft when you steam. No doubt about it, a hard crust is more appealing. So you can firm the crust by putting it on a hot grill or in the oven or under the broiler for a few minutes. The best crust comes from smoking up to 203°F and skipping the steam. The big puzzlement is how does Katz's retain the hard crust even though they boil the meat just before serving. Dr. Blonder speculates that they pack the meat in so tight that the crust remains hard. I'm skeptical.

Slicing. Slicing is crucial to maximize tenderness. Look at the meat and notice which way the grain is running. Cut it by hand in thin slices, about 1/8" thick, perpendicular to the grain. If you cut parallel to the grain it will be much chewier. Don't try to slice it with a machine. It will just fall apart.

Serve. I serve the homemade smoked pastrami on fresh untoasted rye bread. A good brown mustard on both slices and a few shreds of sauerkraut is nice but not necessary. Now this is going to sound weird: It may need a light sprinkling of salt. The soaking process occasionally removes too much. So taste it and if you wish, sprinkle it on lightly. At Katz&#039;s they put about 1 pound of meat on each sandwich, and the Carnegie Deli uses even more. That&#039;s just too much for me devour without unhinging my jaw. 1/2 to 3/4 pound per sandwich is more than enough for home use. If you want, you can make a Rockin&#039; Pastrami Reuben with sauerkraut, melted swiss, and thousand island or Russian dressing, or beter still, my famous Burger Glop. Reubens were originally made with corned beef, but there&#039;s no rule that you can&#039;t make one from pastrami. In fact, I highly recommend it.Leftovers freeze well and they can be reheated in the microwave or steamed. They can also be made into a killer hash. Ess, bench, sei a mensch!

The best recipe for the ultimate Reuben from Meathead of AmazingRibs.com.  Learn More: https://tinyurl.com/acq59mj

Meathead of AmazingRibs.com shows you how to elevate the world's best sandwich, the Reuben, by converting corned beef to smoked pastrami, as close to Katz's deli pastrami as possible without a trip to Manhattan.

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How To Make The Best Pastrami And Pastrami Reuben Sandwiches

This recipe combines Meathead's amazing Pastrami recipe with the sous vide technique to produce wonderfully tender and moist meat that is better than anything you'll find in New York's best delis.

Sous-Vide-Que Pastrami Recipe

beef brisket ((approximately 3 to 4 pounds))

Prep. Put the corned beef in a pot slightly larger than the meat and cover it with cold water. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours in order to remove excess salt from the meat. If you can, change the water once or twice.

Prepare a sous vide immersion circulator, such as Joule by ChefSteps, according to the manufacturer's instructions and set the water temperature for 150°F.

Remove the desalinated corned beef from the pot and place in a gallon-size sealable freezer bag. Carefully submerge the freezer bag in the water bath until most of the air has been removed and then seal the bag as in the video below. Once bag is submerged, cook the corned beef for 30 hours.

You need to squeeze the air out of the plastic bags when you cook sous vide, but you don't need to buy a special vacuum sealer and special bags. You can use plain old zipper bags and Archimedes principle. We have also published a book called Sous Vide Que Made Easy based on my presentation to the International Sous Vide Association. The book is only $3.99 on Amazon here ​https://tinyurl.com/sousvideque​

There is also more on our website: https://tinyurl.com/y7yb58f8

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How To Vacuum Seal Sous Vide Bags Without A Special Machine

Fill a large container with a 50/50 mix of ice and water. Place the bag of sous vided corned beef in the ice water for 30 to 60 minutes to quickly reduce the meat's core temperature to 34 to 38ºF. Place the meat in the refrigerator until ready to smoke (up to two days ahead of time).

Fire up. Fire up your smoker to 225°F or prepare a grill for 2-zone cooking and get the indirect side to about  225°F. If you are using a gas grill, simply turn off the burners on one half of the grill for indirect cooking, adjust the grill temperature to approximately 225°F, then add a smoker box or smoking wood pouch according to manufacturer's instructions for the full smoke flavor. Use lots of wood.

Prep again. Combine the rub ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.

Remove meat from the freezer bag. Cut off any extra fat. Pat the surface dry with paper towels and season generously all over with the dry rub mixture, 

Cook. Place the meat in your smoker or on the cooler side of the grill as far from the heat source as possible. Allow the meat to smoke until it reaches an internal temperature of 125°F, about 1 hour. Note that the pastrami is already perfectly cooked from the sous vide step. The goal is to add smoke to the meat while reheating it to a temperature that is pleasant when served.

Serve. Remove the pastrami from the grill, wrap it in a double layer of foil, and allow it to sit for 1 hour before unwrapping and slicing against the natural grain of the meat. May I recommend a Rockin Reuben Sandwich?

Top 3 beef pastrami recipes from across the web

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Sous-Vide-Que Pastrami Recipe

Top 3 beef pastrami recipes from across the web

The most viewed beef pastrami recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

A Smoked Pastrami Recipe That's Clo...

Simple And Smoky Homemade Pastrami ...

Sous-Vide-Que Pastrami Recipe

The most viewed beef pastrami recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine