My friends want to know -
How I make Pastrami.
This is my smoker setup.
I use a Brinkman® electric smoker with a SmokePistol
tm. These two components are not made by the
same company, but they work well together for making pastrami. The
reason is that to make pastrami you will have to cold smoke and hot
smoke. You also need to have a consistent source of heat and
smoke. The electric smoker gives you the consistent heat and
the SmokePistolTM
gives you great smoke and lets you cold smoke as well. So
here it is.
How To Make Pastrami
The first thing you need to know about making pastrami, is that
pastrami is nothing more than smoked corned beef.
So what is corned beef?
Corned beef is basically a salted brisket. It is an old fashioned
way of preserving beef. The beef brisket is salted on both sides
heavily and left in a cold environment for several days. The salt
penetrates into the meat preserving the meat and making it corned
beef.
To
make pastrami, you start with a corned beef. Do not trim the fat.
Coat both sides heavily with garlic pepper, then coat again with
fresh cracked pepper. Now place the corned beef into the smoker,
fatty side up, without heating the smoker. Start a hickory
cartridge and get it going in the SmokePistol™. Cold smoke the
corned beef for about 5 hours. Note: smoking meat is in risky deal
however, corned beef is pretty well preserved with salt and the
addition of garlic pepper and pepper on the outside helps keep the
meat from spoiling. It will also help if the meat is good and cold
when you start the cold smoking and if you do this at night or when
it is cool outside.
After cold smoking for about 5 hours, heat the smoker to about 225,
insert another hickory cartridge into the SmokePistol™ and smoke the
corned beef for another five hours. After cold smoking the corned
beef for 5 hours, place the corned beef, fatty side up, on a piece
of aluminum foil and fold the aluminum foil up making a tent. Cook
the corned beef for an additional 5-6 hours in the smoker while
being wrapped loosely in aluminum foil.
You can now trim the fat and enjoy.
Cold smoking corned beef
Hot smoking corned beef
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