HOMEMADE PASTRAMI!

     After St. Patricks day you will most likely to find supermarkets will put their leftover surplus of corned beef on sale. This is a GOOD thing! tired of eating corned beef? Turn it onto homemade pastrami! I have always been huge fan of pastrami, but once I've learned how to make it homemade, I've never went back! The ingredients are not hard to find, some you might already have! The down side to making pastrami? TIME! It takes 6 days to make, 5 for prep, 1 to cook. But the results are amazing! So, for me to make it worth it? I make a lot of it and freeze it!

     Pastrami broken down it a beef brisket that has been dry cured with pink salt (curing salt), black pepper and coriander. Then it is smoked!

     Corned beef broken down is a beef brisket or round that has been brined with pink salt and pickling spice.

     What do these two have in common? They both are cured with pink salt. So, in a nutshell I will be reflavoring the corned beef to make it pastrami! Heres what you will need.

1 6-7lbs. corned beef
6 tbs. ground black pepper
3 tbs. ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp. mustard powder
1 1/2 tbs. brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. paprika
3 tsp. garlic powder
3 tsp. onion powder

     The first step is to soak the corned beef. This will remove excess salt from the roast. Skipping this step will make your pastrami a salt lick! So, soak the corned beef for 3 days changing the water once a day. Keep refrigerated.

     The second step is drain the meat and pat dry. Mix together the pastrami rub listed above. pack on pastrami rub on the corned beef coating the entire surface. Wrap the meat tight with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 days.

     Step 3, remove meat from refrigerator and plastic wrap, allow to come to room temp. Meanwhile fire up the smoker to 225F. Smoke meat for 6 hours.

     Step 4, you meat should be fully cooked. at this point it needs to tenderize. To do that you will need to wrap the meat with aluminum foil really tight, or place in a aluminum tray and cover with foil. place covered meat back in the smoker and cook for another 2 hours.

     After the final 2 hours, You should have some nice tender yummy pastrami! Slice against the grain of the meat and serve!

Enjoy!