Pastrami or Corned Beef
Recipe courtesy of Jeremy Leinen, CEC, Executive Chef, Dunwoody Country Club (Atlanta, Ga.)
Ingredients
- beef briskets - halved
- kosher salt - as needed (see recipe)
- sugar - as needed (see recipe)
- white pepper - as needed (see recipe)
- TCM - 1 tsp. per 5 lbs. of meat
- ground pickling spice - 1-2 Tbsps.
- pastrami rub - as needed
Instructions
Procedure:
- Rub appropriate amount of TCM over each half of brisket (1 tsp. per 5 lbs. of meat).
- Mix salt, sugar and white pepper and prepare pan for dredging. Roughly half as much sugar as salt and “enough” white pepper for flavor.
- Dredge each piece of brisket in the salt mixture and make sure each side is evenly coated.
- Put the dredged brisket in a large vacuum sealer bag with 1-2 Tbsps. of ground pickling spice, depending on size of brisket half.
- Vacuum seal the bags of brisket.
- Allow the meat to cure in the cooler for 2-3 weeks. Make sure to flip the meat over every few days during the process.
- For Corned Beef: Remove brisket from bag, rinse and boil until tender. Add more pickling spice to the water to keep from diluting the flavor.
- For Pastrami: Remove brisket from bag, rinse, then roll in pastrami rub to coat all sides of the meat. Allow the meat to air dry in the cooler for a few hours, preferably overnight. Smoke for a minimum of 2 hours, but longer if you have time. After smoking, boil until tender-again, add pickling spice to the water.