It’s Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day. True to form of many of the recipes I enjoy to make, this is of the low-and-slow variety, but not a typical braise…a smoke! I started this dish preparation a week ago and literally just ate the results. A pastrami sandwich is as beautiful as its simplicity: smoked, brined beef brisket piled high onto delicious rye bread, a slathering of deli mustard, and a pickle. The high points: the flavor is incredible, like spicy, smoky, beefy, thick-slabbed bacon. The fat melts away as you chew the succulent and soft meat. The lows: I only wish I had consulted the video portion of this recipe as opposed to just the write-up as they were slightly different! Fortunately, though, the only difference is aesthetic in nature. The meat isn’t as pink as I would like it to be. But, that is because I should have, apparently, doubled the brine time!
The original recipe, found at the link below, called for a 6-day brine. However, the tv airing, on Project Smoke, called for a 12-day brine. As a result, the pink Himalayan salt would have had more time to integrate into the meat. Instead of just a pink smoke ring that I achieved, the meat should be pink, even in the center, regardless of the fact that it is cooked to 195 degrees. Still, it is so delicious. I paired it with Rye bread from Zingerman’s, a treat unto itself, and of course, no hot pastrami sandwich would be complete without adding a nice schmear of spicy, brown, deli mustard. If you’d like to take a 12-day brining journey, followed by about 18 hours of other prep and smoking, feel free to take the plunge with the recipe below!
Pastrami
adapted from Barbecue Bible, Steven Raichlen
If you watch Project Smoke, he brines the beef for 12 days, even though the written recipe calls for 6 days. I went with the written recipe…because I didn’t watch the video beforehand! The longer you brine, the better. So, if you have the time, do the entire brine. Hell, the infamous Katz Deli brines their brisket for 3 weeks! Using the pink salt is important so that your beef doesn’t gray as it cooks. I used a 16 qt. Igloo Playmate cooler for the brine and it worked out great - I cleaned it thoroughly with hot soapy water during the smoke so that I could also rest/hold the brisket after cooking.
Brine
4-5 lb beef brisket
Large container or medium-sized cooler
1 gallon water
⅔ cup kosher salt
1 tsp fine Himalayan pink salt
1 small onion, halved
8 garlic cloves, halved
Rub
Brined brisket
½ cup peppercorns
½ cup coriander seeds
2 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
Other
6 cups wood chips (Hickory, Apple, or Cherry, or a blend)
2 smoker boxes (if using a gas grill) or you can also use a DIY foil pack
Probe thermometer
Pink butcher paper - unbleached and no wax interior
High quality rye bread for sandwiches, I had mine shipped in from Zingerman’s
Spicy brown mustard
Brine the beef. 6-12 days prior to smoking, unpackage your beef and rinse it under cold water. Drain and reserve. (If you don’t have 12 days, 6 days is fine, the meat will just not be as pink)
In a large pot bring half of the water to a boil and stir in the salts until dissolved. Add in the remaining gallon of cold water along with the onion and garlic. Once the water has fully cooled, transfer to your container or cooler. Place the beef in the brine and cover.
Set the brining beef in a refrigerator and flip once-a-day, for 6 days (or up to 12 days…or even 3 weeks!) until you’re ready to smoke the brisket.
Prepare the rub and wood chips. About 45 minutes prior to smoking. Soak half of the wood chips in a bowl of water for 30 minutes. Then drain and divide among 2 smoker boxes or wrap up in a foil packet, poking holes in the top for the smoke to escape.
Meanwhile, place the peppercorns into a spice grinder (or process through a pepper mill on coarse grind) and pulse several times until coarsely ground and transfer to a medium bowl. Repeat with the coriander seeds and place in the bowl, adding in the mustard seeds, brown sugar, and ground ginger. Mix well and reserve.
Smoke the beef. The smoke process and rest period takes approximately 16 hours. Place the soaked chips directly over one main burner. Preheat the grill to 250 degrees for about 20-30 minutes, until the chips start smoking. Be sure to clean the grill grate where you will place the brisket down. You’ll smoke using the indirect method, keeping the main burner under the chips lit the entire time and turning off the remaining burners.
Remove the brisket from the brine and rinse under cool water and blot dry with paper towels.
Apply half of the rub to the bottom of the brisket, massaging the spices into the meat. Flip over and repeat on the top/fatty side.
When the chips are smoking, turn off all but the main burner and place the meat, fatty-side up, as far away as possible from the burner under the smoker boxes.
Close the grill cover and monitor the heat - the ideal smoke-heat temperature is 225 degrees. I ended up having one burner left on under the chips all night and that held the temp around 225, even when it got down into the teens.
After 5.5 hours of smoking, soak the remaining 3 cups of wood chips in water for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, drain the chips. Carefully (using heat-proof gloves) remove the smoker boxes from the grill and dump out the burnt chips (NOT in the trash! Let them cool completely first.) Place the new chips in the replenished smoker boxes back on top of the lit burner.
While the grill is open, place a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the brisket and run the wire out to the monitor and close the grill. At this point, I had to bring up the main burner for a few minutes and then adjust back to low.
Continue to smoke the meat, undisturbed, until the probe thermometer reaches 175 degrees. It took my brisket almost 12 hours to reach 175.
Lay out 2 long overlapping sheets of pink butcher paper. Place the brisket a third of the way up from the bottom. Pull the paper over the brisket, tuck in the sides and continue to roll the brisket over, wrapping fairly tightly.
Place the wrapped brisket back onto the grill and insert the probe thermometer once more into the thickest part of the beef and continue to cook, covered, at 225 degrees. I had to adjust the heat slightly upward for the remainder of the smoke. Be sure to monitor the heat closely as you don’t want to go over 250 degrees.
The brisket will need about another 3-4 hours to reach the ideal temperature: 195 degrees. My total smoke time was 15.5 hours.
When the brisket reaches 195 degrees, remove the probe thermometer, and transfer the wrapped meat into a cooler. Allow the meat to rest for an hour prior to slicing.
When ready to serve, slice only what you need and let the remainder fully cool. Wrap the leftovers and place them in the fridge, you can then thinly slice the meat later for more sandwiches or to eat on it’s own.
Since it’s hot pastrami sandwich day, I ordered some authentic rye loafs from Zingerman’s Bakery in Lansing, Michigan and heated it briefly in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. To make the classic sandwich, slice the meat about ¼-inch thick and pile it on to the bottom slice of bread. Give a nice coating of deli-style (brown) or horseradish mustard on the top slice. Serve with kosher dill pickles. ______________________________ Copyright 2022, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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