Pastrami

Pastrami is an interesting meat. So much history, so much development. Originated in Romania, to "strami" something is to preserve it. To "strami" is a verb and that means one can "strami" fish, fowl, beef, pork.....etcetera. The peoples of the region strami'd meat for their travels across the land.  As time went by, folks left  the old country and bringing their traditions with them, came to the United States.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say:

Pastrami, like corned beef, was created as a method for preserving meat before modern refrigeration.

Both the dish and the word pastrami were brought to the United States in a wave of Jewish immigration from Bessarabia and Romania in the second half of the 19th century. The word, derived from the Yiddish: פּאַסטראָמע (pronounced pastróme), entered the Russian language as pastromáRomanian (пастрома) via the pastramă, and it is likely rooted in the Turkish pastırma.^[1]

Early references in English used the spelling "pastrama". It is likely that the modified "pastrami" spelling was introduced to sound related to the Italian salami

Although Sussman Volk is generally credited with producing the first pastrami sandwich, in New York, in 1887, that claim could be disputed by the founders of Katz's Deli, in New York, which also was founded in 1887. Volk, a kosher butcher, claimed that he got the recipe from a Romanian friend in exchange for storing the friend's luggage while the friend returned to Romania. According to his descendant, Patricia Volk, Volk prepared pastrami according to the recipe and served it on sandwiches out of his butcher shop. The sandwich was so popular, Volk converted the butcher shop into a restaurant to sell pastrami sandwiches.

Romanian Jews immigrated to New York as early as 1872. Among Jewish Romanians, goose breasts were commonly made into pastrami because they were inexpensive. Beef navels were cheaper than goose meat in America, so the Romanian Jews, in America, adapted their recipe and began to make the cheaper beef pastrami.

Making foods to sell off of push carts in the lower east side of New York was one of the most popular occupations for immigrating Jews in the last half of the 19th century. Since sandwiches were a hugely popular foodstuff in New York, it is highly likely that Romanian Jewish immigrants were making and selling pastrami sandwiches off of push carts on the streets of New York at least a decade before Sussman Volk converted his butcher shop into a restaurant.

So, as a pastrami lover I decided  to take the plunge and do it the real way, step-by-step and see what I got. Here we go!

Start from the beginning. Picked up a 14 lb packer brisket this afternoon, no special deals, standard $1.89/lb local price...

Sticking with the traditional flavors, no tweaking for my first try. Got the TenderQuick and spice mix at the store, the rest had at home...


Crushed the juniper, peppercorns, mustard seeds under a rolling pin and added them with the rest into a pot of water to simmer...


Once they started to steam, off the heat and covered for about 20 minutes to release the flavors. Then, strained the seeds and stuff...


To the liquid I added the TQ, brown sugar and garlic powder and a bit more water to make 3 1/2 cups. Simmered that then off the heat...


Here's the ingredient list for the spices:
THE BRINE~


3 1/2 Cups Water (I used distilled from a jug in the fridge)
4 TBSP Juniper Berries
4 TBSP Black Peppercorns
2 TBSP Mustard Seeds
1 TBSP Coriander Seeds
2 TBSP Brown Sugar
1 TSP Garlic Powder
1 TBSP Fennel Seed (didn't crush these seeds)
1 TBSP Whole Rosemary Leaves
2 TBSP McCormick Pickling Spice
About 5 or 6 Mexican Bay Leaves
2 TBSP TenderQuick

THE RUB~

3 TBSP Coarse Ground Black Pepper
1 TBSP Ground Coriander
1 TSP Ground Thyme
2 TBSP Garlic Powder
3 TBSP Brown Sugar
1 TBSP Hungarian Hot Paprika
1/4 Cup TenderQuick


I took the packer out of the fridge and separated the point from the flat and trimmed most of the fat off. Some folks say leave 1/4 inch cap on, I decided to go lean. Ended up with a good 4+ pounds of fat from the cut, so we end up with what looks like 10 pounds meat-


After trimming, I made the rub. Recipe for that posted earlier in the thread. Looks and smells real nice.


After the rub, I brought out my new $2.49 Ace Hardware Meat Injector I bought yesterday. It held up beautifully and with care will last a long time. That's good to know since I'd read a lot of bad things about cheap plastic injectors. Anyway, managed to inject about 3 cups into this huge flat~ It's big, and here's a pic of it all injected and puffy looking-


After that, I rubbed it all over.


After that, brought out the sealer and vacu-sealed that baby- Into the fridge it went to be massaged and turned twice a day-


Now it will sit in the fridge for 5 to 7 days, and massaged and turned over each day for complete curing. Here we are at day seven, when we take it out!


After that, we take it out and rinse that baby under cold ruing water. Let is soak over 3 or 4 iterations of cold water to get rid of the TnderQuick curing salts' taste. I let is sit in a water bowl for 45 min. Here's what it looks like afterwards-


Then re-rubbed the flat with the newly made rub and here we go


What makes pastrami "pastrami" is that at this point it is smoked (or gently barbecued) over a wood fire at low temps. I did mine over Alderwood at 225 F . Any wood is okay, it is personal choice. I just happened to have a load of alder from a friend in the NW US. Here it is on with the point I removed at the start.


here we are were rolling right along at 220, 225 F internal smoker temp- life looking good then I temped and spritzed the meat. Good deal, 'strami at 149 internal and moving up.


Here we are. Pulled of the smoker at 190F internal-


Smelled incredibly good and meaty. Not like pastrami, but like meat! Made my mouth water. Then, I sliced that baby in two even pieces and that's when the full pastrami smell hit me like a tidal wave.....this was all pastrami!


Falling apart tender, this piece of meat sliced like butter. Beautiful slices perfect for the sammie to come...


I could smell the hints of juniper and coriander tucked away in the waves of deliciousness. It was that good. I took a bite of the meat before making the sandwich and OOO-LA-LA BABY WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THIS.... OH...MY ...GAWD. Wow, it was THAT delicious! No exaggeration here; just real complete goodness. Even Mrs Rivet was impressed. She asked for a plate of slices while I made the sammies cause she couldn't wait.

I toasted some Jewish Rye, and slathered on some Habanero Mustard and put 3 slices of Swiss on each piece of bread, then into the oven to melt. Meanwhile plated kettle-fried potato chips and some Bavarian style sauerkraut, a kosher dill (Mount Olive, from North Carolina..best in the world!) and had to break out the Pilsner glass for the beer....

that's some yummy stuff, right there.