Curing Pastrami - A how to guide using our products
CURING PASTRAMI
Angus & Oink Reuben[/caption]
- Choose your meat! You can use lean brisket flat that has been trimmed of all fat (this is our first choice. We have also successfully cured beef ribs, tri-tip, picanha and feather-blade successfully.
- Weight meat and apply cure at 5% meat weight. A 5kg brisket flat will need 250g of A&O Pastrami CURE. Apply the cure onto the meat and put into ziplock bag or similar for curing.
- Cure rates will differ by cut of meat but a guide to use is 1/2 inch per day plus 1 day. a 3 inch piece will therefor require 7 days to cure. Thinnner edges will cure more quickly so try and use as regular a shaped piece as possible.
- Once cured, wash the cure off the meat under a cold tap and remove any remaining curing salts. Pat dry with paper towel.
- At this stage you can leave the meat in the fridge for a couple of days to equalise the cure. This just allows the cure to settle in the meat and allows for a full pastrami colour transfer through the meat.
- Trim any excess fat from the meat which may have been cure. It's easy to do this now as the cure changes the texture of the fat.
- Apply A&O Pastrami Rub to the surface of the meat.
- Set up the smoker or oven. We place the pastrami on a warming/cake rack to allow steam to circulate and covered the pastrami in foil to create a steam bath. Cook pastrami to 200-210f internal temperature, or until texture is tender.
- We smoke the pastrami at 275f for 4-5 hours and then wrap in until it's close to 200f internal temperature. Wrap when the bark has formed. You can also steam the pastrami from the outset. Cook the meat until tender, but not fall apart, enough texture should remain so the meat can be sliced but not pulled.
- We prefer to use Cherry wood for smoking our Pastrami
- The difficult part now comes when you have to wait for the meat to cool, you'll want to demolish this in seconds!!!
- Be sure to check out our ultimate Reuben Recipe here: https://www.angusandoink.com/pastramification-build-perfect-reuben/
Angus & Oink Reuben[/caption]