No-Smoker Pastrami

- Total Time
- 14 hours, plus 5 days' brining
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 14 to 5-pound piece of brisket, flat or point cut
- 4½tablespoons smoked salt
- ⅔cup kosher salt
- ½cup granulated sugar
- ½cup light brown sugar
- 4teaspoons Prague powder No. 1 (curing salt)
- 2bay leaves
- 6cloves garlic, smashed
- 3whole cloves
- 1tablespoon crushed black peppercorns
- 1teaspoon crushed allspice
- 5tablespoons crushed coriander seeds
- 3tablespoons black mustard seeds
- ½cup coarsely ground black pepper
Preparation
- Step 1
Place brisket in a gallon-size zipper freezer bag and set aside in a bowl or a large plastic container. Combine 3 tablespoons smoked salt, kosher salt, the sugars, Prague powder, bay leaves, garlic, cloves, crushed pepper, allspice and 1 tablespoon crushed coriander seeds in a large bowl. Add 2 cups boiling water. Let stand 15 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add 4 cups ice water to mixture, stir and pour into the bag with the meat. Add as much additional cold water as needed to fill the bag. Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible, and place in the refrigerator still in its bowl or container. Keep refrigerated for 5 days.
- Step 2
Remove meat from brine, rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Set meat on a rimmed baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Toast remaining coriander seeds and the mustard seeds in a dry skillet. Mix with the remaining smoked salt and crush all together. Add the coarse pepper. Press this spice mixture into the surface of the meat all over.
- Step 3
Heat oven to 200 degrees. Place a rack in a rimmed baking sheet and cover rack with a piece of heavy-duty foil large enough to enclose meat. Punch some holes in the bottom of the foil for draining. Place meat on foil, wrap tightly and place pan in oven for 12 hours. Remove from the oven and let cool before refrigerating. At this point, pastrami will keep 10 to 12 days in the refrigerator.
- Step 4
To serve, place all or a portion of the meat, wrapped in foil, in a steamer basket over simmering water in a large pot. Steam until warm, 30 minutes. Slice thin and serve.
Private Notes
Comments
I started brining this last Monday. Cooked it most of Saturday. Tonight we ate the best pastrami sandwich I’ve had in a long long time. This recipe is a keeper. Very authentic.
This recipe absolutely nails the flavor of pastrami. Made sure to ask the butcher for a piece with an extra large fat cap. I used spice world tellicherry pepper and it was way too peppery to leave it untrimmed after cooking - will try a different pepper brand or just lower the amount in the coating next time. We LOVED it. Definitely steam it to reheat it. For a 4 pound brisket we cooked for 10 hours and it was perfect. Will definitely make this again and again.
Made this with a 2 lb brisket and it came out great. Would roast it a bit less.
Also, the usual recommended dose of pink salt is 1tsp/5lbs meat. This seems to call for far too much!
Ok to cure for more than 5 days?
Made this exactly as directed. Could only find decent brisket in form of Costco vacuum packed. It was great. Comparable to any pastrami I've had in NYC and you can slice how you want. Didn't have smoked salt, so used kosher salt with healthy amount of liquid smoke.
