Pastrami Recipe

Homemade Pastrami

For this homemade pastrami, beef brisket is brined (or corned) in a pickling mix for 5 days. The now-corned beef is rubbed with black pepper, coriander, and smoked paprika, and baked in the oven. If you must smoke it, see the variation.

Prep: 45min

Total: 7620min

Yield: 10

Serving Size: 1 portion

Nutrition Facts: servingSize 1 portion, calories 189 kcal, Carbohydrate 3 g, Protein 24 g, Fat 9 g, Saturated Fat 3 g, Cholesterol 70 mg, Sodium 96 mg, Fiber 2 g, Sugar 0.2 g, unSaturated Fat 4.4 g

Ingredients:

• 3 quarts ice-cold water (for the brine)
• 10 1/2 ounces kosher salt (about 2 cups Diamond Crystal brand OR 1 heaping cup Morton’s brand)
• 1 3/4 teaspoon pink curing salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed dark or light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons pickling spice
• 1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
• 4 cloves garlic (minced)
• 3 quarts ice-cold water (for the brine)
• One (3- to 4-pound) beef brisket
• 4 cups cold water (for humidifying the oven)
• 1/4 cup ground coriander
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika

Instruction:

1. Trim the excess fat from the brisket until the fat layer remaining on the brisket is about 1/4 inch thick. Submerge the brisket in the cooled brine. (It may be necessary to cut the brisket into 2 pieces to submerge it.) Refrigerate the brisket for 5 days, stirring the brine and flipping the brisket once a day. Make sure that if any of the brisket sides are touching one another that you regularly turn them away from each other to expose all the brisket to the brine.
2. Mix together the coriander, pepper, and paprika in a small bowl.
3. Without trimming the fat, carve the pastrami against the grain into 1/4-inch-thick slices—or, to be less exact, into slices as thin as possible without the meat falling apart. Keep the meat tightly wrapped in aluminum foil or plastic wrap in the fridge for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 6 months.

Homemade Pastrami

This Homemade Pastrami is an awesome way to make pastrami from scratch at home to use and enjoy any way you see fit. This post includes the entire process for making pastrami – from curing the meat all the way to smoking. So grab a brisket flat and let’s get to it!

Prep: 20min

Total: 13460min

Serving Size: 1 serving

Nutrition Facts: calories 381 kcal, Carbohydrate 6 g, Protein 48 g, Fat 18 g, Saturated Fat 6 g, Cholesterol 141 mg, Sodium 182 mg, Fiber 2 g, Sugar 3 g, servingSize 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 5 pound brisket flat, 1.5 inches thick
• 2 quarts water
• 1 quart apple juice
• 1 ½ cups coarse kosher or sea salt
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 3.2 teaspoons pink curing salt #1 (Also known as Prague Powder #1. Ask your butcher or order online.)
• 3 Tablespoons pickling spice
• 1 quart ice
• 2 Tablespoons black peppercorns
• 2 Tablespoons coriander seeds
• 1 Tablespoon whole mustard seeds
• 2 Tablespoons coarse kosher or sea salt
• 2 Tablespoons smoked paprika
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon garlic powder

Instruction:

1. Make the corned beef brine. In a large stock pot, combine all of the ingredients for the brine except the ice. Bring to a boil and stir until all of the salt and sugar has dissolved in the brine. Remove from the heat and stir in the ice until the brine has cooled to room temperature.Cure the corned beef. Place the brisket in a large food-safe plastic container and pour over the cooled brine. Keep the brisket in the cure in the refrigerator for 5-7 days, turning and stirring the brine mixture at least once per day.
2. Make the pastrami seasoning. In a small saute pan over medium heat, combine the coriander seed, mustard seed, and peppercorns. Toast the spices for 2-3 minutes or until just fragrant. Transfer to a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder and pulse until well combined. Stir in the remaining rub ingredients.
3. Season the pastrami. Coat the cured brisket in the pastrami rub and wrap tightly. For best results, let the roast sit in the pastrami rub in your refrigerator for 1-2 days (on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any moisture).
4. Smoke the pastrami. Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees F. Unwrap the pastrami and place it directly on the grill grates. Close the lid and smoke until the internal temperature of the brisket reads 195 degrees F. This typically takes anywhere from 6-8 hours.
5. Slice and serve. If you want to enjoy your pastrami immediately, let the brisket rest for 1 hour before slicing against the grain and enjoying warm. Otherwise, wrap the smoked pastrami in plastic wrap and chill completely before slicing thin, against the grain. Your pastrami slices can then be steamed lightly to warm through before piling high on your favorite rye bread with sauerkraut and thousand island dressing.

Simple And Smoky Homemade Pastrami Recipe

This homemade pastrami recipe is complex and smoky, but not in the way that other smoked meats are smoky. The smoke in this beef pastrami is not overt. It is blended in thoroughly. Much like Katz’s pastrami, this is highly seasoned, but the black pepper and coriander rub is never domineering, and swimming across all your buds are a range of other herbs and spices. Once you try this recipe you may need to open your own deli!NOTE: In early 2022, I modified the recipe to eliminate the steaming step because the Texas Crutch, wrapping tightly in foil during the cooking step, works just as ell with less fuss, mess, and it retains more of the rub and bark.

Prep: 20min

Total: 380min

Serving Size: 1 serving

Nutrition Facts: calories 292 kcal, Carbohydrate 9 g, Protein 53 g, Fat 15 g, Saturated Fat 9 g, Cholesterol 121 mg, Sodium 1462 mg, Fiber 5 g, Sugar 5 g, servingSize 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds corned beef, preferably our homemade recipe
• 3 tablespoons pastrami rub

Instruction:

1. Prep the corned beef. Buy or make corned beef. For pastrami, the flat section of the brisket is favored by many because it makes nice even slices for sandwiches, but I prefer the point section of the brisket because it is fattier, richer, and more tender. It can also be made from flank steak, or leaner cuts, or even from boneless short plate (rib meat). Remove all of the fat cap and if there is any filmy membrane on the other side, remove it all.
2. Desalinate. Put the corned beef in a pot slightly larger than the meat and cover it with cold water in the fridge for at least 8 hours. Change the water at least once. This removes excess salt. Trust me, you need to do this or you will be gulping water all night after your meal.
3. Rub. Make the rub. Rinse the meat, and while it is damp, apply the rub liberally and press it into the surface to help it adhere.
4. Fire up. Set up your grill in 2 zones for smoking or set up your smoker. Preheat to 225°F (107°C). Pick your wood. I don’t think it makes a huge difference with all the other flavors banging around in there. My best batch was with cherry wood.
5. Cook. Place the meat on the smoker or on the indirect heat side of the grill. You only need to smoke it with indirect heat until it reaches the stall at about 160°F and the crust is brown. Then wrap it tightly in foil and roast it up to 203°F (95°C). This is called the Texas Crutch and it does wonders. It significantly reduces cooking time and makes the end product much more tender and juicy.
6. Slicing. Slicing is crucial to maximize tenderness. Look at the meat and notice which way the grain is running. Cut it by hand in thin slices, about 1/8″ (3.2 mm) thick, perpendicular to the grain. If you cut parallel to the grain it will be much chewier. Don’t try to slice it with a machine. It will just fall apart.
7. Serve. I serve the homemade smoked pastrami on fresh untoasted rye bread. A good brown mustard on both slices is all it needs. If you want, you can make a Rockin’ Pastrami Reuben with sauerkraut, melted swiss, and thousand island or Russian dressing, or beter still, my famous Burger Glop. Reubens were originally made with corned beef, but there’s no rule that you can’t make one from pastrami. In fact, I prefer it.Leftovers freeze well and they can be reheated in the microwave or steamed. They can also be made into a killer hash. Ess, bench, sei a mensch!

Homemade Pastrami

Learn to make delicious deli-quality pastrami at home with this simple and tasty recipe, adapted from The Artisan Jewish Deli at Home cookbook.

Prep: 30min

Total: 14610min

Yield: 16

Serving Size: 1 serving

Nutrition Facts: calories 243 kcal, Carbohydrate 27 g, Protein 18 g, Fat 6 g, Saturated Fat 2 g, Cholesterol 52 mg, Sodium 7161 mg, Fiber 1 g, Sugar 23 g, servingSize 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 3 quarts water
• 3/4 cup Morton’s coarse kosher salt (178 grams)
• 2 teaspoons pink curing salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons pickling spice
• 1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon whole yellow mustard seeds
• 4 cloves garlic ((minced))
• 5 pounds beef brisket
• 1/4 cup ground coriander
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika

Instruction:

1. To make the brine, fill a medium to large stockpot with 3 quarts water. Add the kosher and pink salts, granulated sugar, pickling spice, coriander and mustard seeds, and garlic. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring often to fully dissolve the salt and sugar in the water. Immediately remove the pot from the heat once the brine boils.Add 3 quarts ice cold water to a 2-gallon or larger food-safe container that will fit in your refrigerator (you can also use a strong sealing 2-gallon marination bag – double bag for extra insurance). Pour the brine into the container and place it uncovered in the refrigerator until completely cool. You can also divide the brine evenly between two separate containers so that it will fit better in the refrigerator.
2. Trim the fat from the brisket until the fat layer is about 1/4 inch thick.
3. If necessary, cut the brisket in half so that it will fit into your container(s).
4. Submerge the brisket in the cooled brine.Allow the brisket to brine in the refrigerator for 10 to 12 days, flipping it daily top to bottom and stirring the brine. Make sure that if any of the brisket sides are touching one another you regularly turn them away from each other to expose all of the sides to the brine.
5. To cook the brisket, pour 4 cups water into the bottom of a 12 by 15 inch roasting pan. Set a rack inside the pan and place the brisket on the rack, fatty side down.
6. To make the spice rub, mix together the coriander, pepper and paprika in a small bowl. Evenly rub 1/4 cup of the mixture onto the top of the brisket. Then flip the brisket and rub the remaining spice mixture onto the fatty side. Allow the brisket to come to room temperature, about 2 hours.
7. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees with a rack low enough to fit the pan holding the brisket. Tightly cover the brisket and pan with a double layer of aluminum foil.
8. Bake until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 200 degrees, about 1 hour per pound or 5 hours total. Start checking internal temp at 3 hours and periodically every 20-30 minutes or so to avoid overcooking.
9. Without trimming the fat, carve the pastrami into 1/4 inch thick slices, or cut as thin as possible without the meat falling apart. Keep tightly wrapped, or in a sealed container in the fridge, for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
10. SAFETY NOTE: handle the pink curing salt with care and keep it out of reach of children. It is used in pastrami and other cured meats to kill bacteria, prevent botulism and add flavor. However it is extremely toxic if ingested directly; in fact, it’s colored pink to prevent people from mistaking it for regular salt. When used with care in recipes like this, it is very safe and necessary for proper flavor and food safety. That said, you should know the risks and keep the curing salt properly labeled and out of the reach of children.

Perfect Homemade Pastrami Completely From Scratch

FAQ

Is pastrami just smoked corned beef?

What cut of meat is used to make pastrami?

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