Hi everybody, I've been thinking about trying a pastrami for a while and finally did it last weekend. I saw people here recommending thirdeye's instructions so that's what I followed.
I used a store bought corned beef, 4 pounds. First I soaked it for about 24 hours in a few changes of water. Then I rubbed it and let it sit for another 2 days, and then smoked it with cherry for a couple hours until it hit 160 degrees.
The only problem I had was that because I use an electric smoker during the winter it doesn't really create good bark. I tried putting it under the broiler for a few minutes to see if I could crisp it up, but I was afraid I would cook the meat and make it tough, so it wasn't in there long enough to do much.
Next it went into the pressure cooker for 40 minutes to steam and tenderize.
While it was cooking I made a loaf of deli style rye bread.
Here is the finished pastrami.
And a sandwich with the pastrami on the home made bread, with swiss cheese and horseradish mustard.
It tasted great and was a lot of fun to make.
