2nd WSM Cook. Smoking Corned Beef/Pastrami. Questions??

I did chicken on my first smoke and it went well. I wanted to try something I haven't done before and figured I would smoke a corned beef brisket which I guess makes pastrami??

That is my main question. Is pastrami just a smoked corned beef brisket? I know they can be cold smoked too. So if you just cooked the corned beef like you were making it the traditional way with cabbage you would braise it or boil it or pressure cook it. The end result of that is still corned beef i'm guessing. But the application of smoke changes it to pastrami?

I really like corned beef and haven't had pastrami in a while so I figured I would try this.

I found a link to a recipe on the forum and am trying method 3. So I will smoke till it hits 150 then finish steaming in a pressure cooker.

I threw a very basic rub of pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. I also followed some advice and soaked in water to get rid of some of the saltiness. Though I am a guy who loves his salt.

Let me know how you smoke corned beef. Just leave it to the smoke the whole time or has anyone else done this method and found it tastes better? Thanks!

http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/1996/05/beef-pastrami.html

Here is is about 2hrs in. Internal temp is 136. Pit temp has been right around 240 the whole time.

Skidder said:

It's kinda corned beef still but with the seasonings (coriander and black pepper)and the added smoke it's called pastrami. Do you plan on steaming it because if it was me I would. Good luck

Click to expand...

Well I will cook it to 150 in the smoker and then do a steam in the pressure cooker to finish it off. I'll eat some hot and then stick it in the fridge to make it more like sandwich pastrami.

Cast Iron Cheif said:

Thirdeye's the way I do it. Won't disappoint. :thumb:

Click to expand...

Great. I was thinking that smoking and then doing the pressure steam would make it juicier so we'll see how it turns out.

It took almost exactly 3hrs to hit 150 on this 3lb corned beef


Now into the pressure cooker for 20mins.

Here it is after 20mins in the pressure cooker.


Here it is sliced when hot. Really good. It is definitely salty, but I love salt so good for me. Though next time I will keep it in water longer than the 4hrs I did this time to see if it really knocks the salt down more. I put it in the fridge so I can get the temp down and have it more like deli pastrami.