Huge Corned Beef - What should I do with it?

What should I do with a 20 lb corned beef brisket?

  • Cook it whole, cut it up and freeze some chunks

    Votes: 18 52.9%

  • Cut it up, cook one chunk and freeze the rest uncooked

    Votes: 10 29.4%

  • Cut it up, cook all chunks and then freeze some

    Votes: 6 17.6%
  • Total voters
    34
Ron_L

Ron_L

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Restaurant Depot always has Bea's brand corned beef, but they are whole briskets and huge. I bought one to try and it is 20 lbs!

I am going to smoke it for pastrami, but I'm wondering how I should do it. I can cook it whole and then cut it into smaller chunks and freeze some, or I can cut it into chunks, cook one chunk and freeze the rest uncooked or I can cut it into chunks, cook them all and then freeze some.

What do you guys think?

Poll above :)
 
Depends..what you want out of it?

Corned beef lunch meat?
Pastrami lunch meat?
Huge pot of Corned beef hash?
Corned beef & cabbage?

I found it is easier to deal with chunks in both my smoker & slicer.

Sliced corned beer and/or pastrami freezes great.
 
Yep. Cut it up and reserve the point for a really nice corned beef meal later. Depending on how much you want for pastrami, cut the flat into sizes that suit you and freeze what you're not immediately cooking.
 
How come there wasn't a "Cook it whole, cut it up, and send any you aren't going to eat right away to me" option?

And if you are going to make pastrami with it, make sure you follow martyleach's instructions (with a tip o' the hat to Thirdeye).
 
I always like to cook my brisky whole then cut it up into meal size chunks, vacuum suck, and freeze. When I want I meal, I thaw a bag, throw into pot of boiling water, and chow down! :clap2:
 
I say split it, into point and flat, cook both and freeze one half.
 
SirPorkaLot said:
Depends..what you want out of it?

Corned beef lunch meat?
Pastrami lunch meat?
Huge pot of Corned beef hash?
Corned beef & cabbage?

I found it is easier to deal with chunks in both my smoker & slicer.

Sliced corned beer and/or pastrami freezes great.
Click to expand...

Did you miss the part where I said that I was going to smoke it for pastrami, John? :p

---k--- said:
Where is the option for: Cook it up and invite all the Chicago Brethren over to finish it off? :wink:
Click to expand...

zydecopaws said:
How come there wasn't a "Cook it whole, cut it up, and send any you aren't going to eat right away to me" option?
Click to expand...

I think the answer to these two should be obvious. More for me! :-D
 
Apparently I did Ron. Sorry about that.

Soak it in water to remove some of the saltiness from the commercial cure. Cut in chunks and smoke all at once.

Smokers are always happier full of meat anyways.
 
I saw those at RD yesterday as well. Really piqued my interest. I actually asked myself the same thing as you are debating. Looking forward to how you deal with it as I really want to go back and get one.

IMAG0872.jpg
 
So far I'm leaning towards cutting it into two or three chunks (depending on how big the point is), cooking one chunk and freezing the others. That give me pastrami for reuben sandwiches for Monday evening a choice of pastrami or corned beef in the future. If it were a regular brisket I would never do this, but since it's corned it doesn't seem as sacrilegious :-D I'm also not really looking forward to an extended cook with the damp weather we have now, and I'm guessing this thing could take 15-20 hours if cooked whole.
 
SirPorkaLot said:
Apparently I did Ron. Sorry about that.

Soak it in water to remove some of the saltiness from the commercial cure. Cut in chunks and smoke all at once.

Smokers are always happier full of meat anyways.
Click to expand...

No worries... Just giving you a hard time :)
 
colonel00 said:
I saw those at RD yesterday as well. Really piqued my interest. I actually asked myself the same thing as you are debating. Looking forward to how you deal with it as I really want to go back and get one.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that Divemaster has smoked one of these and served the pastrami at a competition for late night snacks, and it came out great. I keep looking at them and decided o try it. 20 lbs. was the smallest!
 
smoke the whole thing then slice. there may not be that much left after slicing with all of the necessary "quality control samples" during the slicing operation:-D
 
Smoking it whole is certainly an option, but why?

It took me 6 hours to reach an IT of 175 @ 225F with ~4-5 lb chunks.

With 'strami you are not shooting for probe tender like a brisket, because you don't want it to fall apart when you reheat.

If you are gonna slice on slicer you want chunks anyways.
 
Ron_L said:
20 lbs. was the smallest!
Click to expand...

Wow, I didn't actually look at the weights but size-wise they seemed like a typical 12-16lb brisket. I wonder how much of the weight is the brine solution. If I get one I think I will separate the point from the flat. I really like how pastrami comes out when you slice it against the grain like you do with regular brisket flats. Pastrami from points comes out good too but I might just save that for some corned beef or even hash.

Also, fwiw, the last run of sliced meat I did yielded quite a helping. To store it, I decided to vacusuck in sandwich sized portions and freeze. Then, when you want a sandwich, just throw the small pack in the microwave (works well actually) or boiling water as is usually suggested. I actually just finished a tri-tip sandwich that I stored the same way.
 
Start smoking it really slow and invite friends for New Year's Day Breakfast at noon.
It should be done by then if you start now. :crazy:

I would have to cut it up into chunks first due to lack of space on the Weber 22.5 Kettle.
Don't forget the boiled cabbage.
 
Also wanted to add, if you cut it into chunks you have more surface area for more "bark" which can enhance the pastrami if you like to heavily pepper pastrami.
 
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