A friend of mine is a chef, graduating from the CIA some 35 years ago. He can make ice sculptures, knows how to make all of Auguste Escoffier's 5 mother sauces and has a toque blanche.... but he doesn't have a smoker. Long story short, one of his daughters turns 30 this weekend and he asked me to make some pastrami for the birthday party. I'm usually pretty particular about food I cook, a little more picky when I give things away, and real picky when I give food to my buddy.
I smoked the pastrami until 155° then did a pressure finish for 37 minutes at 13 psi, then allowed a natural release which takes about 15 minutes. I didn't feel the tenderness I wanted, so I pressured back up for 7 minutes and allowed a second natural release. The level of tenderness was in the top 5 list (and I've done hundreds), and I can't help but wonder if the two stages of finishing, and two periods of natural release works better than a single finishing step. I'm so curious that for the next few cooks I'm going to shorten my finish time and intentionally process them a second time.