Fatback Joe
Babbling Farker
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2008
- Location
- Memphis, TN
A couple of weeks back, my wife said she was craving a reuben, I told her to give me about a week and we would have pastrami, but I guess when the craving is on that isn't what you want to hear. Against my better judgement, I bought some at the store.........it wasn't very good. In efforts to try to erase that memory, I decided to make some homemade.
I was pretty sure I had a chunk of brisket to use, but I was either wrong or it was buried deep in the freezer. I did have a small package of ribs and some cheeks so it was game on.
I made a brine of
16 C Water
200 g Brown Sugar
100 g Sea Salt
15 g cure #1
15 g corriander seed
3 g mustard seed
3 g black pepper
1.5 g fennel seed
.3 g crushed red pepper
.3 g cloves
1 bay leaf
Brought that to a boil and cooled it down, meat went in with a plate on top to keep everything submerged then into the fridge for a week. After a week, I removed the meat and patted it dry and hit is with a mix of:
25 g brown sugar
25 g sea salt
25 g black pepper
17 g coriander seed
3 g garlic powder
3 g juniper berries
2.5 g crushed red pepper
It was about this time that I realized I hadn't taken any pics. :doh::becky:
Gave it all the mortar and pestle treatment
Coated everything heavily and into a gallon zip lock and in the fridge overnight.
Next morning I put all the meat on a rack and into the smoker @ 250 with a little oak smoke. Gave them a spritz of beef broth anytime I had the urge to check on them.
Let them run that way for just over 6 hours, the moved the rack onto a tray, poured water in the bottom and covered it all with foil and back in the heat to steam the meat for a couple of hours.
Removed the foil after 2 hours, burnt myself with the steam even though right before opening the foil, I told myself to be careful. :icon_blush:
I thought about cooling everything down and running it through the slicer, but it smelled so good I wasn't waiting on that, just cut them while hot on the cutting board. I don't mind the thicker cut at all for this.
I asked my wife if she wanted a reuben and she said "not really"........guess I was about 9 days or so too late. :tsk::tsk::tsk:
Had some homemade sourdough sitting around so I just went with that a put a slice of swiss on top.
Pretty damn good and well worth the effort. I love beef cheeks in any form and they really worked well for this, I would have to say I prefer this and the short rib both over brisket for pastrami. As always, YMMV. :becky:
I was pretty sure I had a chunk of brisket to use, but I was either wrong or it was buried deep in the freezer. I did have a small package of ribs and some cheeks so it was game on.
I made a brine of
16 C Water
200 g Brown Sugar
100 g Sea Salt
15 g cure #1
15 g corriander seed
3 g mustard seed
3 g black pepper
1.5 g fennel seed
.3 g crushed red pepper
.3 g cloves
1 bay leaf
Brought that to a boil and cooled it down, meat went in with a plate on top to keep everything submerged then into the fridge for a week. After a week, I removed the meat and patted it dry and hit is with a mix of:
25 g brown sugar
25 g sea salt
25 g black pepper
17 g coriander seed
3 g garlic powder
3 g juniper berries
2.5 g crushed red pepper
It was about this time that I realized I hadn't taken any pics. :doh::becky:
Gave it all the mortar and pestle treatment
Coated everything heavily and into a gallon zip lock and in the fridge overnight.
Next morning I put all the meat on a rack and into the smoker @ 250 with a little oak smoke. Gave them a spritz of beef broth anytime I had the urge to check on them.
Let them run that way for just over 6 hours, the moved the rack onto a tray, poured water in the bottom and covered it all with foil and back in the heat to steam the meat for a couple of hours.
Removed the foil after 2 hours, burnt myself with the steam even though right before opening the foil, I told myself to be careful. :icon_blush:
I thought about cooling everything down and running it through the slicer, but it smelled so good I wasn't waiting on that, just cut them while hot on the cutting board. I don't mind the thicker cut at all for this.
I asked my wife if she wanted a reuben and she said "not really"........guess I was about 9 days or so too late. :tsk::tsk::tsk:
Had some homemade sourdough sitting around so I just went with that a put a slice of swiss on top.
Pretty damn good and well worth the effort. I love beef cheeks in any form and they really worked well for this, I would have to say I prefer this and the short rib both over brisket for pastrami. As always, YMMV. :becky:
