When you take your first bite of this peppery pastrami you'll be hooked instantly and won't want to share one bite of your sandwich!
What you'll need to make it:
Pickling Spice:
mustard seed
whole all spice
coriander seed
red pepper flakes
bay leaf
whole juniper berries
Pastrami brine:
apple juice
water
kosher salt
sugar
brown sugar
curing salt #1- pictured below
garlic
pickling spice
Other ingredients:
yellow mustard- we like to use French's Classic Yellow Mustard
course ground black pepper
ground coriander
Equipment:
plastic brining bucket- see above picture for example. NOTE: the bucket can't be made of aluminum.
medium size frying pan
spatula
large stock pot- must be able to hold as least a gallon of water
two to three dinner plates- these are to weigh the brisket down so it's fully submerged
paper towels
a smoker preferably, but you can use your oven if you don't have a smoker.
a meat thermometer to read the internal temperature
tin foil
large baking sheet
zip lock bags
meat injector
hard wood of choice for the smoker- we like to use apple and cherrywood because we find the flavor isn't too harsh.
Recipe: Homemade Pastrami
Ingredients for Pickling Spice Blend:
2 tbsp. mustard seeds
1 tbsp. whole allspice
2 tsp. coriander seeds
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 lg. bay leaf- torn into two halves
6 juniper berries
Ingredients for the brine mixture:
1 gallon of apple juice
large whole brisket- we used an 18.5 lbs. brisket
1 gallon of water
1 1/2 c. kosher salt
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
4 tsp. #1 pink curing salt
10 cloves of garlic
1/3 c. pickling spice blend
Ingredients for the rub:
course ground black pepper
ground coriander
Directions:
Trim off any hard fat (soft fat is good) from the outside of your brisket, leaving no more than 1/4 inch of fat on the outside. We tend to leave the silver skin on it, but you can trim this is you'd like. Next you need to separate the flat from the point of the brisket. Set brisket aside once trimmed.
In a medium sized frying pan, toast the pickling spice on medium/high heat just until fragrant. This should take about 2-3 minutes. Be sure not to burn the pickling spice.
Fill a large stock pot with the gallon of water, kosher salt, both sugars, garlic, and the warmed pickling spice. Bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes or until all the sugars and kosher salt is dissolved.
Take your brining bucket and combine the gallon of apple juice, the heated water mixture, and the pink curing salt #1. Stir to combine. Allow the mixture to cool till room temperature.
If there are any portions of the brisket that are over 3 inches thick, those areas will need to be injected with the brine solution for even distribution of the brine.
Place trimmed and separated brisket in the brining water, use dinner plates to weigh down the meat so it is completely submerged.
Allow to brine for 10 days in the refrigerator.
After the 10 days are up, rinse the brisket thoroughly with fresh water removing any seasonings that are stuck to the outside of the brisket.
Soak in fresh water for at least 12 hours in the fridge.
Pull the brisket out of the water and pat it dry with some paper towels.
Place the brisket on a baking sheet (or two if needed). Rub down the meat with a thin coating of yellow mustard.
Sprinkle with coarse ground black pepper and ground coriander. It's a 1-part ground coriander to 4-parts course ground black pepper ratio. Making sure that the ETNIRE brisket is covered with this rub.
Smoke the brisket at 250 degrees over the hard wood of your choosing, until the internal temperature reads 150 degrees. Once this temperature is reached or you are satisfied with the outside color of the brisket, wrap up each piece in tin foil and continue to cook until the internal temp reached 205 but not to exceed 210 degrees. Normally it gets pulled at 207 degrees, as that is Adams "sweet spot" for the internal temp.
Pull the brisket out of the smoker and leave wrapped while cooling on a baking sheet on the counter for several hours or in the fridge. We normally leave ours in the fridge overnight till it gets sliced the next day.
Slice the brisket into thin strips, portion out the meat into Ziplock bags, usually around 2 pounds each bag.
Notes:
The pastrami does freeze well when packaged properly for up to 3 months (if it even lasts that long!).
Our pickling spice doesn't contain cinnamon or ginger due to our household food allergies.