My 2020 recipe for pastrami was the best ever. I wanted to delete my earlier pastrami recipes but as luck would have it I always got a complaint from someone that I deleted a recipe while they were working on it. I wasn’t planing on changing my 2020 recipe but I accidentally grabbed granulated onion so I’m giving it a try with the addition of granulated onion. Making pastrami is easy but is also very risky. Even if you are a professional sometimes the meat won’t cure and preserve everywhere because of the natural fat in it and it can spoil even if you did everything correctly. That is the reason most delicatessens who use a lot of pastrami pay companies to do the brining for them.

To start with you need a whole brisket…..The pounds of it can differ. (I think it’s a waste to do all this work for only a half brisket. After-all you can freeze the leftovers.

The hardest part is trimming the pastrami. You have to trim off all the really hard fat.

I might have trimed off more fat than you would? I also separated the point from the flat. After the trimming you need to puncture the brisket all over on both sides so it gets brined correctly.

Ingredients for the pastrami brine. (You might want to prepare the brine the day before because it takes a very long time to cool down. IT’S ESSENTIAL FOR THE BRINE TO BE COOL.

2 Tablespoons Prague powder (buy online…This makes the pastrami pink, helps to preserve it and you get that certain flavor that you can’t get without)

8 oz Crystal Brand Kosher salt (Mortons salt crystals are a different shape and don’t penetrate the meat as well)

2 cups dark brown sugar

1 cup honey

4 teaspoons juniper berries

6 Tablespoons coriander seeds

4 teaspoons allspice berries

6 bay leaves

2 cinnamon sticks

2 teaspoons whole cloves

4 teaspoons mustard seeds

4 Tablespoons Tellicherry black peppercorns (not the same flavor from other black peppercorns)

4 teaspoons white peppercorns

2 teaspoons ground ginger

6 oz garlic (around 40 cloves) rough chop or slice

2 Tablespoons granulated garlic

2 Tablespoons granulated onion

4 hot dried chilies – crushed

4 teaspoons smoked paprika

16 cups water

Directions – bring to boil and boil for about ten minutes. Let cool. Brisket can’t be added to a hot or warm brine.(I divide the brine into three bowls and make an ice bath to cool them down)

If you separate the brisket (or cut in half…but you will have a big line of fat in the middle with meat that needs to be cut in different directions….) You can use turkey cooking bags to hold 1/2 of each of the pastrami. You also try to squeeze as much of the air out as you can. Today I used canned sodas to help keep the brine all around the brining briskets.

The pastrami should be turned over every day.

I brine mine for 6 days. (the longer you brine the chances of spoilage are higher)

After 6 days you remove the briskets from the brine and blot them off.

Then you have to add the rub using a spice blender.

8 Tablespoons coriander seeds

2 Tablespoons Tellicherry black peppercorns

2 Tablespoons smoked paprika

This gets blended up and you rub it all over the brisket.

Smoke with pecan wood at least 5 hours but 7 hours is better changing the wood as needed.

This gets finished over night in a low 185- 200 degree F oven. (last time I did last time at 185.. did 200 this time because my oven doesn’t do 185.

If you make pastrami then you might want to make rye bread or rye rolls. (My recipes are in search)

Made Rye Rolls today!

Same recipe as before but in the Whirlpool Oven They needed 25 minutes at 425 degrees F.

Here is 1/2 of the pastrami cold. (it’s better to slice uo the pastrami cold)

I don’t mean to brag but The FORKING Truth is that the pastrami and rye rolls are far better than from most restaurants!

I also have recipes for home made mustards.

ENJOY!!!!