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!!!!

I really have no FORKING idea on what to name this dish. This dish was inspired and adapted by Milk Street Magazine from chef Zuber Momin for Masala fries. I did a spin on the Milk Street version with a couple changes and I used these flavors on spaghetti squash. The original recipe was made with Kashmiri pepper. I didn’t have any so I made mine with what I thought would be the closest substitute gochugaru pepper. One of the other changes I made to the recipe was to add butter. This came out FORKING AMAZING! Maybe the easiest recipe I ever did and maybe the most delicious spaghetti squash recipe ever.

Ingredients for around 6 side servings

1 good sized spaghetti squash (I think mine was slightly over 2 pounds)

1 Tablespoon cumin

1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 1/4 teaspoon gochugaru pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons course sea salt

3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

5 Tablespoons butter – room temperature (doesn’t matter if salted or sweet….I normally don’t use salted but had salted butter I had to use and I thought the taste was perfect. You can use sweet butter and add salt if you think it needs it)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Put squash on pan. Cover squash with foil. This goes on middle rack till squash gets cooked. Ovens and all squash do differ so each one out there might take a different amount of time. Mine I thought would take an hour so I left mine in for an hour and it was hard. So I turned it over and checked it after a half hour and mine was still hard so mine needed about 1/2 hour for a total of two hours. I doubt yours will take that long but it might?

While the squash is cooking mix up the spice-butter. In a small mixing bowl combine the cumin, ginger, gochugaru, salt, black pepper, and butter. Put to the side.

I used to say cook till fork tender but really it’s better if you can make a dent with your finger.

This squash came out really perfect.

When the squash is cool enough to handle…You cut it in half and pull out the guts (membrane) and seeds. It should be just like this and look like spaghetti. Mix in the spiced butter and enjoy!!!!! This came out so FORKING Tasty that I had to hold back on adding more. It’s just perfect. I think most people…Even people that don’t like Indian or Korean food will still like this.

A Special THANKS!!!!!! To chef Zuber Momin and Milk Street Magazine so I could get what I got here!

This is a variation of a brisket recipe I got by watching Diners Drive Inns and Dives on Food Network. Guy Fieri said this brisket was amazing and I think my last brisket recipe was pretty much what I saw on TV. There is no searing or smoking. The hard part is trimming off the hard fat and deciding on how much fat that you want to leave on. Briskets were on sale so I picked one up. It happened to be a small one (around 9 lbs) I cut off not all but most of the fat. Then I just cut the brisket in half. Sprinkled a whole 1.41 oz box of Sazon all purpose seasoning. One pan got 2 lbs onions and some garlic and a 1/2 cup of water, smoked sea salt and black pepper. The other pan got red peppers, garlic, smoked sea salt, black pepper, and 1/2 a cup of water. Cover pans tight and 6 hours latter we had really great flavorful brisket. (one pan didn’t contain onions so my dogs could eat some and it still came out delicious anyway) Serving size will differ dramatically on depending on how much fat you trim and how much fat you are willing to eat. Jiggly brisket fat grosses me out so I trimmed mine far more than you probably would. My 9 pound brisket only made around 9 not so big dinners……..(but I think they gave me more fat than meat …..).

Ingredients for at least 9 servings

1 brisket (mine was 9 pounds) – trimmed to your liking and cut in half

1 – 1.41 ounce package Sazon con Colantro & Achiote (cilantro and annatto)

15 garlic cloves – chopped

2 lbs. onions – sliced and rough chopped

3 red bell peppers – slices and rough chopped

4 sweet potatoes – peeled – cut in half if large

1 cup water

a good sprinkle smoked sea salt

1 good sprinkle fresh ground black pepper

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F

Each pan gets 1/2 a brisket sprinkled with 1/2 the Sazon. One pan gets all the onions, 1/2 the garlic, a good sprinkle of smoked sea salt and black pepper and a half cup of water.

The 2nd pan gets all the bell peppers, the sweet potatoes, 1/2 the garlic, a good sprinkle of smoked sea salt, black pepper, and a 1/2 cup water.

These pans get covered tight with foil and go on the middle rack for around 6 hours.

I thought this was extra easy!

(Tip***** You will want to put the briskets in the refrigerator over night so you can slice them. The liquid you might want to chill overnight so you can remove the thick layer of fat. *****Another hint- You might want to keep that fat in your freezer. It can add a lot of flavors to other foods and it can also be used to make beef gravy.)

ENJOY!!!!

This is how I make my basic Deviled Eggs. If you eat two halves as a serving then this will make 9 servings with a few extra whites that you can snack on.

Ingredients for around 9 servings.

12 eggs – boiled till hard (10 minutes) soaked in ice bath till cold, then peeled, cut in halves. Rice the yolks.

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon piment d’ espelette + plus extra to sprinkle the cooked whites

2 Tablespoons Dijon but preferably Amora Brand

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 dashes Worcestershire sauce

smoked sea salt – to taste

9 small celery leaves

Directions

Lightly sprinkle the egg whites on both sides with smoked sea salt and piment d’ espelette.

In a medium bowl the riced yolks, mayonnaise, 1/2 teaspoon piment d’ espelette, Dijon, dry mustard, white pepper, cayenne pepper, and Worcestershire sauce together.

This mixture gets spooned or piped into the egg whites. Finish with a piece of celery leaf.

Everybody loves them. You will be a hit!

ENJOY!!!!!!!

Mostarda is a spicy Northern Italian Condiment. It is usually but not always made with candied fruit and mustard syrup. I read at www.LaCucinaItaliana.com that there are SIX basic kinds of mostarda (cherry, apricot, fig, peach, squash, tomato). According to La Cucina Italiana instead of mustard they use something called mustard essence instead of mustard to make mostarda. I used a combination of mustard and mustard powder to make my inspiration. I previously made a FORKING DELICIOUS acorn squash with mostarda and taleggio cheese….so this is a spin off of that. Serving size is always difficult to judge because I don’t know if you want a small or large serving. For me this made 6 side servings so I’ll say 6 servings.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1 cabbage – core removed, rough chopped

1 onion – rough chopped

3 carrots – peel if not organic – slice on a slight diagonal around 1/4 inch thick

1/4 cup chives

4 oz gorgonzola – crumbled (or any blue cheese)

1 cup sugar

1 lemon – zest and juice but separate

2 Tablespoons mustard powder

3 Tablespoons whole grain mustard (I used Maille Old Style)

2 short Calabrian dried chili peppers – crumbled

1/2 teaspoon course sea salt

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

sea salt – to taste

black pepper – to taste

Directions

Set oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl (or maybe a few bowls if you bowl isn’t very large) mix together the sugar, lemon juice (zest is for finishing), mustard powder, mustard, oil, Calabrian chili flakes, and sea salt. Mix well. Mix in the cabbage, onion, and carrots.

This goes on baking sheets with rims in an even layer.

Add a light amount of fresh crushed sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.

This goes in your preheated 400 degree F oven for 30-50 minutes or until lightly charred.

Finish with lemon zest, gorgonzola, and chives.

It came out DELICIOUS!!!!! Even my dog thinks so!

I was reading a recipe for Focaccia and I was very surprised that it had an egg and heavy cream in the dough. This recipe I would have not read but it was by an Italian Chef from Lombardy so I guess it’s for real. I didn’t have heavy cream at home but I did have a French cheese called Fromagerd d Affinois with herbs (basically Brie). I used that in the dough instead of cream and I changed up the flours due to what I had in my pantry. I also changed up the liquids slightly. I also had to figure out the oven temperature and timing. But WOW! It came out FORKING DELICIOUS! Serving size is always difficult to determine because I don’t know if you want a small serving or a large serving. This made 6 small breads……so that means between 6-12 servings depending on if you want a half bread or a whole bread…..so I’ll say 9 servings. That is my guesstimate.

Ingredients for around 9 servings

1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon water warmed up to 110 degrees F

1 pack active dry yeast

1 Tablespoon honey

1/4 cup brie cheese or something similar

1 egg – lightly beaten

1 teaspoon course sea salt

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

5 Tablespoons 00 flour

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + more for spraying the dough

4 Tablespoons water

6 pinches flake sea salt

1/4 red onion – sliced extra thin

12 sweet grape tomatoes – sliced thin

3 oz Grana Padano – shredded

3 small pinches rosemary

3 small pinches Italian seasoning (This is what I used…..I tablespoon sea salt, 1 Tablespoon black pepper, 1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder, 1/2 Tablespoon onion powder, 1 Tablespoon basil, 1 tablespoon oregano, 1 Tablespoon fennel seeds, 1 crushed small dried Calabrian Chile pepper)

non stick spray

a few pinches of cornmeal or semolina

Directions

Set oven to 425 degrees F.

Combine yeast, 110 degree water, and honey in a large bowl. Mix and wait about ten minutes till you see a foamy surface. Whisk in cheese, egg, and salt. Add flours, water, and olive oil. This mixes together very well. Knead it some and make a ball and put it in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. In around an hour divide the dough into 6 balls. 2 sheet pans get sprayed lightly with non stick spray and then spray the lightly with olive oil and add a light sprinkle of corn meal or semolina. Shape each ball of dough into a flat pancake. Three pancakes will fit on each sheet tray. Cover them loosely with plastic wrap. Let them rise 30-60 minutes.

Spray them with olive oil. Sprinkle them with a light sprinkle of sea salt flakes and rosemary. (Optional….you should make the dimples in the dough….I did but they didn’t stay dimpled)……Add a sprinkle of raw onions slices and tiny sweet tomato slices. Add a sprinkle of Grana Padano. Finish with a LIGHT sprinkle of Italian seasoning and another sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil.

This goes in your preheated 425 degree F oven till slightly browned. Ovens do differ. This took around 25 minutes in my oven on a middle rack. In my old oven I think this only would take around 15 minutes.

Anyway it really did come out FORKING DELICIOUS! (Below is one of the 6 small loaves sliced up)

Took some to a party I went to with my FORKING AMAZING chocolate chip cookies.

I didn’t make chef Mattia Agazzi’s recipe for Focaccia (only because I didn’t have the ingredients) but it inspired me to make what I got here so a Special Thanks!!!! to him!

I was thinking about calling this recipe FORKING TASTY cauliflower because when my husband tried it he said that this was, “FORKING TASTY Cauliflower. Sorry I missed photographing my dog for you……….. but even he thought it was FORKING TASTY too and STOLE a piece off of this plate while my back was turned. I used an orange colored cauliflower that is slightly tastier than the white ones but you can use a white cauliflower. Purple cauliflowers are more delicate and would probably burn up so I wouldn’t recommend using purple. Serving suggestion size may differ because we all have different appetites.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1 cauliflower (preferably orange) – break down to florets

2 eggs

3 tablespoons mustard (I used Amora Brand Dijon mustard)

4 oz parmesan cheese – grated

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

non-stick spray

Directions

preheat oven to 450 degrees F

Spray your baking sheet(s) with non-stick spray and set to the side.

In a large mixing bowl mix together the eggs, mustard, cheese, pepper, and paprika. Mix well and then add the cauliflower florets. This mixture will be very thick. Mix well till it looks like the cheese mixture is all over the cauliflower. Then arrange the cauliflower on sprayed sheet pan(s) in single layer with a small amount of room around each floret.

These go on your middle rack for around 25 minutes or until cauliflower is cooked and slightly brown.

This is FORKING TASTY Cauliflower.