Ordered a corned beef brisket hoping to make pastrami but ended up with top round by mistake. As someone helpfully pointed out, most deli pastrami is top round, so I decided to give it a try.
I soaked the corned beef overnight and coated in a rub of pepper, paprika, coriander, garlic powder, onion powder, and mustard powder. Smoked at 275F until it reached 150F, around 4.5 hours. I then wrapped in foil with a little beer and braised it until 170F, around 1.5 hours. Rested for another hour and a half, then sliced (a little too thick lol).
The resulting pastrami turned out better than expected. I’m not the biggest fan of the deli stuff, and was worried the lack of marbling would yield dry meat, but this was juicy AF. Also, while I still prefer the mouthfeel of fattier brisket, I appreciated the firmness and bite of the top round slices. They will make for some great sandwiches.
I think they key, for anyone interested in trying this, is the braise and long rest. I did this one in the foil wrap, which ended up leaking, but if/when I try it again, I’ll use a foil pan and tent.
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Ordered a corned beef brisket hoping to make pastrami but ended up with top round by mistake. As someone helpfully pointed out, most deli pastrami is top round, so I decided to give it a try.
I soaked the corned beef overnight and coated in a rub of pepper, paprika, coriander, garlic powder, onion powder, and mustard powder. Smoked at 275F until it reached 150F, around 4.5 hours. I then wrapped in foil with a little beer and braised it until 170F, around 1.5 hours. Rested for another hour and a half, then sliced (a little too thick lol).
The resulting pastrami turned out better than expected. I’m not the biggest fan of the deli stuff, and was worried the lack of marbling would yield dry meat, but this was juicy AF. Also, while I still prefer the mouthfeel of fattier brisket, I appreciated the firmness and bite of the top round slices. They will make for some great sandwiches.
I think they key, for anyone interested in trying this, is the braise and long rest. I did this one in the foil wrap, which ended up leaking, but if/when I try it again, I’ll use a foil pan and tent.