There is no good pastrami in my city but it looks appetizing in the pictures, so why not try making it myself?
4 weeks brined corned beef using two guys and a cooler recipe. Could've been done in two weeks but I was lazy to cook it.
Used sous vide pastrami method from chefsteps to finish it. Covered with spices and roasted in low convection oven for few hours and then sous vide at 147f for 48 hours.
Came out way oversalted and dry. Very unpleasant to eat even on a slice of bread, not sure how to salvage it, have more than 3 pounds of meat remaining.
It's nowhere near as good as it looks even on my own pictures.
My notes:
Chuck may not be the best choice for this, parts which had fat were good, but majority of it came out dry, even though I thought the marbling was pretty good when it was raw. Maybe short ribs really is the only cut that would stand up to such a long time/temp combo.
Spice rub doesn't have to be that salty, I used 3/4 of salt from chefstep's recipe but I think I proper amount would've been 2% of the weight of the spice rub?
Overall 1/10 cravings not satisfied.
by Hughmangoes
6 Comments
I appreciate you sharing your fail- it helps people learn what not to do.
Best of luck next time, and I hope someone will chime in with some advice on improving it!
I tried finding the recipe you used but I guess it’s maybe in a video? Two guys and a cooler’s website is awful.
Maybe try going with a better source for your recipe:
https://www.seriouseats.com/barbecue-pastrami-recipe
https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/beef-and-bison-recipes/sous-vide-que-pastrami-recipe/
https://www.reddit.com/r/sousvide/s/s7ABO77Hvk
somewhat outdated but i put effort into the post
Suggestion for how to use up the meat, maybe make a split pea soup?
Look at the AmazingRibs recipe. One thing that will help is to soak the corned beef in water before cooking. It’s necessary in a commercially cured corned beef and likely necessary if you cure on your own.
If you use an equilibrium cure don’t add any salt at any subsequent step. 2% is a slightly high for my tastes even before you add salt in subsequent steps. Sous vide is basically an equilibrium machine. 147F for hours is going to move a TON of moisture out of the meat. Why not go with 135 max?