Pastrami from Scratch via Sous Vide and Smoke

Pastrami is the greatest of all sandwich meats. It looks different from all other meats in the deli case. The bright pink interior and BBQ-like bark always surrounded pastrami with an air of mystery. A quick Google told me that pastrami is cured and smoked. Having focused on improving my cooking over the past few years, I wanted to try my hand at pastrami. It also looked to be very equipment- and time-intensive. I wondered if techniques like sous vide could make it easier, and if I could replace a traditional smoker with my favorite $10 smoking tube on my small balcony’s gas grill. The answer was YES on both counts. Homemade pastrami from scratch is easy, tasty and cheap: $8 per pound for a brisket flat from Wild Fork vs $40 per pound pastrami from Zabars. 

This recipe stands on the shoulders of culinary giants: 

Before we go any further, know that homemade pastrami from scratch takes 10 days. But don’t let that intimidate you. It’s less than an hour of hands-on time from start to finish! 

Be warned, though: I did end up with multiple fully geared firemen from the Chicago Fire Department in my living room. 

Part I: Brining

Equipment

Ingredients 

  • 1 flat cut beef brisket, trimmed (mine was about 3 pounds) 

  • 100 grams/3 1/2 ounces (about 3/4 cup) kosher salt

  • 10 grams/.325 ounces (about 1 1/2 teaspoons) Prague Powder aka pink curing salt

  • 30 grams/1 ounce (about 2 tablespoons) packed brown sugar

  • 2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns

  • 2 tablespoons yellow mustard seeds

  • 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds

  • 1 tablespoon allspice berries

  • 6 whole cloves

  • 1 tablespoon ground ginger

  • 6 bay leaves, roughly torn

John smartly suggested that instead of rounding up all the above, I head to The Spice House here in Chicago to pick up their pre-mixed Corned Beef Spices. He saved me a bunch of time and money. But the folks at The Spice House told me they will be discontinuing the mix, and I’ll save Kenji’s full ingredients for use when my supply of mix runs out. 

Method

  • Whisk together the salt, Prague Powder and brown sugar

  • Spread all over the brisket

  • Spread the rest of the ingredients on top of that

  • Put in a vacuum bag, vacuum and seal

  • Throw it in the coldest part of your fridge for the next seven days

  • Flip it every day

Part II: Cooking

Equipment

Method

  • Set your sous vide cooking temperature to 145 degrees F 

  • Remove the bag with the corned beef from the fridge

  • Empty the liquid

  • Rinse the corned beef thoroughly 

  • Soak it in cold water for a couple of hours

  • Rinse it again (if you don’t rinse properly, your pastrami will be salty as hell) 

  • Pat the beef dry with paper towels

  • Put it in a vacuum bag, vacuum and seal

  • Cook for 30 hours sous vide at 145 degrees F

  • Use a weight to keep it from floating

Congratulations! You’ve now made corned beef. You can even pause here and keep the corned beef in the bag in the fridge for a few days if you don’t feel like smoking it right now. 

Part III: Smoking 

Equipment

Ingredients 

  • Your homemade corned beef

  • 2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns

  • 1 tablespoons fresh coarsely ground black pepper

  • 1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds

  • 1 tablespoon coriander powder

  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar

  • 1 tablespoon paprika

  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder

  • 2 teaspoons onion powder

  • ½ teaspoon whole yellow (white) mustard seeds

  • ½ teaspoon mustard powder

Method

  • Take the corned beef out of the cooking bag and discard the liquid

  • Pat the corned beef dry with paper towels

  • Coarsely grind the rest of the ingredients to make the rub

  • Apply the rub liberally all over the corned beef

  • Fill your smoking tube with pellets

  • Place the corned beef on one side of the grill

  • Place the full smoking tube on the other side

  • Light the pellets with your blowtorch, let them burn for a few seconds, then use your squirt bottle to extinguish the flame, causing the pellets to smoke and smolder

  • Light the grill and turn on only the burner under the side of the grill with the smoking tube

  • I set my grill’s burner to about ¼ on to achieve about 250 degrees F constant heat

  • Close the lid and let it smoke until all the pellets have burned through (about three hours)

  • Remove the pastrami to a plate and wrap tightly with foil

  • Rest the pastrami for about an hour

  • Slice against the grain of the meat

  • Serve on rye bread with deli mustard

I smoked my pastrami all afternoon today while working from home. Apparently a neighbor or passerby noticed smoke coming from my grill and thought that meant things were on fire. They called the fire department, who pulled the truck outside as I was on a work call, ran up the stairs, and pounded on my door. They thought the whole thing was pretty funny, and I offered them sandwiches. 

Brian Snyder