Pork Belly
Moderator
Follow the instructions for Corned Beef until the point it comes out of the brine.
Remove the brisket from the brine, rinse with cold water and pat dry. Combine 1 tablespoon each of coriander seeds and whole black peppercorns in a heavy skillet and toast them over low heat until you can smell them Remove them from the skillet and grind immediately. evenly coat the entire surface of the meat with the ground spice mixture. Cold smoke the meat for at least two hours, increase the heat to 200 and finish with internal temp of 150. Allow to cool then slice.
Variations, both the corned beef and the pastrami can be made with Eye of the Round, Top Round or any cut of meat really. Its the process not the cut of meat that makes it corned or pastrami. I will include a picture pastrami I made from Bison Eye of The Round sliced and unsliced. The whole pastrami is in the lower right corner of the tub of meat. Those are pork hocks in the tub with it. The hocks were cure following my maple bacon dry cure recipe. Both the hocks and pastrami were smoked over apple at 150 until reaching 150 internal. You could eat those tender hocks like a meat apple.
***One forum member had a bad experience with some very salty Pastrami following this procedure. The original corned beef was changed by the author reducing the salt level, but it is still salty. However as written it is to be boiled. The author did amened his recipe with the following note:
*A note about the salt: The salt level is not hugely critical here because it’s basically boiled, and the excess salt moves into the cooking liquid. You can weigh out 12 ounces here if you feel better using a scale (approximately a 10% brine). Or you can simply make a 5% brine of however much water you need to cover (6.4 ounces per gallon). When you cook it, season the cooking liquid to the level you want your meat seasoned. Another option is wrapping the brisket in foil and cooking it in a 225°F oven till tender, but do this only if you’ve used the 5% brine.
So if you are going to smoke it only make a 5% brine
Remove the brisket from the brine, rinse with cold water and pat dry. Combine 1 tablespoon each of coriander seeds and whole black peppercorns in a heavy skillet and toast them over low heat until you can smell them Remove them from the skillet and grind immediately. evenly coat the entire surface of the meat with the ground spice mixture. Cold smoke the meat for at least two hours, increase the heat to 200 and finish with internal temp of 150. Allow to cool then slice.
Variations, both the corned beef and the pastrami can be made with Eye of the Round, Top Round or any cut of meat really. Its the process not the cut of meat that makes it corned or pastrami. I will include a picture pastrami I made from Bison Eye of The Round sliced and unsliced. The whole pastrami is in the lower right corner of the tub of meat. Those are pork hocks in the tub with it. The hocks were cure following my maple bacon dry cure recipe. Both the hocks and pastrami were smoked over apple at 150 until reaching 150 internal. You could eat those tender hocks like a meat apple.
***One forum member had a bad experience with some very salty Pastrami following this procedure. The original corned beef was changed by the author reducing the salt level, but it is still salty. However as written it is to be boiled. The author did amened his recipe with the following note:
*A note about the salt: The salt level is not hugely critical here because it’s basically boiled, and the excess salt moves into the cooking liquid. You can weigh out 12 ounces here if you feel better using a scale (approximately a 10% brine). Or you can simply make a 5% brine of however much water you need to cover (6.4 ounces per gallon). When you cook it, season the cooking liquid to the level you want your meat seasoned. Another option is wrapping the brisket in foil and cooking it in a 225°F oven till tender, but do this only if you’ve used the 5% brine.
So if you are going to smoke it only make a 5% brine
