Ok, after 6 days of being flipped once per day to be sure they they were brined & cured evenly, they were taken out and allowed to drain & dry a bit.
The outside looks gray after the brine but the inside is still pink. From what I've read this is absolutely normal. This roast was tied to help it stay together during smoking.
I scoured several pastrami rub recipes. I decided since there's plenty of salt in the meat, salt in the rub was not needed. This is what I came up with:
For each roast:
- 1 TBS Course Ground Black Pepper
- 1 TBS Paprika
- 1 TBS Ground Coriander
- 1 1/2 tsp. Mustard Powder
- 1 tsp. Mustard Seed
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp Ground Allspice (fresh coarse grind)
- 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
It tasted pretty good. A little peppery & spicy with a hint of sweetness & allspice coming through subtly at the end. We'll see how it works.
Rubbed, then rubbed some more then onto the MAK in smoke mode for a couple hours using the last of my Sugar Maple pellet. Then bumped it to 300° until they got a nice color.
They were foiled with a few tablespoons of water to steam until an IT of 190°. After resting a bit, one got thick sliced for immediate consumption.
The color & smell were phenomenal and it sure made a great sammy with some Swiss Cheese & Rye Bread!
Today I had a chance to get the slicer out and chip the remaining pastrami.
Final thoughts: The thick pepper coating got mixed reviews from the family, so next time I'll use a lighter coating with less pepper in the rub & also cut back on salt in the brine just a tad.
All in all I'm pretty happy with the results especially with this being my first corned beef attempt. I now see why folks who cure their own Corned Beef & Pastrami say that until you cure your own you won't believe how much better it is.
This was a good learning experience and the wife is especially happy because she loves corned beef.
Thanks for letting me share!
