Last year I experimented with a
Pastrami Log by simmering some pickling spice then adding that to the ground beef. It turned out pretty good, but it didn't quite have enough of that classic corned beef flavor I was after.
This time I decided to try making my own pickling spice mix from ground spices that I could add directly to the ground beef.
Here's what I came up with (I also added just a little brown sugar - not pictured):
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TR2O4hKL0rs/UyuCbHq3-UI/AAAAAAAAGjY/YAoLDJMJydQ/s640/PSTSTX01.JPG)
I steeped the bay leaf in 3 oz. of boiled water. Once cooled, I removed the bay leaf, stirred in the spice mix until the salts were dissolved then hand mixed it into 2.5 lbs ground beef.
I also mixed up a small batch of beef pepperoni for snack sticks.All mixed and resting in the fridge a day or so before stuffing.
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Q4E5ep-Ob00/UyuCbHXHEbI/AAAAAAAAGjU/-3WwjcsSUo4/s640/PSTSTX02.JPG)
If the test patty I made was any indication, these are gonna be good!
Stay tuned for more...