Cooking Homemade Pastrami

Here we are going to look at two ways to cook pastrami, the first is in water and the second is in the oven. The third way is to hot smoke right at the start, this avoids the cold smoking and drying so if you'd prefer to go this way then check out the hot smoked pastrami recipe.

In both options below I'm assuming that you have read the first cold smoking stage for making pastrami and you've now removed the hunks of meat from the refrigerator and removed the paper towel.

Hot Water Cooking

Wrap the hunks of meat in stretch wrap, place each one individually in a resealable plastic bag and squeeze as much air out as possible before sealing the bag.

Place the bags in a pan of water that is at 93°C or 200°F for 2–3 hours taking care to ensure that the water doesn't boil because this will cause the meat to dry out excessively.

When cooked, remove from the plastic and allow to cool.

Oven Cooking

Wrap the pieces of pastrami in foil and place in an oven at 110°C or 225°F more or less as low a temperature as your oven will run. Cook until the internal temperature reaches 77°C or 170°F and then remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Preservation

I just can't resist a hot pastrami sandwich so I always find that I'm eating it before I should. Technically it should be allowed to cool and then refrigerated.

The pastrami will keep in the refrigerator for about a week so if you've made a big batch, the remainder should be frozen.

See Also:-

Making Pastrami Stage 1
Hot Smoked Pastrami Recipe
Traditional Pastrami Rub
What Is Pastrami?
Smoked Brisket Recipes

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