Category: San Luis Obispo

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encore for pastrami

Can You really have too much Pastrami?
Can You really have too much Pastrami?

Oh, I think most folks have marinated meat and many have seasoned meat and tossed it into the freezer for a version of  ‘dry curing’… however, I have to confess that curing my own meat was new to me and I took my time to study what everyone else had done before making my first corned beef.

There are quicker ways that the 3 week method I adapted, but I can’t think I would like any recipe better. In fact, I always liked corned beef… but now I LOVE it!  The difference is — of course — all the wonderful things you can do that most commercial folks leave out due to time or expense.  Making the corned beef only gets you half way to making a finished Pastrami ( smoked corned beef is now called Pastrami)… which I have to tell you was really superb!

In the first “In laws” movie, they discussed a recipe where the pollo (chicken) had to be marinated for 6 weeks… well we’re talking only 3 weeks or so for corned beef. Obviously, there are a wide variety of food safety issues that you need to become familiar before you attempt this… but once you have it down… it is a wonderful experience!

Here are the basic ingredients for the corned beef step …

5 cups water, 2 Heineken beers
1 1/2 cups salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons Prague Powder (a preservative and really not good for you… oh well!)
1 crumbled cinnamon stick
12 allspice berries, 8 cloves, 9 juniper berries
1/2 tablespoon each of: ginger and mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon each of: red pepper flakes, caraway seed and coriander
3 bay leaves crushed

After three weeks or so, I will drain soak in fresh water to reduce the salinity and rinse several times before I re-season and then smoke the beast!

So, why do I go to the effort? Laura loves Pastrami… now she loves mine, better.

Roger

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Smokey Mountain Smoker and Me

My Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker
My Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker

Although it’s still half a month off, what a great birthday present! One of the things I missed about the south is the flavor of really smoked foods. Here in California, folks throw some wood on the coals and call that ‘smoking’…oh please!

Laura was horrified that I might convert an old water heater into a smoker, so I think she did the next best thing by finding a superb smoker for my cooking pleasures! Weber makes a wonderful smoker in two sizes that she bought through Sears on line that is wonderful.

The pictures above are of me opening my ‘surprise’ and my smoker going at 4:30 am this morning! I have been making my own corned beef these past weeks and smoking converts it to Pastrami… my wife’s favorite meat! Ah… I see there was method in her gift!…. smart girl.

There are many great recipes on line, so I would follow them or check on the ones at Morton.com. However, my basic corned beef spices:

1/2 tsp of each: red pepper flakes, Carraway and Coriander
crushed cinnamon stick
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp each of: mustard seed, ginger
1 tsp of black peppercorn
8 whole cloves
6 Juniper berries ( a strong taste)
12 allspice berries

6- 8 lb brisket

my brine mixture containing 5 cups water and 3 cups ( 2 bottles) Heineken beer ( in my daughter’s honor)

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Now to convert Corned Beef to Pastrami requires smoking for about 6 hours or so.

After washing and soaking I added the following seasonings prior to smoking: Pimenton ( Spanish smoked Paprika), salt, black pepper, garlic powder and a smattering of Pickling spices

Laura's Pastrami on a Quinoa onion Roll!
Laura's Pastrami on a Quinoa onion Roll!

Now to enjoy!

Roger

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all oars pulling together

Karla's Snake for Biological Psychology
Karla's Snake for Biological Psychology

For those of you who don’t know, Laura has a second edition of her textbook  Discovering Biological Psychology hitting the book shelves and everyone in the family is excited to see her efforts come to fruition.

One of the nice things that happens in our family is that everyone has helped Laura in ways large and small in getting her textbook to press. Whether it has been proof reading, researching, filing…  everyone has tried to help…. all oars pulling together to get the job done. Our daughter Karla came up with an illustration ( as requested by one of Laura’s adopters) that will bring a smile to even the most hardened neuroscientist. The visual shows how orientation changes. Thanks, Karla you made it fun!

Thanks Laura from all of us and Congratulations!

Roger

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fun with quinoa

Quinoa pronounced 'kinwa'
Quinoa pronounced 'kinwa'

Folks who know me, know I love to experiment with various recipes and ingredients. Here’s one the health food folks will just love… it’s called Quinoa (‘kinwa’).  Although many use it as a grain, it is actually a seed and legend has it that it was the favorite ‘grain’ of the Incas. (read about Quinoa here)

Some people like to cook it up as a hot cereal in the morning. However, I like to use it as an ingredient in our onion rolls… as  a 1 cup substitution for part of the flour.

Roger Freberg


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corned beef pie for everyone

Real Man Food is Corned Beef Pie!
Real Man Food is Corned Beef Pie!

I love Corned Beef or Pastrami any day of the year, not just on Saint Paddy’s Day.

Although Corned Beef by itself can be a bit overwhelming to some due to its strong taste, baked in a pie it becomes wonderful! The beef is well balanced in the pie with the inclusion of eggs, cheese, sauteed vegetables, gravy, a buttery spiced crust and a small inclusion of Sherry with the corned beef after cooking and shredding.

This has something for everybody!

Here’s our recipe!

Sorry about the picture… I was lucky to get one shot as the pie disappeared shortly thereafter… fortunate, my second pie is in the freezer!

enjoy!

Roger