Once you have taken the time to make your own pastrami and tweak it to your particular taste, it’s hard to buy anything else! Some folks cure their brisket for hours, others — like me — for weeks. Some like a standard sort of brine mixture… others ( again, like me) enjoy a mixture with beer, juniper and allspice berries. The beauty of making anything for yourself is that you can find the style that suits you best. So it wouldn’t surprise you if I said that I like my recipe best.
I can see why most folks don’t realize that Pastrami and Corned Beef are very similar although the final product seems very different. Pastrami starts off with a finished corned beef then goes through a small seasoning process and finally smoked. Most corned beef is served boiled and this allows the fat to disappear and leave a leaner product with the characteristic meaty ‘strings.’ Pastrami however is almost never boiled — at least I don’t — and the final product appears with thin ribbons of fat… which is why — I think — it is almost always served hot.
My great Uncle Karl was an interesting man, a shorter and chubbier version of myself that made his living as a butcher and also had a preference for Pastrami. I was fond of him (Karla is named after him) and talking with him about food was always a treat.
Roger
PS. By the way, Pastrami is one of Laura’s favorite dishes … hmmm … it continually amazes me how she gets me to make these things while allowing me to think it is my idea.