Over-cured my corned beef

[adegiulio]

So I put a brisket into a nice flavorful brine two weeks ago and promptly forgot about it until yesterday. I made pastrami with it, and once I took it out of the smoker I tasted it. It's clearly too salty to make sandwiches out of. I would hate to waste it. Has anyone tried slicing it and drying like jerky?

[Luckylies]

can you boil it for a while like corned beef?

[annecros]

I was thinking soak and drain, but then you loose all that pastrami smoked and seasoned goodness.

Jerky may be the only hope. It may seem like a waste, but pastrami jerky is pretty darned good.

[adegiulio]

I thought about that, but since I already smoked it for 6 hours, I thought cooking it even more would not be so great, even if it was a moist cooking...

[Rebecca263]

I'm thinking that maybe this would be too salty as a jerky. How about you dry it and use it as a flavoring, similar to when people use bacalau?

[bdevidal]

So I put a brisket into a nice flavorful brine two weeks ago and promptly forgot about it until yesterday. I made pastrami with it, and once I took it out of the smoker I tasted it. It's clearly too salty to make sandwiches out of. I would hate to waste it. Has anyone tried slicing it and drying like jerky?

←

Is it a bit too salty (as in "if this were just 10-15% less salty it would be palatable") or is it an order of magnitude too salty? If it is just a bit too salty, you may want to try steaming it, which is fully normal and traditional for pastrami after smoking. It should help it plump up a bit (absorb some water) which will help drop the saltiness, and it may bring some of the salt to the surface. Also, you might try soaking just a portion of it to see what happens; It will prob wash away some of the smokiness, but you would be surprised by how tenacious smoke flavor can be.

BTW, what recipe did you use for your brine?

-B

[adegiulio]

So I put a brisket into a nice flavorful brine two weeks ago and promptly forgot about it until yesterday. I made pastrami with it, and once I took it out of the smoker I tasted it. It's clearly too salty to make sandwiches out of. I would hate to waste it. Has anyone tried slicing it and drying like jerky?

←

Is it a bit too salty (as in "if this were just 10-15% less salty it would be palatable") or is it an order of magnitude too salty? If it is just a bit too salty, you may want to try steaming it, which is fully normal and traditional for pastrami after smoking. It should help it plump up a bit (absorb some water) which will help drop the saltiness, and it may bring some of the salt to the surface. Also, you might try soaking just a portion of it to see what happens; It will prob wash away some of the smokiness, but you would be surprised by how tenacious smoke flavor can be.

BTW, what recipe did you use for your brine?

-B

←

I used the recipe from Ruhlmans book. For the pickling spices I used bay leaf, juniper, coriander, cloves, and peppercorns.

If you dont have his book, let me know and I'll send you the recipe...

[dansch]

Is it a bit too salty (as in "if this were just 10-15% less salty it would be palatable") or is it an order of magnitude too salty? If it is just a bit too salty, you may want to try steaming it, which is fully normal and traditional for pastrami after smoking. It should help it plump up a bit (absorb some water) which will help drop the saltiness, and it may bring some of the salt to the surface.

←

When I made the pastrami from "Charcuterie" I steamed it for a couple of hours after smoking, which I can attest did in fact draw out a good bit of salt and tenderize the pastrami (which after a good long smoking session was a bit dry around the edges). It was *fantastic*. I was eating pastrami with every meal for a couple of weeks.

The drippings at the bottom of the roasting pan I steamed it in were fantastic as well. It did not go to waste. Along with more mundane uses, I also happen to be playing with sodium alginate that weekend with a buddy. I made pastrami dripping (fat removed, obviously) caviar and blobs and such. We made a bunch of different flavors of blobs that day and pastrami jus was definitely the best. As an appetizer for dinner I pan fried small rounds of homemade rye and layered on some pastrami and topped with the caviar. Odd? Sure. Delicious? Oh yes.

-Dan