Pastrami Mama part 1

I told you my daughter brought me two corned beef briskets. I have a "thang" for pastrami and I guess she got tired of hearing me talk about one of these days I'm gonna make one. After a thorough search on "how to make a pastrami, and after reading about a thousand recipes, I decided to take the plunge and attempt the process. It is not a quick process, but everybody promises the results are worth the time.

I opened both packages of corned beef, rinsed them off, put them to soak in cold water and threw away the seasoning packets that came with them. That was the only thing the recipes agreed on, throwing away the seasoning packets. The soaking process is two hours per pound, changing the water every two hours, to remove the excess salt.

Not very appetizing looking, is it?

After the soaking process was done, I took them out of the water, rinsed them off and dried them with paper towels.

Now the fun part...

I prepared a spice mixture of 2 tablespoons coarse ground coriander, 2 tablespoons coarse ground black pepper, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon paprika and 1 teaspoon dry mustard.

I rubbed each piece of meat with spicy brown mustard...not a lot, just enough to moisten each piece. Using all the spice mixture, I covered each piece of meat, patting in the spices, making sure it was all covered. I then wrapped each piece in plastic wrap, put them in plastic freezer bags, and put them in the refrigerator for over night.

It's hard to tell, but there is a good layer of spice all over the meat. It smells pretty good and when the smoke and heat get to it, it should turn bright dark pink on the inside. Can't wait! I'll give the cooking directions tomorrow...after the meat is taken off the grill, it needs to sit and cool. Most of the instructions I read say to chill in the refrigerator a couple of hours. It is supposed to be sliced very thin, piled thick on a good sandwich roll, dressed with mustard and dill pickles. We intend to add our delicious fresh tomatoes that have been coming off every day.

Have a great evening!

P.S. A little hint...I like to get the little grinder bottles of whole peppercorns at the dollar store. When the pepper is gone, you have a perfect little spice grinder. I ground whole coriander in one...you can even adjust the size of grain. It works on my dried oregano and basil too. Recycle!