Great pastrami is not the easiest thing to find west of the Catskills, so a few years ago, I embarked on a mission to find a way to make homemade pastrami using corned beef. My goal was to devise a reasonable substitute that could be done in less than a day at home, without a smoker or any other special equipment. Impossible? No!
Preparation Details
Prep Time: 40 mins
Cook Time: 6 hrs 10 mins
Total Time: 18 hrs 50 mins
Servings: 12
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- ¼ cup coarsely ground fresh black pepper
- 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- ½ teaspoon ground white pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 4 pounds corned beef brisket
Steps
- Mix vegetable oil and garlic in a small bowl; set aside for 1 hour. Combine black pepper, paprika, coriander, dry mustard, white pepper, and cayenne pepper in a large bowl; set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C).
- Cover a baking sheet with a large sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil; coat with prepared garlic oil. Lay beef brisket on the oiled foil sheet and brush with remaining garlic oil. Cover brisket completely with pepper mixture, reserving 1 to 2 tablespoons.
- Wrap brisket, fat-side up, in the sheet of foil. Place wrapped corned beef on another sheet of aluminum foil with the seam- and fat-sides down. Place double-wrapped brisket, seam-side down, on a third sheet of aluminum foil; wrap again.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 6 hours.
- Remove pastrami from the oven and let cool to room temperature, about 3 hours. Do not remove the foil.
- Place foil-wrapped pastrami in a freezer bag or other plastic bag; refrigerate for 8 to 10 hours.
- Preheat the oven’s broiler and set the oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Remove pastrami from the refrigerator, unwrap, and place on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle top with 1 to 2 tablespoons remaining pepper mixture.
- Place pastrami under the broiler and cook until surface browns, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove pastrami from the oven and cut into thin slices, about 1/8-inch thick.
- Heat a large skillet over low heat; warm pastrami slices in the skillet with a few drops of water until fat turns translucent, about 5 minutes.
