Venison Pastrami

[JJ3]

Tried something new this week and made a venison pastrami. I used a 3 lb roast from the hindquarter and brined it for 6 days in a brine made with brown sugar, salt, pink curing salt, black pepper and pickling spices. Removed it from the brine and washed off the pickling spices and allowed it to dry in the fridge for a couple of hours. Then I applied a generous rub of black pepper, ground coriander, smoked paprika, and garlic powder. And then I smoked it on the BGE for 2 hrs at 180 F and 1 hr at 200 F taking it off at an internal temp of 150 F. It came out quite tasty. I will be doing this again.

 

[huntntrap]

I have made this a few times. It is awsome. It doesn't last long

 

[Gronkmonster]

That looks terrific

 

[TAFKAP]

Tried something new this week and made a venison pastrami. I used a 3 lb roast from the hindquarter and brined it for 6 days in a brine made with brown sugar, salt, pink curing salt, black pepper and pickling spices. Removed it from the brine and washed off the pickling spices and allowed it to dry in the fridge for a couple of hours. Then I applied a generous rub of black pepper, ground coriander, smoked paprika, and garlic powder. And then I smoked it on the BGE for 2 hrs at 180 F and 1 hr at 200 F taking it off at an internal temp of 150 F. It came out quite tasty. I will be doing this again.

I love seeing projects like this. Great job. We do about 5 lbs of corned vension every year for St. Paddy's day, and I always reserve about 2 lbs of it to smoke for pastrami.

 

[JJ3]

I love seeing projects like this. Great job. We do about 5 lbs of corned vension every year for St. Paddy's day, and I always reserve about 2 lbs of it to smoke for pastrami.

Yeah me too — and it wasn't anything difficult.

How does your brine recipe compare for making the corned venison?

 

[TAFKAP]

Yeah me too — and it wasn't anything difficult.

How does your brine recipe compare for making the corned venison?

Yours looks nearly exactly the same. Although I chop up about 5 cloves of garlic & add a few bay leaves to my brine. Not sure what my pastrami rub is though. It comes from a local BBQ restaurant that does their own in-house pastrami. But I calculate all my brines out. Looks like this

2% of meat + water weight = Salt
1.5% of meat + water weight = Brown Sugar
0.25% of meat + water weight = Pink curing salt
5 rough chopped cloves of garlic
1 heaping TBSP of pickling spice per lb of meat
5 bay leaves

I boil my water, stir in the above, and turn off the heat. I always account for about 1,000g of ice in my brine, as well. Lots of time, it looks like this: 3,600 g meat + 3,000 g of water, but I'll add in another 1,000g of ice to chill the brine down. So my calculations are based on 7,600g of meat + water.

 

[JJ3]

Yours looks nearly exactly the same. Although I chop up about 5 cloves of garlic & add a few bay leaves to my brine. Not sure what my pastrami rub is though. It comes from a local BBQ restaurant that does their own in-house pastrami. But I calculate all my brines out. Looks like this

2% of meat + water weight = Salt
1.5% of meat + water weight = Brown Sugar
0.25% of meat + water weight = Pink curing salt
5 rough chopped cloves of garlic
1 heaping TBSP of pickling spice per lb of meat
5 bay leaves

I boil my water, stir in the above, and turn off the heat. I always account for about 1,000g of ice in my brine, as well. Lots of time, it looks like this: 3,600 g meat + 3,000 g of water, but I'll add in another 1,000g of ice to chill the brine down. So my calculations are based on 7,600g of meat + water.

Your meat to total brine looks about double what I did. I had 3 lb roast to 1 gallon of water. And I forgot to add the garlic to the brine ….

I'll add this to my notes for next time (which won't be long). I've got some more roasts in the freezer!

 

[TAFKAP]

Your meat to total brine looks about double what I did. I had 3 lb roast to 1 gallon of water. And I forgot to add the garlic to the brine ….

I'll add this to my notes for next time (which won't be long). I've got some more roasts in the freezer!

I just made up the numbers. Point being that a calculated "equalization brine" needs to include weight of water + weight of meat. Sometimes, there's just "cup of salt + gallon of water +2 lbs of meat" recipes out there that don't explain how to adjust. A calculated brine will work every time, and it's not going to over-salt the meat. And the only water needed is the amount to cover the meat.

 

[redblood]

Looks great!

 

[megalomaniac]

Def going to try this with the first deer the kids kill this year!