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!
Ingredients
- vegetable oil: 0.5 cup
- garlic: 2 clove (crushed)
- coarsely ground fresh black pepper: 0.25 cup
- smoked paprika: 2 Tbsp
- ground coriander: 2 tsp
- dry mustard: 1 tsp
- ground white pepper: 0.5 tsp
- cayenne pepper: 0.25 tsp
- corned beef brisket: 4 pound
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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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. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
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Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C).
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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. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
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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. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
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Bake in the preheated oven for 6 hours.
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Remove pastrami from the oven and let cool to room temperature, about 3 hours. Do not remove the foil.
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Place foil-wrapped pastrami in a freezer bag or other plastic bag; refrigerate for 8 to 10 hours.
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Preheat the oven's broiler and set the oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
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Remove pastrami from the refrigerator, unwrap, and place on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle top with 1 to 2 tablespoons remaining pepper mixture. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
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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. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
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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. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
