Pellet Smoker Cooking: Made some Hub's Quick and Easy Pastrami

Mar 13 2015

I am a little slow at getting back to posting after a long cold winter. I had a back operation in December and was getting some back to normal and then the wife and I both caught the cold-flu bug and that took a couple weeks to get rid of. The winter was colder than normal so didn’t get much outdoor cooking done.

The past week is the first warm weather we have had. I was glad back in Dec. we had a warm spell and I got my new Savannah Stoker v.3 controller installed and this week I got a new auger motor installed so I should be set for some good outdoor cooking this summer.

I have used Hub’s, from Lets Talk BBQ, quick and easy recipe for a long time now and I have never been disappointed. With Hub’s quick and easy recipe you buy a corned beef brisket and save the process of doing the corning yourself. If you really want to do it in a hurry you can have pastrami in three days. I like to let mine set in the fridge with the rub on at least overnight before smoking it. I have had good luck buying a corned beef from Wal Mart, either a point or a flat. This time I bought a point and it was only two pounds, now I wished I had bought a bigger one.

I put it in to soak in the fridge Monday afternoon and changed the water twice overnight. Tuesday afternoon I rinsed and dried it and in the fridge to air dry about an hour. I cut back on the amount of rub since it was just 2 pounds. I used 2 Tbs. ground black pepper and 2 Tbs. ground coriander. I added a Tbs. of yellow mustard seeds for a change. I sprinkled on some of Penzey’s roasted garlic and smeared the dry rub over. I double wrapped it in plastic wrap and in a zip lock bag and in the fridge for two nights. I turned it several times.

I had got my new auger motor installed Wednesday so I was all set to smoke the pastrami Thursday. I did it for four hours at 225 deg. Then it was double wrapped in foil and in a zip lock bag and in the fridge overnight.

I made some red skin potato salad and some Lexington style red slaw to have with the sandwiches. I baked the pastrami, in the foil at 250 deg. for 4 ½ hours and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing. I had some good light rye bread for the sandwiches and toasted some for my wife’s Rachel. I smeared on a mix of Kraft thousand island dressing and mayo, topped with the pastrami and some sauerkraut.

I just wanted mustard on my sandwich and did not toast the bread. My wife thought the mustard seeds were a little too much heat for her but I liked the extra depth of heat. The potato salad was good but my red slaw was not that great, back to the drawing board on that.

Printable recipe by Hub

Brisket after soaking, rub applied and in the fridge

for two nights