homemade pastrami made with spices and brine

I´ve never seen pastrami for sale here in Norway, so I have to make my own. I might this year for Christmas. Here is the "recipe" I generally use.

Beef brisket, trim leaving a thin layer of fat. It´s difficult to find brisket here, so flank steak, round, or similar also works. Trim the cut of meat as usual, depending upon which cut you use, take off any sinewy bits, but leave on a thin layer of fat.

Make the brine, with water and enough salt to float an egg. Season with whatever you like. I use usually whole spices, and berries. Red, black, white peppercorns. Juniper berries I pick from outside my kitchen as they grow wild here. Coriander seeds, as I always have them. If I use garlic, I use a TINY amount, as I do like a slight garlic flavour but not overpowerful, which can happen as the brisket is kept in the brine for about a week to several or 3 weeks.

Other things you might add to the brine, are mustard seeds, black fennel or white fennel, fenugreek seeds not leaves, whole cloves, cardamom pods whole but slightly cracked open,allspice berries, whole anise stars, bay leaves or curry leaves, pieces of dry ginger, a bit of chopped onions, crushed garlic, a cinnamon bark piece or few. Whatever you have and like to try. (I like all of these except the mustard seeds, sometimes will use mustard powder and garlic powder).

For salt, use about 2 cups salt. If you have pink salt, add a few TBS of that too, as it helps give it a pink color and does add to the flavor. Some people add brown sugar to the brine, but I don´t.

About a gallon of brine to a 5lb brisket, is about right. And for a gallon of brine, using about 3 TBS of spices (any mix you like of above). Lightly toast the spices, then grind slightly in a mortar and pestle, then add all of it to the brine. Boil this on the stovetop, cool down then chill in fridge until it is cold.

Place the brisket in a suitable container, so that the brine will completely cover it. Use a plate to weigh down the brisket, and flip the brisket every day, for atleast 7 days. (The brine and brisket stay in the fridge, just taking it out to turn over the brisket).

After a week (one week will be enough, but more weeks give more flavor) or 2-3 weeks, when your brisket is to your liking, take it out of the brine, and rinse off the brisket.

To make a corned beef:

Place brisket in a stewpot just large enough to fit it, and cover with water an inch or so above the meat, and add some more spices (from the above suggestions, about a TBS or so).

Bring this to a boil, then lower heat til simmering, and simmer for about four hours, or an afternoon (you can use a crockpot, if you have one. I don´t have one). Simmer til the meat is tender.


 To make it a pastrami:

 Rinse the meat in water overnight. Take the meat out of the water,pat dry, slightly oil the meat then rub with spices*, and let sit again overnight in the fridge. Liquid smoke is also good to rub on, but I´ve not seen that here either.

Then smoke the brined meat, or slowly roast it in a hot oven for an afternoon, as if you were making ribs in the oven instead of smoker or bbq grill.


Serve the pastrami, cold, sliced thin, with kraut, sour garlic dill pickles, yellow mustard, etc. on either fresh homemade rye bread or on warm chewy slightly crisp pretzel bread. Serve with the crispy potato hashbrowns, or warm or cold potato salad, deviled eggs, etc.



*spices include paprika, to help with the color. Ground spices, mixed together, then used as a rub. So, paprika, onion, garlic, black pepper, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, a tiny bit of brown sugar if you like. Crush the garlic etc all together in a mortar and pestle, then rub it all on the meat. Ancho powder also adds color, but can make it too hot. Chili powder is milder for the color. Not too much mustard seed, as that also can make it too hot or mustardy.

**some people let this sit in the fridge with the rub on, for a week, but I rarely have that time, it takes long enough, but yeah it will give it a better flavor if you have a week for this part.

***I prefer using a smoker or grill, but it´s winter and I don´t have that luxury. If I was using a grill or smoker, I would also prefer using mesquite and apple, oak wood, juniper wood, cherry wood or pecan wood, or combination of a few. I do not like gas grills for anything, as imho they give an odd flavor to everything. It is much much better if smoked properly outdoors, but again, I need to use the oven for various reasons. If you can smoke it proper, do that:).