Happy St. Patrick's Day!

One of my favorite times of year. Actually, not the day itself but, for a few weeks after, stores sell their leftover corned beef at discount prices. Time to make pastrami the easy way.

Pastrami, in the old countries was called pastram, pastromá, pastirma, and basturma, words that mean “pressed” in Romanian, Russian, Turkish, and Armenian. Originally pastrami was made from goose and poultry since they were the least expensive meat. When immigrants got to the United States, they found that beef was cheaper than geese. So they soaked the toughest cut of beef in salt and spices for a few days, then boiled it until it was tender.

This is what a proper pastrami sandwich looks like at Katz' Deli in New York.

Take a brisket and cure it, you have corned beef. Take that corned beef and apply a rub to it and smoke it, then steam it, you have pastrami. The curing brine can be as simple as salt and water. Since we are skipping the brining, we will use a corned "uncooked" beef.

I like to soak the beef overnight in fresh water to get some of the salt out. The usual way of cooking the beef for corned beef and cabbage, is boiling. This removes a lot of the salt needed for curing. We'll do it by soaking and changing the water a few times. After soaking, dry the beef off and apply your rub. I use either pickling spice that is pre-mixed that I grind up, or I grind up some black pepper and coriander and apply it liberally. Smoke the beef at 220 degrees for four hours. Cherry wood works very well for this.

After four hours, let the meat cool down a little on the counter, then wrap it in plastic wrap. Three or four layers. The plastic won't melt at the low temps we use. Wrap it in foil in case the package leaks and finish it in the oven at 250 degrees until the internal temperature reaches around 205 degrees.

If I need the pastrami for lunch, I do the smoking the afternoon before and let the beef cook in the oven the rest of the day and overnight at 200 degrees. The meat will be fully cooked and tender without overcooking and you won't have to worry about pulling it out at the right internal temp since it will hold at 200 degrees oven temp until you're ready for it. Don't worry if the internal temp is only around 185 or so, the long amount of time in the moist heat will break it down for us. I cook the beef in wrap and foil to keep the bark tender, unlike a BBQed brisket where I like some crunch.

Let's see how it turned out.

 Success!

Enjoy with some of these tasty sides!

Potato Salad

Put some potatoes (the small ones, they're about one inch around) into a ziploc bag and smack each one with a mallet, crushing them to expose more surface area for the oil.

Drizzle the taters with oil and mix well. Sprinkle on some seasoned salt and place them on a low rimmed baking sheet on the top shelf of your oven which is heated to 450 degrees until they crisp up. Slice and caramelize two onions. Combine the onions and taters together in a bowl.

In another bowl mix 2/3 cup of mayo, 3 T. bbq sauce and some chopped habanero chilies (or hot sauce) and add to the taters. Chill and adjust with more seasoned salt before serving. Chilling reduces the potency of seasonings, so always test before serving.

Cole Slaw

⅔ cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

4 green onions, chopped

4 oz. shredded smoked gouda cheese

1 Tablespoon Chili-garlic paste ( or hot sauce and chopped garlic to taste)

Mix the above and stir into 1 lb. shredded cabbage.

Tortellini Salad

1 package frozen tortellini cooked per directions on package.

Chop up 3 oz. of pepperoni and 3 oz. of hard salami.

Grate 3 oz. of swiss cheese and three oz. of provolone.

Once the tortellini is completely cooled, add the meats and cheeses and mix.

Pour on a half bottle of Paul Newman's Italian (or your favorite) Italian dressing and mix.

Chill for a few hours. The pasta will absorb a lot of the dressing so taste it to see if it is dry.

Add more dressing and adjust the taste with salt and pepper. Toss on some parmesan cheese and serve.