Smoking, grilling and curing foods, etc.

Nothing wrong with a little extra protein.
 
Smoked an almost 18lb. turkey for Thanksgiving supper. Dry brined for 24 hrs. with Kosher salt, black pepper, granulated garlic, rosemary, thyme and home grown sage. Stuffed with halved orange and lemon with some more rosemary and sage. Smoked with a pellet blend of Pecan, Hickory and Mesquite for 2 hrs. at 225F and finished at 300F. Good stuff.
Got the remains out of the fridge this morning, cut up and packaged a bunch and have the carcass on the stove making broth for turkey minestrone. Took a pic just before putting on the grill, but was busy and didn't get more pics until we had done don
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e damage to it.
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Just put 30#s of venison summer sausage in the frig to sit overnight will smoke tomorrow afternoon and package up the 23#s of breakfast sausage. We put about 30% pork shoulder and 3-4% bacon in the sausages. Still a little dryer than store bought but flavor makes up for it. Gotta get the deer out of the way, have an elk hanging to be butchered soon.
 
@BOB357 you said you had a pastrami recipe, which i thought i downloaded. I have some pieces of elk round that are perfect size for pastrami... can't find the fn download. Help?
 
Here ya go: Some people like to steam it to about 180 once it comes off of the grill.
 

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Here ya go: Some people like to steam it to about 180 once it comes off of the grill.

Thanks Bob! Looks to be tasty. Elk is very lean, was wondering if it would need an oil or butter rub to keep it from drying out? For steaming maybe wrap in foil with a touch of beer til it hits 180?
 
I use some pretty lean cuts of beef without a moisture problem. As you can see from the recipe, I also trim off any external fat. The dry cure should help it maintain moisture while smoking, maybe basting with peanut, or some other flavorless oil, once the bark has set might help as well. Also, you might forgo steaming the whole chunk and instead just briefly steam slices if you're making sandwiches.

This won't be like Katz's New York deli style. The texture is more like Canadian Bacon if that helps you decide what to do.
 
I use some pretty lean cuts of beef without a moisture problem. As you can see from the recipe, I also trim off any external fat. The dry cure should help it maintain moisture while smoking, maybe basting with peanut, or some other flavorless oil, once the bark has set might help as well. Also, you might forgo steaming the whole chunk and instead just briefly steam slices if you're making sandwiches.

This won't be like Katz's New York deli style. The texture is more like Canadian Bacon if that helps you decide what to do.

I understand what you mean to avoid dryness will just check as it smokes and play it by ear. I trimmed off all fat and silverskin so should take rub well. We have 30#s more of summer sausage to run through the smoker so for now I put 2 vacuumed 4# roasts in freezer. We are needing a break from cutting and processing close to 300#s of meat. Pastrami will wait til after the holidays. Will post a pic when it's done. Thanks again for the recipe.
 
Whoa! glad you posted this. Just remembered that I have two 4 lb. chunks on cure that I need to smoke this weekend.
 
Put on 2, four pound Pastramis to smoke an hour ago. Gave them a good coat of 1/3 each,
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black pepper, ground coriander and granulated garlic. Smoking between 225 and 250F with a blend of Pecan, Hickory and Mesquite. Glad I used a probe in each one as the temps are running about 10 degrees apart.
 
Is that a smoker or a pellet grill Bob. Hard to tell. I like using the pellet grill as well as the smoker. Both do well for me.
 
It's a Traeger. I use a Big Chief for real smoke, but like my Pastrami milder.
 
It's a Traeger. I use a Big Chief for real smoke, but like my Pastrami milder.
True a pellet type is more controllable for me as my smoker is a charcoal type which i add wood chunks and chips. Summer sausage goes in the smoker. Weiners go in either but I like the idea pf pastrami in traeger.
 
looks absolutely delicious Bob! I’m picturing a nice NY deli style pastrami sandwich at the moment. As a matter of fact, gonna have to seek one out tomorrow. Thanks Bob!
 
Thanks. A recipe I've been doing for a long time. Don't think I could screw it up if I tried :)
The hard part is letting it sit in the fridge overnight before slicing and sampling. Need to get some rye bread and mustard, American cheese, a couple of dill pickle slices and I'm there.
 

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