Biscuits of Today

Recreating the Best Pastrami in New York

Here in Austin, I've noticed that some customers go to the grocery store and get all excited about cold, water-logged Boar's Head pastrami. It pains my soul. I wonder if they don't know what it's like to go to Katz's Deli in New York City and order a pastrami reuben. The old guy behind the counter heaves a huge pastrami out of the steamer and hand carves off a pile of thin slices for your sandwich, wielding a massive knife. If you tip him he'll give you a couple of extra slices on the side to sample. The beef is sweet, salty, and melt-in-your-mouth-tender. You also sense some garlic, mustard , and smoke while the coating of coriander and black peppercorns adds another layer of flavor.

When I left New York for Austin, I feared I'd never have access to legit pastrami again. So when I read about the Charcutepalooza brine challenge for March, I betrayed my Irish heritage and went for the pastrami challenge instead of the corned beef. Pastrami is essentially corned beef anyways, but there are more herbs and spices in the brine. Most importantly, it is traditionally cold smoked and then steamed instead of boiled.

Making pastrami is no small task; it took a 5 pound brisket from Richardson Farms, 3 days of brining, and 4 hours of smoking.  I made big plans to brine the beef before work. Upon reading Ruhlman's recipe from Charcuterie more closely that morning, I realized it called for some emotionally prepared pickling spice made ahead of time. In a rush, I improvised and threw in pinches of whole spices called for in the recipe, maybe throwing in a little extra of my favorites like mustard seeds and black peppercorns. I submerged the brisket in the brine, and placed the pot in the fridge.

Three days later I pulled it out, rinsed and dried off the brisket, and coated it in the crushed peppercorn and coriander seed  mixture commonly associated with  pastrami.

Ruhlman's recipe explained that the final step was to smoke the brisket as long as possible until the center reached 150 degrees. My inexperienced smoking partner and I were afraid we'd overcook the meat with our make-shift smoker grill set up, but we actually managed to keep the fire low and smoke the meat for 4 hours until it reached the correct temperature.

The result was everything I dreamed it would be! A beautiful pastrami that was delightfully smokier than anything I've had before, and the coriander peppercorn crust was pleasantly crisp and crunchy. Right out of the grill/smoker the meat was a little too salty, and I vowed to make a weaker brine next time. Over the past few days, however, the saltiness has become less pronounced, and I wonder if it's all part of the pastrami-making process since it's a preserved meat product afterall.

So I'm thrilled to know I can make a suitable substitute for Katz's Deli pastrami whenever I get the craving, and it's a fun activity too. Now I'm sort of inspired to try making the other New York foods I miss: bagels, Polish dumplings, and Shanghai soup dumplings. We'll see.

Wrestling with Pork Belly

So I did it. I finally confronted the slab of pork belly that has been curing in the fridge for over a week. I had cured it using a mix of pink curing salt, kosher salt, red pepper flakes, and rosemary. I used what I had on hand instead of running out and buying more spices because my pantry is already overflowing with odd ingredients as it is.

I had been putting off hanging the pancetta because it has to be rolled tightly to prevent mold growth in air pockets. You can wrap the slab up in cheese cloth to avoid rolling, but that almost seems like cheating. If I'm going to the trouble to make pancetta, I want to do it up right, and I've never seen flat pancetta before.

My first strategy was to start tying at the middle, but the belly didn't seem to stay rolled tightly, so I started at one of the ends, and that worked better. It took several tries of wrestling with the meat, but I was finally somewhat satisfied with my work. My arms and hands are aching from the strength it took to tame the pancetta. Pretty pathetic, I know.

Now its hanging in my shed along with some questionable duck prosciutto that doesn't seem hard yet even though its been in there for over a week. I hope my second Charcutepalooza experiment is more successful, but for now it deinfitely looks like pancetta. I guess I'll see in two weeks...

Ruhlman's Rant

Yesterday Michael Ruhlman published a rant on the Huffington Post about the common excuse, "I don't have time to cook, so I rely on frozen meals, takeout, or weird containers of stuff from the grocery store instead." He maintains that people could make time, but they are too lazy, uninterested, or boring. He argues that the food industry is perpetuating this attitude for their own profit. I agree with Ruhlman completely, and there's almost nothing I like to do more than wander around the grocery store or farmers market, emotionally select ingredients, carefully prepare some food, and eat it with friends. But I think Ruhlman, slightly pretentious as usual, is preaching to the choir. Do you think articles like this one will persuade more people to cook  from scratch?