It's my understanding that you must first make, (or buy), corned beef. Then desalinate it and apply a pastrami rub and either bake it or smoke it.
Here's how to make corned beef:
Our Homemade Corned Beef Recipe Outshines Store Bought BTW - improperly cured corned beef can be dangerous.
For such a long curing time, you need an equilibrium cure. This ensures that, by the time you are done, the salt and nitrite concentration in the meat are correct, and that the cure penetrates into all parts of the meat.
The above recipe is a bit dubious, IMO. I just tried the calculator with a 2.1 kg piece of meat, and it calls for over a gallon of brine. That's ridiculous, you don't need more than 50% of the meat weight. The nitrate content is about right at 162 ppm, but the salt content at 3.7% in that calculator is way too high. This pastrami is going to be over salted, and not just by my taste, but by pretty much everyone's taste. A good starting point is 2.5 % salt concentration. That's a middle-of the road value that most people find right. If you like it more or less salty, adjust up or down next time, keeping the cure #1 content the same, but increasing or reducing the amount of salt.
Here is how you can work out the correct proportions:
- Weigh your meat.
- Calculate the amount of brine at between 0.5 and 1.0 times the weight of the meat. (0.5 is enough, 1.0 won't do any harm, but you'll use more salt and cure #1.)
- Add the weight of the meat and water.
- Multiply the total weight (meat plus water) by 0.0225. That is the amount of salt you need.
- Multiply the total weight (meat plus water) by 0.0025. That is the amount of cure #1 you need. (Mind the zeros past the decimal point.)
- Dissolve salt and cure #1 in the water and you have your brine.
- Put meat and brine into a ziplock or vacuum bag and seal the bag after removing as much air as possible.
- Cure in the fridge and turn the bag over every other day, so the cure reaches everywhere and gets stirred up a little.
Example:
- 2120 g meat
- 1000 g water
- (2120 g + 1000 g) * 0.0225 = 70 g salt
- (2120 g + 1000 g) * 0.0025 = 8 g cure #1
Curing time depends on the thickness and shape of the meat. Counterintuitively, a slab of meat that is 9 cm thick takes longer to cure than a round muscle with 9 cm diameter. You can find a good curing time calculator here:
https://genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/nitritecuringcalculator.html
That page has an animation at the bottom that explains why a flat piece of meat with a particular thickness takes longer to cure than a round piece with the same diameter.
Because this is an
equilibrium cure, the calculated time is the
minimum. It is no problem to leave the meat in the cure for longer because the amount of salt and nitrite are calculated to give the desired final concentration. Once osmotic pressure has distributed the salts evenly throughout the meat and water, the concentration of salts cannot get any higher. So, if you are busy and don't get around to cooking your pastrami once it is fully cured, it is no problem to leave it in the bag for another week or two.
I am curious as to why you want to go so long on the cure. The length of time is dependent on the thickness of your meat. 3.5" thick beef takes about 15 days, but the longer the cure, the greater the chance of the meat going bad due to contaminants.
See above. An equilibrium cure is a set-and-forget method to ensure that the meat will not be too salty. If stored airtight and cold (< 6 ºC), there is absolutely zero chance of any bacteria growth; the salt and nitrite see to that.
The curing time depends on the shape of the meat. 15 days is about right for a 3.5" slab. A round muscle (such as eye of round) with 3.5" diameter cures in about half the time. With an equilibrium cure, if in doubt, leave the meat in the cure for another week. Longer is not a problem, but too short is.
Once you cook and cut your pastrami, any grey patch in the center of the meat is a sure-fire indication that the meat wasn't cured long enough. If that happens, no big deal. Just eat the meat promptly (within two or three days) or freeze it. And cure it for longer next time.
Some tips:
- Replace the water with a malty dark beer. That works really well.
- Per liter, add 30–50 g of sugar.
- Per liter, add three bay leaves, plus a teaspoon each of crushed juniper berries, crushed allspice berries, garlic powder, crushed caraway seed, and cayenne pepper.
Of course, you can vary the spices as you see fit. Cinnamon, cloves, chili powder, and cumin (1 tsp each per liter) make for a nice combination, too.
