Easy Homemade Pastrami

Great pastrami is not the easiest thing to find west of the Catskills, so a few years ago I embarked on a mission to find a way to turn the common corned beef into something similar. My goal was to come up with a reasonable substitute that could be done in less than a day at home, without a smoker, or any other special equipment. Impossible? No!

• Preparation Time: 1 hr 35 mins
• Cooking Time: 6 hr
• Total Time: 7 hr 35 mins
• Calories: 4709 Calories

Ingredients

• ½ cup vegetable oil
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon ground white pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 pounds corned beef brisket
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• ¼ cup coarsely ground fresh black pepper

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Step 2

Preheat the oven's broiler and set the oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source.

Step 3

Mix garlic and vegetable oil in a small bowl. Set aside for 1 hour.

Step 4

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C).

Step 5

Combine black pepper, paprika, coriander, dry mustard, white pepper, and cayenne pepper in a large bowl. Set aside.

Step 6

Cover a baking sheet with a large sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Coat aluminum foil with prepared garlic oil. Lay corned beef brisket on foil and brush with remaining garlic oil.

Step 7

Cover all sides of corned beef brisket completely with pepper mixture, reserving 1 to 2 tablespoons.

Step 8

With fat side of corned beef brisket up, wrap in the sheet of aluminum foil. Place wrapped corned beef on another sheet of aluminum foil with the seam and fat side down. Place double-wrapped corned beef on a third sheet of aluminum foil (seam down), and wrap again.

Step 9

Bake in the preheated oven for 6 hours.

Step 10

Remove pastrami from the oven and let cool to room temperature, about 3 hours.

Step 11

With pastrami still wrapped in aluminum foil, place in a freezer bag or other plastic bag and refrigerate for 8 to 10 hours.

Step 12

Remove pastrami from refrigerator, unwrap, and place on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle top with 1 to 2 tablespoons of remaining pepper mixture.

Step 13

Place pastrami in the oven, 6 to 8 inches below broiler heat. Broil briefly to brown surface, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove pastrami from the oven and slice thinly, about 1/8-inch slices.

Step 14

Heat a large skillet over low heat.

Step 15

Heat pastrami slices in the skillet with a few drops of water until fat begins to turn from white to translucent, about 5 minutes.