CENTRAL TRANSYLVANIA

Homemade cold smoked pastrami recipe

recette daube d'agneau au merlot Recas lamb stew recipe with recas merlot

Pastrami, well known beyond the Atlantic, has deeply European origins.

It is one of the culinary specialties found in Romania, most often prepared with lamb or pork.

We offer you a DIY recipe, to be able to make it at home if you are sufficiently equipped. The pastrami recipe is not really complicated, but long: we start with two days of salting, then 5 days of drying (in a cool and well ventilated place, or a small wine cellar) before 8 hours of cold smoking, and to finish 2 hours of steam!

For cold smoking, we recommend using a metal smoking coil (which is filled with sawdust and heated by a simple tealight). We place everything in a bell barbecue and let it smoke for several hours…?

HOMEMADE COLD SMOKED PASTRAMI RECIPE

INGREDIENTS FOR THE LAMB ROAST For 6 people: Preparation time: 30 minutes / Cooking time: 1h30

  • – 2kg of beef or lamb, depending on your preference – 40g of salt – 4 cloves of garlic – 3 tablespoons of brown sugar – 3 tablespoons of coarsely ground black pepper – 2 teaspoons of powdered ginger – 1 tablespoon coriander powder

    – sawdust for smoking (oak, or beech)

PREPARATION :

Mix the salt with the pressed garlic and powdered spices. Coat the meat with this mixture, place in a large enough container and leave in the fridge for one day per kilo of meat (so two days in this case) turning the meat morning and evening in the rendered liquid.

After this time, rinse the piece of beef and dry it thoroughly with paper towels. Using a meat hook, hang the piece of beef in a cool (8-15°C) and ventilated place and leave to dry for 5 days.

After those 5 days, cold smoke the pastrami for about 8 hours (I did this in my bell bbq using a smoke spiral). After smoking, resuspend the meat and leave to dry for another 24 hours.

To finish preparing the pastrami recipe, steam it (I did it in my Thai steamer) for about 2 hours. Let cool by pressing with a weight between two cutting boards, then slice thinly and serve as a sandwich with mustard and pickles. The pastrami can be kept for several weeks in the fridge, it is possible to reheat it with steam (about 1h30 for it to be tender) before eating it.

Serve warm, with mashed potatoes, or fresh pasta.

Enjoy your lunch or Pofta Buna !

Click here to see other recipes on our blog.