Pastrami from grey corned beef help

Brian in Maine · BBQ Fan Joined: 05 Sep 2006 Posts: 255

The store had grey corned beef for $1.79/# today. Has anyone here had any experience making pastrami with this type of corned beef? Would I proceed the same as if it had a cure in it? TIA Brian

BamsBBQ · Posted: Apr 19 2009 Post subject:

not sure what grey corned beef is but i have made pastrami out of the store bought corned beef.

generally i let it soak in cold water for at least 2 days to get some of the salt out of it. i change the water ever 8-12 hours. when i go to smoke/cook it, i take it easy on the smoke as it takes on a strong smoke flavor very easily

sorry for crappy pics..these were taken a couple of years ago when i had a bad camera..lol

pattishadow · Joined: 27 Dec 2008 Posts: 6

Hi found this info out about grey corned beef.

Grey is put in a salted brine at the butcher shop. Red is not. Grey tastes better.
The Red kind uses Sodium Nitrate, Nitrates turn into nitrites over time. Curing with salt alone is the longest process.

It's how corned beef is done in New England, and for authentic Boston Irish corned beef and cabbage (Really called New England boiled dinner), the salted (only) brine is the way to go.

It's pretty much impossible to find the gray style outside of New England, so either you have to brine it yourself, or order it online.

Hope this helps, mostly I am just a lurker reading and learning.

pattishadow

Harry Nutczak · Posted: Apr 19 2009 Post subject:

So this "grey Beef" you speak of, just hasn't had nitrates added to set the natural red color.

Since the seasoning is the same, I do not see any problems at all. You will have a shorter shelf life becuase no cure was used, and the color may not be as appealing. But other than that, Go for it!

I have a recipe that I posted in the Smoked foods or sausage section for making your own pastrami from scratch using an Eye-of-round, it does contain nitrates/nitrite so the color is the classic red color. it is a simple recipe with excellent results. I'll link to it if you want.
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