Smoking, grilling and curing foods, etc.

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Used your Pastrami recipe again on an elk slab @BOB357. Let it soak in cold water 10hrs after rinsing slab.Then was very liberal with final coat of spices. Was perfect for me this way as far as salt. Hope hunting season goes well this fall. Starting to crave this stuff.
 
Glad you like it. Sounds great made with game too. I tried Meathead's "Almost Katz" rub on my last batch and it was great. I like the old one too, but thought you might want to try this as well.
4 tablespoons fresh coarsely ground black pepper, 2 tablespoons coriander powder, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 tablespoon paprika, 2 teaspoons granulated garlic, 2 teaspoons granulated onion, 1 teaspoon mustard powder
 
BOB357 said:
Glad you like it. Sounds great made with game too. I tried Meathead's "Almost Katz" rub on my last batch and it was great. I like the old one too, but thought you might want to try this as well.
4 tablespoons fresh coarsely ground black pepper, 2 tablespoons coriander powder, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 tablespoon paprika, 2 teaspoons granulated garlic, 2 teaspoons granulated onion, 1 teaspoon mustard powder
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Looks close to the recipe my nephew did using a beef briskit but it included table salt and was too salty for them. They were going to reduce sallt by 2/3. I like that no salt recipe. May try it and save the tenderquick for jerky.
 
The rub I posted today was for the smoking rub, not the cure. You'll need to use some pink salt for the cure if you don't include Tenderquick. The Tenderquick, at the rate in my recipe, has the needed amount of pink salt in it, so reducing the amount in the cure can get dangerous.
 
BOB357 said:
The rub I posted today was for the smoking rub, not the cure. You'll need to use some pink salt for the cure if you don't include Tenderquick. The Tenderquick, at the rate in my recipe, has the needed amount of pink salt in it, so reducing the amount in the cure can get dangerous.
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Couldn't you just cook it to higher temp for safe results? Say 190f. It wouldn't have same texture but could still be tender. I like the low temp smoked meat color and texture myself. But also like experimenting so would be comparing salt cured to smoke cured with only salted a bit for taste.
 
I probably shouldn't have used "pink salt", which is commonly used interchangeably with "Prague Powder". This is entirely different from the pink salt that's become a cooking rage over the past couple of decades. Prague Powder #1 is a mixture that contains Sodium Nitrite, salt, propylene glycol, sodium bicarbonate and red 3. It retards the growth of botulism and helps the meat retain color and texture among other things.
Let's not forget that during the curing process the salt carries the flavoring spices into the meat and draws out some of the moisture. Without salt, the other spices wouldn't penetrate deeply into the meat and the moisture level wouldn't change much. The sodium nitrite is performing its magic at the same time.
While smoke does retard bacterial growth to some degree, it isn't an effective preservative by itself. Without the curing process, you'd end up with the color and texture of a smoked roast that would need to be treated the same as any other cooked meat. Essentially, you'd have a smoked roast.
 
https://www.traegergrills.com/recipes/smoked-cured-beef-pastrami
This recipe calls for both kosher salt and pink salt. I would think it would be too salty without a long post brine soak. No wonder my nephew was going to reduce salt. I didn't realize they were still including pink salt. Agreed you don't get cured meat without the cure. So many recipes call for an over the top salt brine such as in the traeger recipe which I would suppose is to pull the spices in as you were stating. And yes it would just be a tasty briscuit without the curing. We have used High Mountain sausage kits a bunch and tried with and without their cure packet (a different type of cure I believe) in our fresh breakfast sausage. We prefer with the cure for the flavor and consistency. That's what I would lose trying to reduce salt in the pastrami. Will have to stick with a longer cold water soak i guess.
 
Head First said:
https://www.traegergrills.com/recipes/smoked-cured-beef-pastrami
This recipe calls for both kosher salt and pink salt. I would think it would be too salty without a long post brine soak. No wonder my nephew was going to reduce salt. I didn't realize they were still including pink salt. Agreed you don't get cured meat without the cure. So many recipes call for an over the top salt brine such as in the traeger recipe which I would suppose is to pull the spices in as you were stating. And yes it would just be a tasty briscuit without the curing. We have used High Mountain sausage kits a bunch and tried with and without their cure packet (a different type of cure I believe) in our fresh breakfast sausage. We prefer with the cure for the flavor and consistency. That's what I would lose trying to reduce salt in the pastrami. Will have to stick with a longer cold water soak i guess.
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is

I tried a few Traeger recipes 7 or 8 years ago when I first got my Traeger. They all sucked, and the ones I've looked at since don't look any better. For the most part, it looks like they're designed to sell overpriced Traeger rubs, sauces and accessories.

I don't even use salt in my rubs. Instead, I pre salt meats in order to control the amount of salt. Salt free rubs also keep you from double salting when you dry brine. A large amount of salt is just a fact of life for curing, so long soaks are part of the process for those of us who watch our salt intake.
 
Now ya got me wanting to make some smash burgers. I've got a tri-tip to grind up for them. Need to make up some rolls now.
 
Ho hum,
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another set of ribs. Started them at 3am so we can take them to a fam gathering for moms day. Not on lockdown anymore but suppose to keep up 6ft social distancing. Should be interesting.
Will put in roasting pan, wrap with towels and put in cooler for a long rest time (3ish hours). A little barleywine in roaster as they finish reaching temp;)
 
Head First said:
Ho hum,View attachment 10028 another set of ribs. Started them at 3am so we can take them to a fam gathering for moms day. Not on lockdown anymore but suppose to keep up 6ft social distancing. Should be interesting.
Will put in roasting pan, wrap with towels and put in cooler for a long rest time (3ish hours). A little barleywine in roaster as they finish reaching temp;)
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Looking good.
If you ever get tired of long cooks for ribs, try a variation of this recipe. It'll put them on the table in less than 3 hours and they'll be every bit as tender and juicy ones that took twice as long.
 

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Looks like a great way to knock some time off alright and still put good ribs on the table. The 3 racks I took over melted out of the roaster pretty quick. Was only 3 ribs left when the dust settled and there were burgs, dogs and chicken there too!
 
Nothing better than some good ribs. Second only to bacon. I have several good rib recipes, but that one is my go to.
 
thunderwagn said:
Meat and fire! Gonna be a great weekend!
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Drooling over those.

Can't wait until Sunday. Doing a couple slabs of St. Louis trimmed spares with Memphis Dust and my Kansas City sticky sweet sauce. Starting them out with Cherry in the Big Chief for about 3 hours and then transferring to the Traeger to finish, Will be making some Mac Salad after brewing and thinking some BBQ beans to fill in the blanks.
 
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