Homemade Pastrami from Scratch | Beef Belly Pastrami Cure & Smoker Cook

Описание: 🥩 Homemade Pastrami from Scratch (Beef Belly)

This is a full beef belly pastrami cook from start to finish — curing, smoking, finishing and slicing — done properly, with no shortcuts.

Most pastrami videos skip over the curing details or gloss over the finishing process. In this video, I walk through the exact cure recipe, how long to cure, how the meat was prepared on cook day, and how it was smoked and finished for a tender, sliceable pastrami.

This cook was done as part of Sinclair Saturday, using beef belly instead of brisket for a richer, more forgiving pastrami.

🧂 PASTRAMI CURE RECIPE (DRY CURE)

Meat: Beef belly (approx. 3.16 kg)

Cure Ingredients:
75 g kosher salt
50 g brown sugar
7.9 g Prague Powder #1 (6.25% curing salt)
2 tbsp cracked black pepper
2 tbsp coriander seed, lightly crushed
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp smoked paprika

Cure quantities are calculated by weight — always measure curing salt accurately.

🥩 CURING METHOD
Thoroughly mix all cure ingredients so the curing salt is evenly distributed.

Pat the beef belly dry and apply the cure evenly over all surfaces.

Place into a zip-lock bag or loose vacuum bag (do not vacuum tight).

Refrigerate for 6–7 days, flipping the meat once per day to ensure an even cure.

🚿 COOK-DAY PREP (PASTRAMI)
Remove the beef belly from the cure.

Rinse thoroughly under cold running water.

Soak in fresh cold water for ~20–30 minutes to balance surface salt.

Pat completely dry with paper towel.

Apply a classic pastrami rub before smoking. My pastrami rub recipe is:
4tbs course black pepper
2tbs course tasmanian pepperberry
2tbs brown sugar
1tbs course corriander seeds
2tsp garlic powder
2tsp mustard powder
2tsp onion powder

🔥 SMOKER SETUP & COOK METHOD

Equipment
Smoker: Masterbuilt Gravity Series
Shelf: Middle rack
Water pan: Yes (half full with hot water)

Pit Settings
Temperature: 230–240°F / ~110–115°C
Cook style: Low and slow
Wood Choice
Oak – clean, beef-forward smoke
Cherry – colour and mild sweetness

⏱️ COOK PROCESS
Pastrami goes onto the smoker at 230–240°F.
Smoked until a solid bark forms and internal temperature reaches ~70°C.

Wrapped with a small amount of beef stock and returned to the smoker.

Cooked until internal temperature reached the high 80s, low 90s °C, probing tender.

Rested, then refrigerated overnight before slicing.

🔪 SLICING & SERVING
Slice thin across the grain once fully chilled
Ideal for:
Reubens
Pastrami on rye
Gently reheated with steam

🔔 MORE COOKS COMING
This video is part of Sinclair Saturday series.

If you enjoyed it, subscribe — more BBQ, curing and smoking cooks are on the way.

music:
Music: Push & Pull
Musician: KTEE (from Audiio)