Porkstrami!

I know that some poeple simply do not eat pork. I don't know why. When they say they don't eat pork I just nod and smile I don't get into the why.
So if you are one of those okay... Not your bag.
Coming from the pork capitol of the USA I love my bacon and ham and crispy panko breaded pork chops with sweet apple sauce.
The other day at the farmers market I came across a pork picnic for 1.69 a pound.
For those who dont know a picnic is a rather fatty piece of meat from the butt section that requires long cooking.
I usually put one in the oven for twelve hours till it yells uncle.
This time I thought I would treat it like a brisket which is also fatty and turn it into pastrami.

The first step was to brine it. I usually start a pastrami with an already corned beef eliminating this step.
So... I add half a container of salt to my biggest stock pot along with some pickling spices the pork and water to cover.
I left it in the refrigerator for three days. I know it should have been longer but I started worrying about shelf life and all that.
On day four I replaced the brine with fresh water for 24 hours.
The second step is to dry rub.
I made my own with salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, anise, fennel and caraway seeds that were ground, some cloves and juniper berries and a heap of brown sugar just because...
This I left to mellow for another 24 hours putting us at day five.

Monday morning we fired up the smoker (electric I'm lazy) and put that butt in there to live for the day. Thats the third step.
Then into the fridge again to live until the next day.
Step five is to steam the pastrami
Late yesterday afternoon I set up my steamer and steamed that mother for two hours.

If done right the inside is still pink like a ham but perfectly seasoned and cooked.

Oh yeah... Rye bread, sauerkraut, thousand island dressing and swiss cheese....make good companions to this.
For those who care about their heart... sorry...maybe serve it with a salad.


The original recipe that I learned from is here.
amazingribs.com...

You should add it here to keep that thread going.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: Sillyolme

Thanks for sharing the recipe. I have never heard of it before.
I am thinking I would enjoy it more than beef. Pork digests better for me than beef.
Star and flag!

And as if that wasn't enough I also made a pot of new england style baked beans from scratch.
Brown sugar made another appearance here along with her cousin molasses.
And six hours in the oven later....
www.allrecipes.com...

a reply to: butcherguy

Hey I remember you.... the guy I got along with as long as we were talking about food. How ya been? LOL.

Funny because I started this thread because someone complained about the number of political threads on the boards.


on topic
Apparently you can make pastrami with turkey, or chicken too.
I dont know how long to cook them though. The delicate meat of the birds worries me.
I dont even want chicken too over done on the grill.

a reply to: butcherguy

ps thanks for the s&f

a reply to: Sillyolme

There was a BBQ joint near me that had a pork belly pastrami sandwich. OMG! It was to die for.... Think very think slices of pork belly done up pastrami style. Talk about food orgasm...

a reply to: Edumakated

We need emoji that moan...

bacons rich uncle.

I'm boiling up some russets now.
Porkstrami hash for lunch.
Maybe I'll throw some scrambled eggs on top.

It sounds like a good concept, we do eat quite a bit of pork, usually pork chops or steaks, or a pork chunk in with a beef roast, it makes great gravy with the pork added. Pork needs more salt than beef to taste right, It also needs some spices we do not put on beef. I used to buy a whole pig, but that was too much for my extended family, it was really good pork, a friend of mine raised the pigs, feeding them mostly healthy foods for a pig.

I have a problem with fennel, annise, and cloves, and nutmeg, which is in that class of spice. Part has to do with Eugenol in some of them, others are a certain kind of phenol or benzyl compound I think. I avoid those spices and feel lots better and can think better. In fact, after my family started to cut down on all of these, everyone feels better and thinks clearer. Foods that contain Eugenol kind of dumb a person down, nice if you like to not think, but it also can suppress your proper immune response. Euginol is in the balsam or peru allergy. Euginol is used as an anesthetic, it does blur comprehension.

I usually like many Italian meats, but some containing these class of spices I avoid. Those spices are great for killing off parasites in meats and in the body. Lots of Italian sausages are not cooked, so they need these spices. I know some Italians that make their own sausages, they are really good, but some I cannot tolerate more than a little bit of them.

I have the balsam of Peru allergy, so I can't enjoy those kind of foods.

a reply to: Sillyolme

Wow!

Something on which I can actually agree with you!

The out-f'ing-standingness of Pork (capital P Pork).

I'm stealing that recipe for this weekend. I'll do my own seasoning stuff but aside from adding Za'atar to the mix I'd say your palate is pretty spot on.

Thanks!

And thanks for the break from all things political for a bit.

can you add maple syrup instead of brown sugar?

my doc told me no more beef. (i have some auto immune garbage going on!)

but i love pastrami.

now i gotta try to make porkstrami.

Here is something I have been investigating, diet in relation to liberal vs conservative. I am trying to evaluate the plant, animal, and fungal defense systems in relation to the way people think. Plants have their plant defense system chemistry that alter perception, but so do animals, milk is very effective chemistry at calming because of it's opiate peptides, so are grains. But trying to figure how this all fits together is difficult. Not having this plant defense chemistry in your diet also effects how you think. But animals also have specialized lectins and chemistry in their makeup that effects our consciousness. If a meat eater eats too much meat it can lead to problems in health and in their thinking. Same with the mushrooms and fungus, they are very psychotropic, so are chemicals made by the gut flora, they effect personality.

Here is a site with a test by someone trying to look at this. It has a test, it is kind of funny, but I do see a relationship as to histaminase blocking ability of some of the food choices in this and I do know about some of the chemistries that effect us that these things do have, but trying to figure out the mixtures of chemistry is more difficult in prepared foods.

I know it is off topic, but this is a food thread and this test is kind of interesting, I would be interested in us here evaluating this.

time.com...

Sorry for sidewinding the thread Sillyone, but it sort of fits into things a little but I know it is off topic. It is not meant to be political trolling, it is to try to identify the effect of food and spice chemistry on how we think differently.

a reply to: Sillyolme

You got me at "porkstrami".

This single thread erased all disagreements we ever had in the past.

You spoke a universal language.

a reply to: Sillyolme

With the exception of some minor variants in the spices, this is pretty much exactly the same recipe I use for deer pastrami.

I have family members who think that deer is too "gamey" that love my pastrami... we've sort of made it part of our fall family get-together.

Thanks for posting this and everyone should try making it at least once... it's so much better than deli pastrami.

S&F!!!

originally posted by: Lumenari
a reply to: Sillyolme

With the exception of some minor variants in the spices, this is pretty much exactly the same recipe I use for deer pastrami.

I have family members who think that deer is too "gamey" that love my pastrami... we've sort of made it part of our fall family get-together.

Thanks for posting this and everyone should try making it at least once... it's so much better than deli pastrami.

S&F!!!

Now I have a reason to shoot an extra deer this year.... for pastrami!
I never have that 'gamey' problem. I like to take them with a head or neck shot when they are nice and calm. We use tripods now and hang them up right in the woods, then we gut them after we pull the hide off. Keeps everything nice and clean.