With my oven set way dow to 170 degrees and the brine cured pastrami in there for over 5 hours and not getting past 110 inside, I pushed up the temp to 180, then 190, then 200 then 220, and after 11 hours I finally got the internal temp to reach 140 while the oven temp was at 250 degrees. I must say these two beef chunks took quite a lot longer to cook compared to the previous ones. Maybe because they were bigger in diameter. If anyone wants some of my left over dry spice rub, let me know and I'll send it out. It contains, allspice, clove, cinnamon, garlic, onion, bay leaf, mustard seed, celery seed, red pepper, black pepper, coriander, dill seed, ginger, and even some ground juniper berries. Needless to say its a really tasty spice blend and sticks to the outside of the beef once its been cooked. They now get refrigerated for at least 24 hours prior to slicing thin. I estimate I have about 8-9 pounds of pastrami, of which I will probably freeze some after its been sliced. Maybe in FS bags as individual servings that get vac sealed and then when I want a serving, I just put it in the microwave or drop into boiling water a couple of minutes, then open the bag and serve.. It should be good with the sourdough french bread I will also be making tomorrow, along with some spicy brown mustard I also made using some Grey Poupon, mixed with some finely ground brown mustard seeds and wine vinegar. The mustard needed a few weeks to 'mellow out' to a decent flavor. If it were served right after grinding amd mixing it tastes terrible. The same holds true for the chinese hot mustard powder when you mix it with water to make some hot mustard. It needs to 'bloom' a few hours before its served, also the same for Wasabi.

I have a cousin who wrote a cookbook as he used to be a chef in his earlier years. He was also in acting and was a radio announcer for a radio station in VT. His cookbook didn't sell as well as he hoped. I did provide him with a few favorite recipes however, just to help fill some additional pages. Because these threads tend to drop off after a preset amount, we have no control over very old posts, unless they are 'resurrected' before dropping off. Writing a synopsys of all the facts is a daunting task. I just hope that new-bees spend a few minutes to do searches before sending personal emails. Had I not taken the extra effort to copy and paste the above, it would have gone unshared. Once in a while I come up with a neat trick, and always like to share the experiences. My most sucessful has been to use the acid blend when making jellies. I have to say that I have not seen a single jar of my jellies spoil even after using all Splenda as a sweetener. Several years ago, no one ever heard of Clear Jel, until I posted links and mentioned using it, as well as the Pomona pectin. These 'tidbits' are now showing up in real web search links to the GW pages. Nice to know that they are not buried long after a few 100 links before them. As to been there, done that, I sure have had my share of that!

Hi Everybody, First, just to be clear Saltpetre (Saltpeter in the US) is NOT Prague Powder, PP#1 is a 6.25% mixture of SODIUM NITRITE. Saltpeter is POTASSIUM NITRATE (sodium vs. potassium, nitrite vs. nitrate). Frank is correct, Potassium Nitrate is not used very much any more, that is why Prague Powder is also known as "modern cure" and "pink curing salt". So, nothing wrong with using Saltpetre. You can get it at an old style druggist. If not, you can order it overnight from most major drug stores. I ordered it from Walgreen's, they sell the Humco brand using the chemical name of Potassium Nitrate. If you ask for saltpetre, any druggist under the age of 60 will probably look at you like you are nuts. Ask them to look it up in their computer. It is NOT food grade, which means it does not get inspected by the USDA for consumption, but it is produced in a clean chemical process. Everybody uses it, though if you call Humco, they will tell you that they can't endorse it for curing meat (with a wink). The chemical reaction that occurs has been known for years; the Nitrate in Potassium Nitrate breaks down into Nitrites due to enzymes and bacteria, which in turn create nitric oxide, which is what binds to the hemoglobin molecule in the blood in meat and keep it pink. This same reaction occurs naturally in the body through breathing and the cardio vascular process. If there is a problem getting nitric oxide into the blood extremities lose their pink color and turn gray. So most modern cures that require short curing times rely on a Prague Powder #1, which uses Sodium Nitrite to skip the step of going fron Nitrate to Nitrite. You also need less chemical to get the same cure, so DO NOT SUBSTITUTE IN RECIPES WITHOUT CORRECTION!. If you were curing sausages that need months to cure, you use a different formulation that has both sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate. The nitrite goes to work fast, while the nitrate does the normal breakdown over time into nitrite and then nitric oxide (this is PP#2). Keep in mind that the added function of the nitrates/nitrites is as a preservative. So the meat can be kept longer without the bad bacteria giving it their "funk". :) That's the start of the process, along with salt, good bacteria and mold, that allows raw meat to turn into dry cured sausages like salami without refrigeration. So if you want to do this in the future, just order from any spice house or sausage supply online, compare prices, and order some Praque Powder #1 or "pink salt". The remainder above the 6.25% of Sodium Nitrite is just table salt. They die it pink so that you don't mistake it for regular salt. Since you use so little, a 4oz bag goes a long way. And if you want to experiment, you can use any leftover saltpeter to make smoke bombs, flares, and gunpowder. ;) Hope this helps a little :)

The Costco stores in Minnesota aren't carrying the same brands of corned beef they have in the past. I mentioned only a month ago in another thread that Costco for several years sold the Vienna Beef brand of corned beef. I have visited 3 Costco stores in the last 2 weeks and they all had the "Sy Ginsberg" brand at about $3.50 a pound. I looked at many briskets at all three stores. They were all extremely fatty. In fact - the fattiest and most disgusting corned beef briskets I've ever seen. Not even close to the quality of the other brands Costco has offered in the past. Now I know some people like well marbled, fatty corned beef. But I won't be buying my CB at Costco this year. Sushi - perhaps your Costco if offering a different product. I know the products vary by region.