**UPDATED** Smoking day is here!! Hot Pastrami!!!

[wwbirds]

Made the trip to town today to pick up some spices I had never heard of much less used following a recipe from Cajun chef Emerill Lagasse.

Then checked 3 places trying to find beef brisket that is called for, no dice anywhere. girl at Safeway said they have had it from time to time but it never sells.
Ended up buying 2 small standing rib roasts and cutting the bones out of them.
Next step is mixing many ingredients including bay leaves cloves juniper berries thyme etc in mixing bowl. While boiling 16 cups of water with kosher salt and brown sugar in it.

After boil and dissolving of brown sugar and salt the dry mixture above was added and the pot removed from heat to steep for one hour.
Boy does the kitchen ever smell good now.
While the concoction was boiling and steeping I was busy course grinding fresh black peppers and crushing more juniper berries that get rubbed on the meat after the 3 week soak in brine (turning every second day)

Little refrigerator downstairs is now full of 4 containers of beef with the brine mix covering the meat.
Turn every 2 days for 21 days and then smoke for 4 hours. February the 15th sounds like a good day to buy some fresh rye bread!!

[wildwoods]

That's so awesome. We're pretty passionate about homemade food around here. Sausage, jelly, jerky, you name it we make it. Thanks for posting about the process. Please ensure to post when the 15th comes!

[Hydro1]

You sir, have far more patience than I.
Cooking a turkey for 3 hours is about all I can muster.
Sounds good, definetly update us on the 15th!

[calgarychef]

I dry cured some deer brisket this fall and made "corned beef" it was really nice. Not the first time I've made it but dang does it make good Reuben sandwiches. You'll be pleasantly surprised with your pastrami

[Piker]

Having access to brisket I make quite a bit of pastrami. I use the recipe from Bradley's Smoker forum by Habernaro Smoker. It is very good Piker

[vcmm]

Made the trip to town today to pick up some spices I had never heard of much less used following a recipe from Cajun chef Emerill Lagasse.

Then checked 3 places trying to find beef brisket that is called for, no dice anywhere. girl at Safeway said they have had it from time to time but it never sells.
Ended up buying 2 small standing rib roasts and cutting the bones out of them.
Next step is mixing many ingredients including bay leaves cloves juniper berries thyme etc in mixing bowl. While boiling 16 cups of water with kosher salt and brown sugar in it.

After boil and dissolving of brown sugar and salt the dry mixture above was added and the pot removed from heat to steep for one hour.
Boy does the kitchen ever smell good now.
While the concoction was boiling and steeping I was busy course grinding fresh black peppers and crushing more juniper berries that get rubbed on the meat after the 3 week soak in brine (turning every second day)

Little refrigerator downstairs is now full of 4 containers of beef with the brine mix covering the meat.
Turn every 2 days for 21 days and then smoke for 4 hours. February the 15th sounds like a good day to buy some fresh rye bread!!

:sign0161::snapoutofit::thinking-006::)

[jungleboy]

Came across this guy's blog/website and it seems pretty good . Tons of great recipes and such for wild game.

http://honest-food.net/

[Buzz]

Check Superstore for brisket. Have seen it there.

[Mhunter51]

Sounds great. You will get a differant texture/flavour from prime rib but it will be great. You may have to go to a smaller butcher shop/meat market to get brisket now. Not a whole lot of people want to put in the time it takes to do brisket properly like you are doing- the ' I want it NOW ' attitude I quess. I know when I went to look for some brisket I had to go to a small meat shop, none of the big stores had any. Let us know how it turns out but I think I know YUMMMM !

[omega50]

There are grocery stores in some Calgary areas that cater primarily to customers that require that their meat come from the front half of the animal:)

[wwbirds]

Costco, Superstore and Safeway yesterday before buying the standing rib roasts which I think will work. Of course as soon as I posted I couldnt find it our two resident butchers piped up "should have called me".
Having all the spices in hand I wanted to start making it yesterday so didnt want to drive to Brooks or Vulcan for the meat. Next time I will order before I plan on making it and wait for the butchers to come this way or me to travel.

Should be good but I will post pictures before and after it goes in the smoker

[omega50]

I would love to bring my 5 yr old grandson out to look at some birds in mid Feb.
I could bring some homemade dry cured Cajun meats, pepper cheese smokies and some meat curing supplies cure#1, cure #2 in trade for a tour and a slice of Pastrami:)

[Jack&7]

Second to None Meats carries brisket all the time. 2 locations in Cowtown.

[Redfrog]

I would love to bring my 5 yr old grandson out to look at some birds in mid Feb.
I could bring some homemade dry cured Cajun meats, pepper cheese smokies and some meat curing supplies cure#1, cure #2 in trade for a tour and a slice of Pastrami:)

Hey I saw two birds here yesterday. They were from overseas I think, English sparrows. You could bring the boy here to see birds.:thinking-006:
:)

[omega50]

Hey I saw two birds here yesterday. They were from overseas I think, English sparrows. You could bring the boy here to see birds.:thinking-006:
:)

Forget it!!!
I come to the same calls that keep you in fur lined underwear.
Case of mistaken identity- my assets

Sorry ossifer, I thunked it was jus a oversized yotie

[wwbirds]

No problem Murray anytime you can make it. I need to pick your brain about the flavor of smoke for pastrami anyway for I now have maple,apple, and special blend in addition to the mesquite and hickory.

Jim I am still feeding 200 pheasants and 500 sparrows here, had a bunch of Italians that claimed they like to eat them after inserting the sparrow breast in a hollowed out potato and baking. they havent been back for a few years and probably shot 50 of them last time here. I can only assume that sparrow is very filling and they are still full of it.

[Redfrog]

Rob I hunted with Italians for many years. We did eat lots of sparrows and starlings, but never cooked them in a spud.:thinking-006:

Some were wrapped in Italian bacon and done on the BBQ and some were braised in wine and herbs and olive oil. Delish!!!!the wimmin plucked them all and we drank wine and told lies while they got the meal ready.:)

On the coast the blueberry ranchers had starling traps set out when the fruit was getting ripe. They made pretty good money selling the birds to the Italians.

[FallAirFever]

February 15 is circled on the calender! I'll bring some beer, home-made salsa and home-made dill pickles.
Rob, we have bought brisket from the butcher in Strathmore before.

Or next time if you happen line some up in Vulcan, I'll make the road trip to pick it up for you, I don't need much of an excuse to go there and buy some jerky!!

[wwbirds]

I do recall you were going shooting sporting clays with us down to Mossleigh and we couldnt find you!! heheheheehe

Yeah I already heard from Paul and when I told him I thought he was laid up recuperating he said he hadnt died and the shop was still open. Vickie does most of the work anyway and Paul drinks a lot of coffee so I suspect nothing has changed. If you think the jerky is good in Vulcan try the kassler smoked pork chops!!

[vcmm]

I do recall you were going shooting sporting clays with us down to Mossleigh and we couldnt find you!! heheheheehe

Yeah I already heard from Paul and when I told him I thought he was laid up recuperating he said he hadnt died and the shop was still open. Vickie does most of the work anyway and Paul drinks a lot of coffee so I suspect nothing has changed. If you think the jerky is good in Vulcan try the kassler smoked pork chops!!

Shultz:thinking-006: I no nuting,nuting

[edmhunter]

If you are looking for Brisket and are from Edmonton Ben's Meat and Deli sell them all the time, address: 15726 Stony Plain Rd NW, Edmonton - 780-489-1424.

Their meats are great as well, especially Pork Shoulder, melts in you mouth! Looking forward to seeing a picture of the final product wwbirds :)

[anthony5]

WW, you put in the order and I will deliver it, then chew the fat about decoys. Vcmm can deliver to my place and I deliver to Langdon and use Ups delivery charges. Right????

[wwbirds]

I hate UPS they gouge everyone on products coming from US. I have a broker who does it for free. How r those Nikons working for coyotes for you.
Take Paul he seems to be suffering from cabin fever
Rob

[anthony5]

Those Nikons were awesome, in the market for a new pair, gave those to my fishing guide in Mexico. Suggestions??

[wwbirds]

Got my first set of ultralights from London Drugs. Nikon replaced them for only a handling charge 6 years later as dust inside (not a sealed unit).
Replacement set lasted another 5-6 years and rubber eye seals deteriorated so Burnaby sent me a new pair. those are the ones your guide now owns. WSS had them in stock 3 years ago but I haven't checked lately.

[Jalan]

At least I'm not the only one who has issues finding brisket. Best place I've found it is coop in Shawnessy. Although tried to get some on weekend and someone had called and reserved them all.

Would love to have a reliable place to get it in SW Calgary.

[wwbirds]

Well off to a rough start as recipe said to drain and then dry the meat that has been in the juniper berry brine for 3 weeks and then press the ground juniper berry and blackpepper into the side.
Drained first thing this morning dried on rack and then more drying with paper towels.
Brought 6 tray stainless Bradley over from barn to clean plug in get up to heat while waiting for meat to set up.
Plugged in and immediately got code E so searched on line and apparently means residue in puck slide preventing pucks feeding or switch is defective.
Took apart, vacuumed wire brushed and polished plugged back in after assembling and no more E code.
Set temp for 180 for 4 hours and filled pucks with 2 hours maple and 2 hours apple.
No heat in oven after 10 minutes still 50 degrees. Bradley site suggests oven element could be gone so plug in direct from wall to smoker bipassing generator digital controls. Up to 70 F in 10 minutes so element is still good.
Plugged back in through generator and both smoke and heat seem to be working. Still lots of time for things to go wrong but so far so good!
Meat is on bottom rack for next 4 hours. Wish me luck.

[Mhunter51]

Hey Rob it sounds like it will taste awesome. As for the heat problem, try ajusting, wiggling the small temp sensing cord that goes between the generator and smoker element. One mine one of the ends, and i'm not sure if it is the cord or the female end on the generator- is loose or does not make contact untill I move it around untill the errer code goes away. Hope that helps.

[Xbolt7mm]

Nice, I got a pork shoulder on the the bradley right now too, bin simmering since 6am

[wwbirds]

Thanks but I reversed that little thermostat cord earlier as they are the same fitting on both ends.
Seems I have a connection problem inside the smoke generator as when I plug power cord directly in back of smoker the oven heat element glows red. As soon as I connect it through smoke generator (even wiggling the ends in to be sure they are tight) I get no heat from the element and it does not get red.

Guess today I am just going to smoke for 4 hours and will finish in oven if I cant figure out how to get oven element to work as it is supposed to.
Guess I could take generator apart again to see if I accidentally disconnect a power cord connection inside when I had it open to clean earlier today. :angry3:

Yup little red contact wire off on inside will see if I get heat in next 10 minutes!!:sHa_shakeshout:

[edmhunter]

Well off to a rough start as recipe said to drain and then dry the meat that has been in the juniper berry brine for 3 weeks and then press the ground juniper berry and blackpepper into the side.
Drained first thing this morning dried on rack and then more drying with paper towels.
Brought 6 tray stainless Bradley over from barn to clean plug in get up to heat while waiting for meat to set up.
Plugged in and immediately got code E so searched on line and apparently means residue in puck slide preventing pucks feeding or switch is defective.
Took apart, vacuumed wire brushed and polished plugged back in after assembling and no more E code.
Set temp for 180 for 4 hours and filled pucks with 2 hours maple and 2 hours apple.
No heat in oven after 10 minutes still 50 degrees. Bradley site suggests oven element could be gone so plug in direct from wall to smoker bipassing generator digital controls. Up to 70 F in 10 minutes so element is still good.
Plugged back in through generator and both smoke and heat seem to be working. Still lots of time for things to go wrong but so far so good!
Meat is on bottom rack for next 4 hours. Wish me luck.

When I had issues with my Bradley electronics (the timer wasn't operating properly) I took it back to BBQ Country in Edmonton and they replaced the entire unit minus the smokehouse, no questions asked!

Best of luck man, can't wait to see the pictures, if you don't devour the end product first! :)

[Xbolt7mm]

At least I'm not the only one who has issues finding brisket. Best place I've found it is coop in Shawnessy. Although tried to get some on weekend and someone had called and reserved them all.

Would love to have a reliable place to get it in SW Calgary.


I'll make your day then, RedDeer Lake meats down 22 x west about five km then south, follow the signs and they are Cheap. Every other place I found in Calgary only sell the flat part of the brisket. RDLM will sell it with the cap, not good or pastrami but a major, major plus to smoking a brisket. I paid 33.00 for a 18 lb brisket cap on, phone em ahead, maybe give em a call and they will tell you what they have and when. For the North a place called Trimming meats on centre west side so it's in the NW. Fantastic for pork, but have beef and chicken too,their belly has twice the meat of any other place I found and cheaper.

[Xbolt7mm]

Thanks but I reversed that little thermostat cord earlier as they are the same fitting on both ends.
Seems I have a connection problem inside the smoke generator as when I plug power cord directly in back of smoker the oven heat element glows red. As soon as I connect it through smoke generator (even wiggling the ends in to be sure they are tight) I get no heat from the element and it does not get red.

Guess today I am just going to smoke for 4 hours and will finish in oven if I cant figure out how to get oven element to work as it is supposed to.
Guess I could take generator apart again to see if I accidentally disconnect a power cord connection inside when I had it open to clean earlier today. :angry3:

When I had mine apart, I thought there was a fuse.

[omega50]

The Bradley is the most reliable smoker on the market!!!!
Right up until you need to use it.
If I had a nickel.
I truly feel your pain.
I have a dead one in the backyard as we speak-but mine is the puck slide again and all the normal fixes are not working
We have company coming for dinner and I need the fridge space, but my meat projects got nowhere to go until I get this fixed-AGAIN

[wwbirds]

Internet site showed cleaning with small wire brush to remove build up of wood debris etc. Worked for me.

We now have oven heat!, went up 50 degrees inside in about 5 minutes after I connected a little red wire that I probably knocked off with vacuuming inside this morning. should be good to go now. Still 3 hours of smoke to go and hold internal temperature around 180 F. Seemed crowded with everything on bottom tray so now I am using bottom two trays to ensure smoke can access all areas of the meat.

http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww349/wwbirds/family/pastramismoke001_zps1dac8d06.jpg (http://s734.photobucket.com/user/wwbirds/media/family/pastramismoke001_zps1dac8d06.jpg.html)

http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww349/wwbirds/family/pastramismoke002_zps6b5765b0.jpg (http://s734.photobucket.com/user/wwbirds/media/family/pastramismoke002_zps6b5765b0.jpg.html)

Rob

[omega50]

Internet site showed cleaning with small wire brush to remove build up of wood debris etc. Worked for me.

It was an easy fix for the first couple years:sHa_shakeshout:

[wwbirds]

Another E alarm went off about 20 minutes ago. Figured the pucks were jammed or something. Being cheap and all I try to use the pucks that have been left sitting in the machine. Seems over the winter they have absorbed some moisture and swollen in size so they no longer feed through the little slot when the push arm tries to force them through. new pucks only from here on. My machine is always available for your project Murray as it just sits here for 6 months at a time. If you are getting behind just come grab it.
Rob

[edmhunter]

Well you got me motivated! I will smoke something next weekend and post the pictures, thinking maybe a perfectly marbled pork shoulder roast. :)

[omega50]

Another E alarm went off about 20 minutes ago. Figured the pucks were jammed or something. Being cheap and all I try to use the pucks that have been left sitting in the machine. Seems over the winter they have absorbed some moisture and swollen in size so they no longer feed through the little slot when the push arm tries to force them through. new pucks only from here on. My machine is always available for your project Murray as it just sits here for 6 months at a time. If you are getting behind just come grab it.
Rob

You can manually load those fat boys from just above the water bowl:sHa_shakeshout:

[edmhunter]

How's the Pastrami coming, I'm getting hungry! lol :)

[Got Juice?]

I am drooling....

Time to book a flight to enyce


http://katzsdelicatessen.com

[wwbirds]

Wife didnt like it as she hates pepper. I figure if I slice it nice and thin most of the peppercorns and juniper berries that were pressed into the outside edge will fall off but will have imparted the flavor into the meat.
Food saver is warming up to package them as I type. never heard of Katz in NYC but Montreal apparently rivals their pastrami. Know several carvers in Maryland that bring Montreal corned beef and pastrami home whenever they get the chance.

[lilsundance]

That looks good. I am not a pepper fan myself.

And all the food threads today that I have missed somehow. Glad I made 3kg European garlic sausage today. Just letting them cool then I can vacuum pack em up.

[vcmm]

Internet site showed cleaning with small wire brush to remove build up of wood debris etc. Worked for me.

We now have oven heat!, went up 50 degrees inside in about 5 minutes after I connected a little red wire that I probably knocked off with vacuuming inside this morning. should be good to go now. Still 3 hours of smoke to go and hold internal temperature around 180 F. Seemed crowded with everything on bottom tray so now I am using bottom two trays to ensure smoke can access all areas of the meat.

http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww349/wwbirds/family/pastramismoke001_zps1dac8d06.jpg (http://s734.photobucket.com/user/wwbirds/media/family/pastramismoke001_zps1dac8d06.jpg.html)

http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww349/wwbirds/family/pastramismoke002_zps6b5765b0.jpg (http://s734.photobucket.com/user/wwbirds/media/family/pastramismoke002_zps6b5765b0.jpg.html)

Rob

Free samples or it didn't happen.

[Fisherpeak]

Nice, I got a pork shoulder on the the bradley right now too, bin simmering since 6am

Got a Bradly from the wife for Valentines,never used one before .I have 10 pounds of deer/pork pepperoni going right now.So far so good.I`ll be doing 20 pounds of home cured bacon on Friday.

[alacringa]

Free samples or it didn't happen.

x2. That looks amazing, Rob.

[wwbirds]

Were out on the table cooling off from 4 PM to 6 PM yesterday waiting for all those guys who were coming over bringing beer. Cant leave this stuff on counter for ever so it had to be processed into food saver portions and frozen.
Next batch of sourbraten and pastrami will be started later this week.

[FallAirFever]

Looks awesome Rob. Sorry had to fly up to GP for work.
Thanks for posting can't wait to see the next creations.

[wwbirds]

Was just teasing you guys. You should have been able to follow the smell from your place. the neighbors across the highway could smell it cooking in the smoker.

[omega50]

You will just have to give up on getting validation from your better half for meat projects. I learned that lesson from my first marriage:)
Save it for your AP brethren.

On a other note-after a couple years I finally solved my puck slide mystery today after a complete and total teardown of that sucker.:angry3:
Maybe have to sell my cable tie fix back to Bradley.
Dang engineers.:bad_boys_20: