Montreal Smoked Meat

Ingredients

The Meat

• 3.6 kg Brisket

The Dry Brine

• 126g Kosher Salt
• 108g Black peppercorns
• 54g Sugar
• 54g Whole Coriander
• 5 Dried Bay Leaves1 tbsp cloves
• 8 tbsp Morton Quick Tender (or 1 tbsp Prague Power #1)*

The Rub

• 3 tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp each dill, mustard powder, celery seed, red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp liquid smoke x2
• 1 tbsp honey x2
• 1 tbsp soy sauce x2

1. Get your brisket. Trim off any hard bits of fat. Don’t remove too much. Better yet get to know your local butcher. Tell them to prep your meat for pastrami and they’ll know what to do
2. In a spice grinder, add the pepper corns, coriander seeds, bay leaves, and cloves. Pulse into a coarse powder. Mix that with the salt, sugar, and curing salt of your choice. 
3. Now make it rain on your meat. Seriously, cover that bitch in the cure. Lay it on thick. Cover every last square inch with the cure. Now shove your meat into a ziplock bag and stick it in the fridge. 
4. Flip the bag over daily at the same time. This will make sure the meat cures evenly. Let this cure for 7-10 days. If you really really want, you can pull it out after three, but don’t. It’s not worth it. 

5. After 10 days, take the brisket out. It’s going to be soggy and covered in the cure mix. Under cold running water wash off as much of the cure as you can. Fill a large container with cold water and shove your brisket in there after washing it off. Let your brisket soak for two hours, changing the water every 30 min. After two hours, dry your meat
6. Mix together one portion of the liquid smoke, honey, and soy sauce then brush onto your meat. Alternately get the smokiest single malt you can find. Find something so smoky when you smell it, it gives you stank face. You can chuck that into the bag in the next step 
7. Get you sous-vide rig ready and get the temp to 165°F. While that’s happening vacuum seal your meat in whatever your preferred method is. I like the double ziploc bag method and use water displacement to get the air out. When the water bath is up to temp, in goes your meat. Leave it in there for 24-48 hours. You’ll need at least 24 hours to get everything to breakdown tender enough. Once cooked, pull it out and leave it in the fridge overnight, uncovered to cool off

8. Pre-heat your oven to 225°F. Take your brisket out of the fridge. 
9. In a spice grinder add The Rub ingredients and pulse to a coarse powder. 
10. Mix the second portion of the liquid smoke, honey and soy sauce. Brush this all over your meat. This helps the rub stick

11. Repeat the last part of step three. Cover the meat in your spice rub. Cover. Every. Last, Square. Inch. Nobody likes unseasoned meat. 
12. When the oven is hot, put your meat on a rack in a roasting pan and put it in the oven. Roast your meat till the internal temp hits 180°F. This could take anywhere from 2-4 hours. 
13. Take your meat out and back it goes in the fridge overnight

14. The next day, jury rig a steamer (you can use a bamboo steamer basket). I used a roasting tray with a rack in the bottom and another roasting pan inverted on the top to act like a lid. I put my contraction on my stove with the heat on medium, filled it it water just to the underside of the rack and got it to a gentle simmer. 
15. Steam your meat gently till it gets back to 180°F. You may have to go back to regularly refill the water in your steamer. This could take anywhere from 1-4 hours

16. Now FINALLY, you can eat your meat. Take it out of the steamer and slice your meat up!!!
17. This is best enjoyed on untoasted light rye, with plenty of meat, LOTS of yellow mustard and a pickle on the side. If you enjoy the sandwich in any other way a historian from Halifax will find you and make you feel bad. And you’ll deserve it. After all the hard work you put in, don’t fuck it up now