NZ Hunter – August 2019

VENISON

PASTRAMI

As a chef you can always tell when

suppliers are a little quiet as you’ll

generally see reps coming around to

drum up business.

These reps usually have some samples with them

and one such sample I received recently was

pastrami. It wasn’t that great to be fair, and as I

was in the midst of breaking down some wild

venison that we’d just got the previous weekend, I

thought why not make some venison pastrami?

So after a few trials and errors, I came up

with the recipe below, which turned out a

lot better than the sample I received. A few

mates who were guinea pigs are now hooked on

it; the only problem is that I need more venison,

which is always a good excuse to get out.

There is a famous deli in New York on the Lower

East Side called ‘Katz’s’ which opened in 1903 and

is famous for its pastrami sandwich. Here is my

take on that – but of course you could also use

your pastrami as part of an antipasto platter or just

simply with crackers and a little relish.

This recipe requires some planning ahead,

along with a bit of time but the actual

physical time needed to make the recipe is

very little. There’s approximately 30 minutes prep

needed and the cooking time is three hours, with

a total time of six days. There are basically three

stages to making the pastrami: the first stage is

to brine it, the second is to rest it in the fridge

with the rub on the exterior and the final stage is

smoking it. Then it’s just ‘slice and eat’.

For this recipe I used sub-primal joints from the

back legs. The whole hind leg is called the primal

joint and sub-primal means any of the

muscle joints further broken down from

that. The pieces I used for the pastrami

were the silversides, one from each

hind leg, which weighed in at 750

grams each. You can use other cuts if

you wish.

Brine

• 5L water


• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
  and smashed with the
  blade of a knife


• 6 juniper berries


• 3 bay leaves


• 300g salt


• 125g brown sugar


• 2 Tb of cure #1, which
  is a preserving salt (ask
  your butcher for some
  or get some from a
  specialist cooking shop)


• 2 Tb cracked black
  peppercorns


• 2 ts ground allspice


• 1 Tb pickling spice


• 1 ts celery seeds

Method

Bring the water to the

boil and then add the rest

of the ingredients, cover

with a lid and then leave

to cool; this allows the

ingredients to infuse.

Place the trimmed pieces

of meat into the cooled

brine. Make sure the meat

is totally submerged in the

liquid. If it floats, place a

weight or a cooling rack

on top to ensure it stays

under the surface. Leave in

the fridge for three days.

After three days, remove

the meat, wash under cold

water and pat dry.

Exterior Rub

• 4 Tb coriander seeds


• ¼ cup brown sugar


• 2 Tb paprika (use smoked
  paprika if you wish, I think it’s
  better)


• 2 Tb flaky sea salt


• 1 ts ground cinnamon


• ½ ts juniper berries

Method

Lightly dry toast the coriander seeds in

a pan, then allow to cool. Using a pestle

and mortar or a spice grinder, grind all

the ingredients together, but not too

finely. I like to leave the seeds a little

coarse as this gives a better texture and

taste on the exterior of the meat.

Rub the ground seed mix onto the

venison and then roll up tight in cling

film and place in the fridge for two days.

Set your smoker to somewhere

between 85-95°C. Choose your

preferred wood (I recommend either

hickory or maple, but the choice is

yours). Remove the cling film from

the venison and place the meat in

the smoker. Smoke until the internal

temperature of the meat reaches 62-

65°C – this will take approximately three

hours, depending on the size or the cut

of meat you have chosen. Remove from

the smoker, allow to cool and wrap in

cling film again and place in the fridge

overnight.

Remove the cling film, slice thinly and

serve with crackers or in a sandwich

such as the ‘Katz’s Deli’ sandwich with

mustard and pickles. Enjoy.

August / September 2019~ NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE 99

Food

& Fauna

VENISON

PASTRAMI

As a chef you can always tell when
suppliers are a little quiet as you’ll
generally see reps coming around to
drum up business.

These reps usually have some samples with them
and one such sample I received recently was
pastrami. It wasn’t that great to be fair, and as I
was in the midst of breaking down some wild
venison that we’d just got the previous weekend, I
thought why not make some venison pastrami?

So after a few trials and errors, I came up
with the recipe below, which turned out a
lot better than the sample I received. A few
mates who were guinea pigs are now hooked on
it; the only problem is that I need more venison,
which is always a good excuse to get out.

There is a famous deli in New York on the Lower
East Side called ‘Katz’s’ which opened in 1903 and
is famous for its pastrami sandwich. Here is my
take on that – but of course you could also use
your pastrami as part of an antipasto platter or just
simply with crackers and a little relish.

This recipe requires some planning ahead,
along with a bit of time but the actual
physical time needed to make the recipe is
very little. There’s approximately 30 minutes prep
needed and the cooking time is three hours, with
a total time of six days. There are basically three
stages to making the pastrami: the first stage is
to brine it, the second is to rest it in the fridge
with the rub on the exterior and the final stage is
smoking it. Then it’s just ‘slice and eat’.

For this recipe I used sub-primal joints from the
back legs. The whole hind leg is called the primal
joint and sub-primal means any of the
muscle joints further broken down from
that. The pieces I used for the pastrami
were the silversides, one from each
hind leg, which weighed in at 750
grams each. You can use other cuts if
you wish.

Brine

• 5L water


• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
  and smashed with the
  blade of a knife


• 6 juniper berries


• 3 bay leaves


• 300g salt


• 125g brown sugar


• 2 Tb of cure #1, which
  is a preserving salt (ask
  your butcher for some
  or get some from a
  specialist cooking shop)


• 2 Tb cracked black
  peppercorns


• 2 ts ground allspice


• 1 Tb pickling spice


• 1 ts celery seeds

Method

Bring the water to the

boil and then add the rest

of the ingredients, cover

with a lid and then leave

to cool; this allows the

ingredients to infuse.

Place the trimmed pieces

of meat into the cooled

brine. Make sure the meat

is totally submerged in the

liquid. If it floats, place a

weight or a cooling rack

on top to ensure it stays

under the surface. Leave in

the fridge for three days.

After three days, remove

the meat, wash under cold

water and pat dry.

Exterior Rub

• 4 Tb coriander seeds


• ¼ cup brown sugar


• 2 Tb paprika (use smoked
  paprika if you wish, I think it’s
  better)


• 2 Tb flaky sea salt


• 1 ts ground cinnamon


• ½ ts juniper berries

Method

Lightly dry toast the coriander seeds in

a pan, then allow to cool. Using a pestle

and mortar or a spice grinder, grind all

the ingredients together, but not too

finely. I like to leave the seeds a little

coarse as this gives a better texture and

taste on the exterior of the meat.

Rub the ground seed mix onto the

venison and then roll up tight in cling

film and place in the fridge for two days.

Set your smoker to somewhere

between 85-95°C. Choose your

preferred wood (I recommend either

hickory or maple, but the choice is

yours). Remove the cling film from

the venison and place the meat in

the smoker. Smoke until the internal

temperature of the meat reaches 62-

65°C – this will take approximately three

hours, depending on the size or the cut

of meat you have chosen. Remove from

the smoker, allow to cool and wrap in

cling film again and place in the fridge

overnight.

Remove the cling film, slice thinly and

serve with crackers or in a sandwich

such as the ‘Katz’s Deli’ sandwich with

mustard and pickles. Enjoy.

August / September 2019~ NZ HUNTER MAGAZINE 99

Food

& Fauna