Big Daddy Jay's Dry Aged Pastrami

I have been a huge fan of dry aging beef. It really gives it that funky taste and awesome texture. I have normally done steaks though so this was my first dry aged brisket project. Compared to a dry aged ribeye roast, it was so much easier to trim. The color came out to a beautiful deep red. Smoking it, on the other hand, was challenging because "the stall" took an extra 4 hours than normal to pass. All in all, I will do this again.

Ingredients

Whole brisket

1 pound himalayan salt

Pink curing salt

Sea salt

Sugar

Water

2 pieces star anise

2-3 bay leaves

2 tablespoons black mustard seed

2 tablespoons coriander

1/4 cup peppercorns

Start by lining a sheet pan with a pound of Himalayan salt and place the rack in the pan. Set aside. Remove brisket from wrapper and truss. Set on rack in pan and place this in a dry ager for 35 days. Remove and trim all pellicle off. Save this stuff for dry aged ground beef.

Once trimmed, start making brine. Add about 3 quarts of water to a dutch oven and begin to boil. Head on over to http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html to calculate exactly how much pink curing salt, sea salt, and sugar you need for your brine. Add the amounts to the brine along with coriander, star anise, black mustard, and bay leaves. Stir until all salts and sugar has been absorbed. Add a couple of pounds of ice to get temperature of brine down to cool. Add brine to brisket in a food safe bucket. Top off with water if necessary.

Allow to brine in refrigerator for 14-15 days. Remove and rub generously with freshly ground black pepper. Add to smoker set at 225 degrees F until internal temperature reaches 150 degrees. Remove, wrap in pink butcher paper, and return to smoker. Continue smoking until internal temperature is 203 degrees F. Allow to rest for one hour before serving. Enjoy!