Danny Bowien's Pastrami Recipe (2024)

If you don't want to go with store-bought corned beef, and don't have 10 days to make your own, don't worry! I have made this recipe twice with brisket that I just gave an overnight brine in salt, mustard seeds, and brown sugar. If you are brining for this short, you can skip the first step (meant to desalinate a heavily brined beef), just pull it out of the brine, give it rub, 12 hrs fridge, etc etc. Still absolutely perfect.

So I am confused. I just spent 10 days making my corn beef, and now I have to seal for 24 hours and cook it another 12 hours? But its already been cooked? Corned Beef is a finished product yet I get the impression from this recipe that there is some kind of uncooked corn beef? I find the instructions here very unclear.

I have not made this yet, but want to. In looking through the video and instructions, I think the recipe is to start with a corned brisket, meaning a piece that has already been brined with spices. You can buy this or make it yourself, but it is not cooked. For traditional Irish corned beef or a New England boiled beef dinner, you simmer it until done. The 24 hr treatment is to get that pepper crust, not to season the interior. You then do the slow roast to get it tender.

Corned beef generically refers to brined beef, and the corned beef one would eat on a sandwich has been boiled. Pastrami would take the same brined, but uncooked, beef, which is then smoked after a supposedly optional but highly recommended additional rub. I know this comment is old but I was also confused to hoping to help others.

For the 6-8 lb piece of meat noted, how much salt, mustard seeds, and brown sugar do you need to brine it?

I've made my own pastrami several times. This recipe requires you to start with store bought corned beef. If you have time and refrigerator space, corn your own beef and bake (I smoke mine on my Weber). Making your own corned beef is the easy part and worth the time. It's the soaking afterwards, dry rub in fridge, and hours of smoking (that's what beer is for) that results in a thing of beauty. It rivals Katz's. Think I'll pull the brisket out of the freezer now!

What you described is exactly how I do it. I grill IT the night before, wrap it in foil and place it in a shallow pan in my fridge. Then, when I get up, I turn the oven to 200 and put the pan directly from the fridge in the oven and i go to work. Twelve hours still seems about right and it always comes out great. I'll be making it next weekend for St Patty's.

I've made this recipe twice and both times haven't been able to get the pepper crust to stay on the beef when I've seared it. Tasted great but the small parts where the crust stayed were the best. By the looks of it from the video, I suspect there is much less fish sauce in the mustard mix Bowien uses then the recipe calls for. Maybe that would make it thick enough to stay on for searing.

wonderful video!

Served this for St Pattys day using a 5 lb corned beef. I halved the mustard sauce and spice rub and still had leftovers. After 12 hours in the oven a whole bunch of liquid collected in the pan and the meat wasn’t as tender as I hoped.Still good, but wondering if wrapping it tighter in foil would have contained the juices thus yielding a softer meat, or maybe there wasn’t enough fat on the cut I bought. Everyone loved it anyway and it just fed 10 people.

5 stars not enough. FANTASTIC! Corned my own brisket and then proceeded to this recipe. Only change was not using fish sauce because of previous brining and not soaking, again because of brining. Have a smoker but decided to go the slow cook via convection oven @ 215 degrees. 12 hours then 450 for 7 minutes. Looked exactly as shown in video. Pickled mustard puts flavor over the top. Melts in your mouth. No pastrami out there that can touch this. Not enough superlatives. Thanks much Mr. Bowien!

Texture was quite good. I found it to be quite salty though. The corned beef is already salty, then you add mustard/fish sauce which are both super salty + salt in the dry rub. Maybe it was the brand of corned beef I bought, but I found it unpalatable. Water soak is necessary, probably would go 24-36 hours next time. I would also omit the salt from the dry rub because the mustard/fish sauce provides plenty of salt.

Just a note to keep it Jewish or kosher for Chanukah (This recipe was listed in Our Best Hanukkah Recipes) omit the fish sauce as kosher laws do not permit cooking fish and meat together...just saying

Would it be the end of the world if this was in water for 2 days??? How would it affect the safety, texture, taste?

Totally agree about getting the "rub" to stay on through the searing...so important to keep the peppery taste, yet so hard to achieve!Not totally sold on this magic trick...interesting though.

Would it be okay to sear this in a cast iron pan? ;I do not have this type of grill) If so, is there a need to coat the pan in oil?

And if we are allergic to fish?

If you don't want to go with store-bought corned beef, and don't have 10 days to make your own, don't worry! I have made this recipe twice with brisket that I just gave an overnight brine in salt, mustard seeds, and brown sugar. If you are brining for this short, you can skip the first step (meant to desalinate a heavily brined beef), just pull it out of the brine, give it rub, 12 hrs fridge, etc etc. Still absolutely perfect.

Would it really be a mistake to sear the beef the night before and refrigerate it for a few hours before baking it the next day if that better suits your schedule?

This recipe was a huge success! But I saw no fish sauce in the recipe and I didn't put any in. Could see mixing some in w the spicy brown (and considered subbing Dijon) but... Why bother? It worked great without it. The rub in the video is a dry rub - makes zero sense to make it moist. I was concerned the Dijon might be too recognizable and detract from the pure comfort chaimish quality, which is exactly what this recipe gives you.

Agree ingredients aren't clear. I am making an 8 lb corned beef right now and wondering if I can try this recipe with half of the 8 or do I need some other product from the butcher.

Is corned beef just brisket? If so, this recipe would make a lot more sense.