Pastrami

It's as good as it looks, and remarkably easy

Back in my blogging heyday, I made a lot of charcuterie. So much so that one of the highlights of that era was winning a year-long charcuterie contest (co-created by the great

Kim Foster

) that sent me to France to meet the equally great

Kate Hill

and learn the art of the Gascon pig with the extraordinary Chapolard family.

Lots of meats (and even some vegetables, stay tuned) make good candidates for pastramification. You can read about some of my previous work on this front, and how pastrami and corned beef share the first part of their process, in this post from last week. The sexy slab in the photo was traditional: brisket, brined for five days, rubbed with spices, hot-smoked until cooked, and finally slow-roasted in an oven with some water to steam it. As you can see, the results were pretty attractive (if you’re into salty pink meat, anyway).

Making your own deli meats is incredibly rewarding, not least because it turns them into a special occasion food, rather than an everyday thing. Apart from a bit of planning (because of the cure time and relatively long, slow cook) Pastrami is an easy make. And when you taste it, you’ll be amazed at how freaking fabulous it is. Like, pupil-dilating, table-pounding delicious. You will instantly become the most popular member of your household, and receive many invitations to fancy parties once people learn of your meaty prowess.