You have to try this amazing veal breast pastrami recipe!
Well, here is the second part of my veal breast recipe, the first I made bacon. This recipe involves identical steps in the beginning but ends a little differently than the bacon. Here the cure is the same recipe. But after you cure the veal breast, I then sous vide the breast for 48 hours. Then after the breast has been sous vide and cooled you lightly smoke it. The result was melt in your mouth veal pastrami. It is a process that takes almost a week but again the results were amazing. If you have the time and desire here is the recipe
1 whole veal breast trimmed slightly of the excess fat
1 cup of salt
1/2 cup of sugar
2 tsp of pink curing salt
1 tbsp of mustard seeds
1 tbsp of coriander seeds
1 tbsp of juniper berries
4 garlic cloves
1 shallot
1 bay leaf
Water to cover completely
1/4 cup of coriander seed coarse ground
1/4 cup of black peppercorns coarse ground
wood chips for smoking
To make the cure,
In a pot add salt, sugar, coriander, mustard, garlic, juniper, shallot, bay leaf, and 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer until all the salt and sugar has been dissolved, roughly 3-5 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let it either cool to room temperature or add 2 cups of ice to speed up the process. Once the water is close to room temperature you can add your pink salt to the water. Then place your veal breast in a container that is large enough to hold the veal breast and be completely cover with the water or brine mixture. Pour the brine over the veal and let it cure for 3 days. You can flip the veal over once a day to insure even curing. You can cure it up to 5 days if you want but the veal breast is fairly thin so I did mine for 3 days. Then take the veal breast out of the cure and wash off completely in cold water (Here is where I cut mine in half and left half for my pastrami). Take the veal breast and dry well. Then take the coarse ground coriander seed and black peppercorns and evenly distribute on top of the veal breast. Then place in a cryovac bag and seal. Set sous vide machine to 135 degrees. Place the veal breast into the water. Sous vide for 48 hours. Make sure that you add water throughout the process to keep at a safe level (see machine instructions).
After the 48 hours are over, pull the meat out and let it cool to room temperature. Optional step, add a little more coriander and black pepper to the meat and sear in a pan for 2-3 minutes just to golden the fat layer a bit. Then in a stove top smoker with a combination of hickory, mesquite, and apple wood chips. Smoke your veal breast pastrami for 5 minutes on low heat. Then turn off and let it sit in the smoke for 30 minutes. Then take out and you are ready to use either cold or hot. Makes for a great reuben sandwich. Serve and enjoy!
