If you want to make pastrami the easy way, mark your calendar for the week after St. Patrick’s Day. That’s when grocery stores are drowning in leftover corned beef and desperate to clear it out — I’ve grabbed packaged corned beef on closeout for a fraction of the regular price, which makes this one of the cheapest smokes you’ll ever pull off. Pastrami can be made a few different ways, but starting from a store-bought corned beef is by far the easiest. In the normal cooking process for corned beef, the product is boiled, which pulls out a lot of the added salt. Since we’re smoking instead of boiling, that salt sticks around — so it’s essential to soak the meat in water first to draw it back out. Cover it in water, refrigerate, dump the water a few hours later, and repeat.

Seasoning

Once the soak is done, I cover the meat in peppercorns, garlic, and coriander — the classic pastrami crust.

 Smoking

I smoke it with hickory wood until it reaches 165°F internal, then wrap it in foil and continue smoking until it hits 195°F.

 Resting and Result

As with most smoked meats, pastrami needs a rest after coming off the smoker. I normally rest mine in a cooler with towels for at least an hour before slicing and serving.

 

 Often Repeated

 Although the finished product is good served hot, I believe it really shines when refrigerated and sliced cold. Look at the incredible marbling.

 I like this piled into a proper Reuben — rye, Swiss, sauerkraut, the works. But honestly, this is damn good just eaten cold off the board, no sandwich required. That marbling doesn’t need any help.

 A sharp slicing knife makes all the difference getting consistent, thin slices like this — worth the investment if you’re making pastrami more than once.