A Bite of Laney

There were several things I knew I would miss after moving to Florida from up North. One was the hard crisp bite of an apple stored correctly. The second was lilacs. The sweetest smelling flower which does not have a southern sister to measure up to. The last one is to find pastrami (one of my favorite foods) worthy of a Northern deli. Yes, you can find pastrami here in Orlando. But it is not the real thing. The best we can hope for is pastrami shipped down here at a ridiculous cost to the restauranteur. It is better than most but not still a real good pastrami taste. So what to do? Make your own! It’s much easier than you would ever think and the results are mind blowing. Here’s what you need to do; 1. Mix 2 cloves of crushed garlic and ½ cup of vegetable oil in a small bowl. Set aside for an hour. 2.Preheat your oven to 225 degrees. 3. Combine ¼ coarsely ground black pepper, 2 tsps. Of coriander, 1 tsp. dry mustard, ½ tsp ground white pepper and ¼ tsp of cayenne pepper in a large bowl and set aside. 4. Cover a baking sheet with a large sheetr of heavy duty aluminum foil. Coat the foil with prepared garlic oil. Lay a 4lb. corned beef brisket on foil and brush with remaining garlic oil. 5. Cover all sides of corned beef brisket completely with pepper mixture, reserving 1 to 2 tablespoons. 6. withy fat side of meat facing up wrap in the sheet of foil. Place wrapped corned beef on another sheet of aluminum foil with the seam and fat side down. Place double wrapped corned beef on a third sheet of aluminum foil (seam down) and wrap again. ARE YOU STILL WITH ME? IT WILL BE ALL WORTH WHILE JUST YOU WAIT! 7. Bake in oven for 6 hours. 8. Remove pastrami from the oven and let cool to room temperature, about 3 hours. 9.With pastrami still wrapped in the foil place in a freezer bag and refrigerate for 8 to 10 hours. 10. Preheat the oven’s b roiler and set the rack about 6 inches from heat. 11. Line a baking sheet with foil. 12. Remove pastrami from refrigerator, unwrap, and place on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle top with 1 to 2 tablespoons of remaining pepper mixture. 13. Place pastrami in the oven, 6 to 8 inches below broiler briefly to brown surface. About 3 to 4 minutes. Remove pastrami from oven and slice thinly. 14. Heat a large skillet over low heat. 15.Heat pastrami slices with a few drops of water until fat begins to turn from white to translucent, about 5 minutes. 16. Enjoy! Now I realize this many stepped recipe may seem a little daunting but it isn’t if you just do one step at a time and make sure all you will need is right in front of you. Make it for a special occasion or just to enjoy..Let me know if you like to do things such as this and I will bring some more of them to the blog.