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this machine is called a pickling
injector
and it's directly injecting a salt water
brine into this cut of beef
infusing it with flavor it's one of the
first steps that turns this
into this traditional pastrami that new
yorkers have been eating since the 1900s
we take a closer look at the meat itself
and see how traditional pastrami is made
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pastrami is a classic new york deli meat
that comes from the navel of a cow
these days it's most common to use beef
brisket what makes it distinctive from
other meats like corned beef
is its brining process and it all starts
here at a warehouse in the bronx
first you have to start with the best
cut of meat this identifies that it's
choice meat which is a higher
cuts of meat choice beef is known for
its tenderness
juiciness and flavor and is well suited
for dry heat cooking
with the demand we've been able to
produce almost every day of the week
new york city is home to a couple dozen
jewish delis
so it's no surprise that the warehouse
goes through so much brisket
so this is part of the reason why our
pastrami tastes the way it is because it
has a
perfect blend of the the fat and the
lean meat content
we could go through all between 10 and
15 000 pounds a week of of this
of the brisket did you say 10 to 15 000
pounds yes
oh wow the meat seen here is kosher as
many old school delis in new york city
are jewish
to be labeled kosher animals have to be
slaughtered in a certain way so that
they cannot feel any pain
and the meat must be soaked and salted
for meat to remain kosher as it's
shipped from a manufacturer to a
facility like this
a mushrayaq or supervisor must inspect
the establishment to ensure it meets
kosher standards
my job is to make sure that when
these products come in that they are
kosher you'll see this box that says
northland kosher beef and in addition
right here in hebrew it says kosher meat
kosher means fit for use and the bible
tell us
that the jewish people must
keep kosher and so what if like let's
say you do find something
then we've got to start from zero the
product is no good we've got to throw it
away
the meat is actually labeled with a k
you see the kosher
okay the meat also has a plumber and
lets you
also know that that is kosher the meat
itself is washed every three days
when all is inspected the meat can move
on to the pickling or the brining
process
gone are the days of the industry where
meats like pastrami are brined for two
to four weeks
now machinery like this speeds up the
process by injecting the brine solution
directly into the meat
this allows the meat to retain the same
amount of flavor it would get from
brining the old-fashioned
way all in just 24 hours so i
honestly came in here assuming that we
would have the meats
in the brining solution and you'd have
like a ton of refrigerators
of like just them soaking up right but
this is
the this is this is the fastest way
and is this a standard across the board
for the volume that we're doing we
wouldn't have the time to wait to two to
three weeks we need to get it in and get
it out
the cuts of beef are pickled one at a
time and injected to ensure the juices
and flavors penetrate the meat
thoroughly
the brine and the solution that we use
is is a
proprietary just for us we created it it
took many years to get it right
but after years and years in the making
we got it down this is the solution we
use no one else has anything like it
there's some salt there's some pepper
there's garlic there's herbs there's
spices
but it would all be in a powder and a
liquid form that we turn into it it's
just the the perfect flavor
so when you eat our pastrami it's like
wow
so now that the meat is brined yes what
is the next step what we're gonna do is
obviously
we're gonna seal each individual piece
cryovac sealed
and then that's it within by the next
day tomorrow could be sold to the stores
for consumption
mark's team aims to brine and vacuum
seal 5 000 pounds of pastrami at a time
and after 24 hours the pastrami is
headed to delis like pastrami queen
is a brisket this is the stomach part of
a cow
it's the most fatty and meatiest part of
a cow
if you didn't have the fat or as much
fat as you need
it will dry out as it cooks slowly the
fat burns away and melts away slowly
into the meat bringing the flavor
further into the meat and therefore
keeping it tender and
juicy what happened if you kept more of
the fat on the meat
you would damage the tenderness and the
quality of the meat the balance is very
important
what do we want to taste with the final
product it has to be juicy
it has to be savory you have to taste
the fat the meat
all the flavor that goes into it to get
the pastrami ready for the smoker cooks
add a dried rum
it's been 14 days remove the meat from
the brining
process you add the salt the pepper
the brown sugar to balance out the salty
sweet flavor
and then caramel
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we actually have caramel so you could be
able to rub it and it's evenly around
the meat
which causes the perfect browning of the
meat while it's being cooked and make
sure the whole meat
is covered so you brine it in these
ingredients then you're also rubbing it
yes you keep the flavor
so as the meat breaks down and the fat
breaks down
the flavor continuously is being
reinfused into the meat
which makes the perfect pastrami and
that's why you do twice
like a brine in a dry rub yes two towns
is always better than once
the meat is then placed into a smoker
for two to four hours at 225 degrees
fahrenheit
next comes the steam the piece of
pastrami lies in the steamer for four to
six hours
this is what a final pastrami brisket
would look like
at pastrami clean yes sure you see all
the seasoning and everything is still
together it has a good consistency when
you slice it it stays together so when
you get a bite it's a fulfilling savory
salty sweet caramelized flavoring
that looks salivating holy moly it's
hard not to take a bite of this meat
right now i know
this is our version it works best proof
is in the pudding my customers have been
customers
for decades and decades