You Should Make Turkey Pastrami for Thanksgiving

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While I only really enjoy Thanksgiving turkey an hour after it comes out of the oven, it seems like most people eat it for sandwiches. Turkey Sammy the Day After is a legendary aspect of Thanksgiving and is not associated with any religious, historical or cultural aspect of the day. So why bother with fried poultry when you suddenly move on to your favorite sandwich? And if you’re going to eat turkey sandwiches, why not bend over and make some turkey pastrami instead?

How difficult is it to make pastrami?

So hard . I’ve made pastrami—real beef pastrami—exactly once. This is Amanda’s iconic dinner party. I made almost twenty pounds, lovingly cooked, cured, smoked and served. Despite years of culinary exploits with a microphone, this is the dish everyone comes back to. “Hey, have you thought about visiting that pastrami place again?” No chance, Friends; life is not long enough.

That’s when I started wondering if some corners could be cut, and I think the fact that I’m here talking about it speaks for itself.

Meat setting

For my setup, I consulted several sources, including the Kosher Dosher blog, Amazing Ribs, and every turkey pastrami recipe I could find, and then applied all that knowledge to a scientific method I call “cooking.” I started with a whole turkey breast, boned and skinless. I’ve since wondered why not try the recipe with dark meat, but alas I didn’t.

Credit: Amanda Bloom
Credit: Amanda Bloom

I really relied on Kosher Dosher’s Pastrami Spice Blend and to make your life easier, I created a tool to help you determine how much you need of each ingredient by entering the weight of your turkey. Throw all the spices into a blender or food processor and grind until medium grinded. Rub it all over your breasts and then I put one breast on top of the other. Place them in a vacuum bag and release all the air (you can do this using a zipper and water displacement method instead). Now the pastrami will sit in the refrigerator and rest for five days.

In short, you usually just “treat” your breasts with Prague powder, also known as the #1 salt remedy. Instead, I skip this step and go straight to the spice blend, which also includes cure #1. Although the meat could be left in the refrigerator for two weeks, I found that five days was sufficient to obtain a cure acceptable for our purposes.

Smoke

Credit: Amanda Bloom
Pellicle on turkey. Credit: Amanda Bloom

Smoke is an important part of pastrami’s charm, but we want cool smoke, which means using the grill at the lowest possible temperature and keeping the turkey away from the flames. I set the gas grill on low at the front burner, placed the turkey behind the grill, and used wood chips to create smoke. I simply placed them on a piece of foil near the front of the grill and then lit one side with a torch. The remaining wood chips burned slowly, producing smoke. I closed the lid, leaving it ajar just enough to give the fire some oxygen. I did this three times over three hours: arranging the chips, lighting them, and then letting them slowly burn and smoke the turkey. After all, you could tell the breast had a nice membrane on it—that’s the skin that forms on the outside of the turkey, meat and all.

Into the water bath

This means it’s time to go back inside and sous vide the CTFO at 145F for five hours. This is the lowest temperature safe for a turkey , and during this time the turkey is pasteurized. After that, I let it sit for 20 minutes and then took it out of the bag, put it on a cutting board and cut it into very, very thin slices on the diagonal.

Silky, perfect cold cut

Credit: Amanda Bloom

Even though the process was greatly shortened (it would typically be cured for weeks and then go through an entirely separate rub and smoke process), the meat still had a nice silkiness from the sous vide and a great spicy flavor from the rub. . The smokiness was definitely present and it cut beautifully. As a result, I managed to layer it to the skies for ages to create a pastrami sandwich with thick mustard, pickles, vinaigrette, Russian dressing and melted Gruyère.

This pastrami was a delicious variation that combined the juiciness you get from sous vide, the slight smoldering flavor you get from smoking it, and the perfect texture you get from baking it. The spice rub perfectly captures the feel of pastrami. All in all, it was about an hour and a half of intense cooking and preparation, and it was well worth it.

You can also slice it a little thicker and serve it on a plate like wedges of meat with Russian dressing for extra flavor.

Turkey pastrami

Credit: Amanda Bloom

Ingredients

Equipment

  • three cups of wood chips for smoking

  • sous vide machine

1. Grind all the spices and then sprinkle them on both sides of the turkey breast. It should cover the entire chest.

2. Place the breast in a ziploc bag or vacuum seal bag and remove all air from the bag. Place the bag in the refrigerator for five days, turning the breasts every day.

3. On day six, set up grill for smoking. Place the turkey as far away from the heat as possible, keeping the heat on low. Place wood chips on a piece of foil and light one side. Let the chips light up and then open the grill, leaving it just an inch or two away. You need just enough air to start the fire.

4. Set another batch of chips to burn every hour. After the third hour, turn off the grill, fold the turkey in half, and then place it in a vacuum bag and remove all the air.

5. Sous vide turkey at 145 degrees F and cook for five hours.

6. Let the turkey rest for 20-30 minutes, then remove it from the bag and slice it on the diagonal, as thin as possible.

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