that I was a little leery about since I knew there was a longer than normal time commitment to cure it and get it right.The first thing to answer is “Why a Tri-tip?” Why not another piece of meat? The simple answer is I had a lot of Tri-tip at the time. I usually buy my Tri-tip in large sealed bags of 4 or 5. I also knew that I had some time to plan and I could get it right.
If you aren’t familiar with the exact process, which was new to me as well, pastrami needs to be cured for several days. So I had my meat curing for 10-11 days before taking it out. I rotated my meat every day to make sure it was curing as evenly as possible. Here is the whole recipe that I used.
Ingredients
Cure Brine
- Kosher Salt - 1/4 Cup
- Pink curing salt #1 - 2 tsp
- Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup
- Garlic powder - 1 tbsp
- Pickling spice - 2 tbsp
- Water - 8 cups
Pastrami Rub (after the cure)
- 2-4 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp coriander powder
- 1 tbsp mustard powder
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
Instructions
- If you purchased an untrimmed tri-tip, trim the fat down. Otherwise mix all of the ingredients into a bowl very well. Add your meat either to that bowl (if you can seal it well) or a bag and add the ingredients. I used a bowl with a cover on it. Inject some of that brine into the meat if you want. I did.
- Put it in your fridge for 10 days to let it cure. Flip it daily or move the container around so that the ingredients don't settle and so that you can get a even cure.
- After 10 days, take the meat out and rinse thoroughly. Soak it in fresh water for a few hours to get rid of the super salty taste. After soaking, take out and pat dry.
- Rub some EVOO over the meat and then add a pastrami rub to the outside.
- Place the Tri-tip on your Traeger at 225 until it hits an internal temp of 160 degrees. Once it is finished let it rest for 20 or so minutes.
- Slice it up and enjoy!
After slicing mine up I went outside for something….meanwhile my wife made my son a sandwich using the pastrami. He always adds Five Monkey’s BBQ sauce to everything (I add it to ALMOST everything) and I came back in and he told me I HAD to try it. I usually keep my pastrami sandwiches simple. Maybe some mustard and sometimes some mayonnaise. But this time I decided to listen to my 8 year old’s advice. It hit the spot!
