After the first harvest dinner at my house, I had several requests for this recipe , so here it is… however, unless you have some method for long slow smoking, it won’t do you much good.
First take lamb shoulder, or neck and place it in a gallon of brine for at least 3 days, you could leave it in their for much longer as the brine will help preserve the meat, it is also fully saturated with salt at the end of three days, so it can’t really get any saltier.
Brine:
1 gallon H20
1/5 C Kosher Salt
1 C brown sugar
8 teaspoons pink salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon fennel
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon clove
1 teaspoon cumin
6 cloves garlic
1/2 C honey
2 sprigs rosemary
Bring all those ingredients to a boil and then chill completely. After it is cold, strain out the spices and immerse the shoulder in the liquid.
After 3 days, remove the shoulder. Crush 1 Tablespoon each of black pepper, coriander and fennel, rub the spices into the Lamb, covering it completely.
Smoke the shoulder (I used mesquite, but there are any number of possibilities) at 150-180 degrees until the internal temperature of the lamb reaches 145. I give you the variation because I am not BBQ master enough to keep the temperature solid. This takes about 8 hours.
Next, set your oven to 280. Cover the bottom of a deep pan with an inch of water, place a bowl or a rack in the bottom of the pan so your Lamb can sit above the liquid. Set the lamb on its rack or pedestal, cover the pan tightly with tin foil and put in the oven for 3 hours, or until the lamb is falling off the bone.
You can serve the pastrami right away, or let cool and then re-steam to serve the next day.
I served the pastrami with beets, balsamic, sheep’s milk yogurt and mustard seeds – but it would be awesome in any number of combinations, including the sandwich… try yogurt and pickled onions.
