It’s St. Patrick’s season and packaged corned beef is on sale everywhere! I plan to make the usual traditional corned beef and cabbage boil this weekend, but for this cook, I made Rueben sandwiches with smoked pastrami using corned beef!
I seasoned packaged corned beef with pastrami rub, smoked it until 202 degrees (wrapped in foil around 170 degrees), rested it, and thinly sliced it to make Rueben sandwiches. I think the spices in the pastrami rub amplify the corned beef even more during the smoking process.
Reuben sandwiches are typically made with corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and 1000 Island/Russian dressing, grilled between slices of rye bread. However, using smoked pastrami instead of corned beef works great too. I recently learned that this variation is sometimes known as a “Rachel” or “California Reuben.” Reuben sandwiches are freaking amazing!
Ingredients:
5 pound Corned Beef
Spicy Brown Mustard
Pastrami Rub
Rye Bread
Swiss Cheese
Sauerkraut
1000 Island Dressing
Pastrami Rub:
2 tablespoons ground coriander
2 tablespoons coarse black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground mustard
Steps:
Desalinate Package Corned Beef – Remove corned beef from the package. Rinse thoroughly with water and place the corned beef in a large bowl filled with water. Refrigerate at least overnight and change the water periodically. Remove corned beef and pat dry.
Make Pastrami Rub – Add all the pastrami rub ingredients in a small bowl and mix until combined.
Setup Grill – Set up the grill for smoking and bring the grill to 250 degrees.
Smoke Pastrami – Smoke the pastrami at 250 degrees. When the internal temperature reaches ~170 degrees, wrap the pastrami in foil and continue smoking until the internal temperature reaches ~203 degrees. Rest the smoked pastrami for at least one hour. Thinly slice the smoked pastrami against the grain.
Make Rueben Sandwiches – Place Swiss cheese on one slice of Rye bread and grill the Rye Bread on a flattop grill over medium heat until the cheese melts. Assemble the Rueben Sandwich by spreading some 1000 Island dressing, adding a layer of smoked pastrami and topping it with a layer of sauerkraut, and placing the second slice of Rye bread on top.
Tips:
- There are different kinds of packaged corned beef. Brisket or Top Round. I prefer the brisket corned beef packages since there’s more fat content and makes it taste more moist.
- Packaged Corned Beef can be very salty. I do my best to desalinate the corned beef by putting it in a big pot of water at least overnight and changing out the water periodically.
- If Rye bread is unavailable, use your favorite sliced bread.
- You can toast the bread and melt the cheese in the toaster oven as well.
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