I have not had a good pastrami sandwich in quite a long while. I suppose that craving is what recently sparked my initial thoughts about pastrami and its possibilities. Then I began thinking about what would work well cooked pastrami-style. I was trying to avoid the obvious suspects like duck or chicken or salmon. Again I was inspired by something I have not eaten in some time, sweetbreads. As the idea bounced around in my head the concept made my mouth begin to water. This was clearly a sign that sweetbread pastrami would be darn near delicious.
I then began thinking about the steps in making pastrami and the smoking of the meat stood out in my mind. Smoked sweetbreads on their own would be amazing. As I considered the idea of smoked sweetbreads, I bounced to smoked salmon and the curing of fish. Smoked salmon cured sweetbreads would be tasty. As the idea picked up steam, I returned to the pastrami concept and married the idea of curing the sweetbreads, in the style of salmon. though with pastrami spices. I will then smoke the sweetbreads and then cook them sous vide at 65 degrees C for two hours.
Once the sweetbreads are cooked, we will have a new staple in our kitchen, which will be the basis for a variety of new dishes. And on a simpler note, we may have to make maple-cured and smoked sweetbreads. Actually, knowing me, I will be off to procure vast amounts of sweetbreads so we can begin to fine tune these ideas tomorrow.
