Montreal-style smoked meat, Montreal smoked meat or simply smoked meat in Montreal (French: viande fumée or du smoked meat), may be a sort of kosher-style deli meat product made by salting and curing beef brisket with spices. The brisket is allowed to soak up the flavours over every week, and is then hot smoked to cook through, and finally steamed to completion.
Although the preparation ways is also similar, Montreal smoked meat is cured in seasoning with more cracked peppercorns and aromatic spices, like coriander, and considerably less sugar than the big apple pastrami.[1] The meat is usually served within the form of a rye bread sandwich slathered with mustard. whereas some Montreal smoked meat is brine-cured like corned beef, with spices applied later, many smoked meat institutions prefer dry-curing directly with salt and spices.
Warm Montreal smoked meat is always sliced by hand to maintain its form, since doing so with a meat slicer would cause the tender meat to disintegrate. Whole briskets are kept steaming and sliced up on demand when ordered within the restaurant to maintain its temperature. Unspecialized restaurants outside Montreal typically do not have the amount of smoked meat customers to justify this follow, and usually only have cold presliced meat available, reheated when a customer orders one sandwich. sensible delis in Canada pride themselves in serving traditional smoked meat - cured, smoked and sliced by hand. The meat should be around three mm thick, cut slightly on a bias, and across the grain of the brisket.
Even when hand-cut, Montreal smoked meat produces lots of broken bits when sliced. These pieces are gathered together and commonly served with French fries, cheese curds, and gravy as smoked meat poutine.
The origins of Montreal smoked meat is uncertain and certain unresolvable. However, many have laid claims to the creation or introduction of smoked meat into Montreal. Regardless, all of those stories indicate the creators are of the Jewish Diaspora from Romania or japanese Europe.
RECIPE
Montreal Spice Mix Ingredients:
1 Tbsp celery seeds (15 ml)
2 tsp peppercorns (10 ml)
2 tsp fennel seeds (10 ml)
1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds (7 ml)
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (7 ml)
1 tsp mustard seeds (5 ml)
2 allspice berries
2 Tbsp brown sugar (30 ml)
1 1/2 Tbsp kosher salt (22 ml)
1 tbsp smoked paprika (15 ml)
1 tsp dry mustard powder (5 ml)
2 cloves garlic, minced
Makes enough for a 3-4 pound brisket.
Montreal Spice Mix Directions:
Over low-medium heat, separately toast the following Ingredients in a small heavy sauté pan or cast iron frying pan
until fragrant
peppercorns
coriander seeds
cumin seeds
fennel seeds
mustard seeds
allspice berries
celery seeds
Place all seeds (except the celery) in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, and grind spices coarsely. I found grinding the seeds separately, produced a more consistent mixture.
Combine the ground spices and celery seeds with the dry mustard powder, smoked paprika, garlic, brown sugar and kosher salt. Mix well.
** Very few spices roast at the same rate. If not roasted separately, some spices will burn and others will not fully roast. It takes a lot less time for celery seeds to become aromatic, than it does for peppercorns. During roasting, stir frequently, and be careful not to burn any seeds. When roasting mustard seeds, us a lid or you will find your seeds flying in the air landing everyplace except the pan. Shake the pan as if you are making popcorn. Carefully listen for a popping sound (this happens almost right away), then immediately remove pan from the heat. Continue shaking, and when the popping stops you can take off the lid.
Montreal Smoked Meat (Yield: 6 servings)
3 lb. beef brisket, with fat on (1136 grams)
1 cup red wine (250 ml)
3-5 slices double smoked bacon*
6 Wood bisquettes (maple, oak or apple)
*For the double smoked bacon, I used hickory smoked bacon. Placing individual strips on racks (about 7 strips will fit on each racks; I cold smoked them for 1 hour using hickory. Avoid using thick sliced bacon.
Smoker
(The Best way to go) Montreal Smoked Meat
Directions:
If your brisket is untrimmed, trim fat to about a 1/4” thickness.
Place brisket in a one gallon sealable plastic bag and add 1 cup of red wine. Refrigerate and marinate for 2 hours, tuning once.
Remove brisket from the plastic bag and discard marinade. Pat dry with paper towels, and rub ½ of the spice mixture all over the brisket. Press the rub in firmly; to make sure the course ground spices adhere to the meat. Tightly wrap in plastic wrap, and let brisket sit for at least 1 hour or refrigerate overnight so flavor permeates the meat. If you refrigerate overnight, let meat stand at room temperature for one hour before placing in the smoker.
Preheat smoker to 250F.
Place brisket on a rack, and cover the top of the brisket with the slices of bacon. Place brisket in smoker, and smoke at 200-210F; applying smoke for 2 hours, using maple, apple or oak wood. I used maple
After 3 hours remove brisket from smoker, and add more of the spice mixture on top of the brisket, and gently pat spices in. Return brisket to the smoker, and cook until the meat reaches 165-170F internal temperature.
Remove meat from the smoker, and tightly wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator, and let “age” at least one day, two would be better.
Slice thinly across the grain. Serve the traditional way; pile meat high between 2 slices of rye bread and top with spicy mustard.
Oven (Time Saver)
Directions:
If your brisket is untrimmed, trim fat to about a 1/4” thickness.
Rub ½ of the spice mixture all over the brisket. Press the rub in firmly; to make sure the course ground spices adhere to the meat. Tightly wrap in plastic wrap, and let brisket sit for at least 1 hour or refrigerate overnight so flavor permeates the meat. If you refrigerate overnight, let meat stand at room temperature for one hour before placing in oven.
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
Fit the rack of a roasting pan into a roasting pan. Add wine to the roasting pan. Put the brisket on the rack. Cover the brisket with the slices of bacon. Cover with foil making sure that the foil does not come in contact with the meat. (Note: when I foiled the meat, where the foil touched the bacon, the foil pitted). Slow cook for 3 hours or until meat is tender.
Remove from oven. Add more spice mixture to the top of the brisket. Smoke brisket in a preheated Bradley for two hours at 200-210F, using maple, apple or oak bisquettes. I used maple.
After 2 hours, remove the meat from the smoker, and tightly wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator, and let “age” at least one day, two would be better.
Slice thinly across the grain. Serve the traditional way; pile meat high between 2 slices of rye bread and top with spicy mustard.
*from variety sources