I could say: I made pastrami and it was delicious. I could say that, but the story is much more fun, and longer.

In 2017 I go to Montréal for the first time, where Just for Laughs , the biggest Comedy festival in the world, takes place. Just before that my good friend Jan Jaap van der Wal tells me that I should definitely go to Deli'schwarz's . A place where every day there is a line outside to eat a ham sandwich.

Little did I know. That ham sandwich is a pastrami sandwich. And it's delicious. I actually went to eat at Schwartz, and when I went back to Montreal in 2019 I went there twice. The image of Schwartz was clear to me by then. I even bought some of their rub. On my Instagram I then said in 2019: Challenge accepted. And nothing happened after that.

There were a few reasons for that: I lived in an apartment for 2 years, so smoking for 7 hours is a bit difficult for the neighbors. Furthermore, that brisket has to be cured with Colorozo salt, which is a bit delicate. I never really dared to do it. I tried it once, but with moderate success. And thirdly: where on earth do you buy a brisket?

A brisket is a breast of a cow. Very tough piece so only edible via low and slow. But you can't buy that at the butcher or they look at you strangely. That piece is not cut as standard when deboning a cow. In America that is the case and there you just buy it in the supermarket.

Until I recently saw someone post a pastrami in a bbq fb group. And it looked incredibly good. And suddenly I thought about my challenge again... A small question where she got that brisket introduced me to Atelier Francois which is the webshop for private individuals of Carmans, a wholesaler of meat but especially a specialist in competition bbq meat such as briskets, ribs and pork butts and so much more. Definitely check it out.

So 2 days later everything was neatly delivered to my home. In a nice packaging, in an isomo box with cooling elements. Top done.

And then the journey of brining, smoking and steaming began. After 6 days of brining, 9 hours of low temperature smoking and 40 minutes of steaming it was ready.

It sounds simple but unfortunately it is not that simple. Fortunately I had followed a masterclass by Aaron Franklin and refreshed it so I was given the finer points. That really helped me a lot on my way.

Aaron Franklin has a very successful bbq restaurant and a very respected bbq chef, and looks a lot like Alex Agnew . But American.

Conclusion, I made my own pastrami sandwich and it was delicious.

Would I do it again? Absolutely! In fact, I only made half the brisket so I just brined the other half.

Because it was tasty but not top. I didn't expect that either, I was especially happy that the meat was already red from the brine and that I was still alive. But it was a bit too salty for me so after the brine the brisket has to be desalted a bit (didn't know the word either) and it has to be juicier. Although a lot of juice still came out it was tougher than I wanted and than I remembered in Montreal. So that challenge is still active.