As with most meat, the safest way to thaw beef is in the refrigerator. Small cuts of beef can take up to 24 hours, while larger slabs can take a few days. If you’re in a pinch, frozen beef can be thawed in a bowl or container of lukewarm water. Place the bowl or container in the sink and leave under a running faucet. Never allow raw beef to thaw or sit on a counter or cutting board. Since it takes longer to thaw than most meats, it is more susceptible to bacteria growth.
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In order to effectively freeze beef, you’ll want to limit its exposure to air. This not only prevents the production of freezer burn, but also extends its shelf life to three months or longer. The best way to package beef is to wrap it tightly in freezer paper or plastic wrap. You should then wrap the meat in a layer of aluminum foil or place it in a plastic bag.
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For ground beef, keep refrigerated and use within one to two days. It can stay in its original container if the packaging hasn’t been opened. Steaks follow the same protocol, but can last a bit longer at three to five days. It’s actually best to allow a little airflow with stored meat, as tightly-adhered plastic like Saran wrap can make meat sweat and, as a result, less tender. Meat can be transferred to plastic containers, but should be covered loosely.
Never refrigerate raw meat if it’s been sitting out beyond two hours.
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Homemade pastrami uses similar smoking and brining techniques as DIY bacon and corned beef. First a whole beef brisket is coated with a mixture of spices, sugar, and salt and cured in the refrigerator for a week. Then the meat is oven-smoked using a simple process the CHOW Test Kitchen developed that requires only wood chips, foil, a roasting rack, and a roasting pan. The final “steaming” is really just braising the pastrami in a little water to make it moist and tender. What you get is beefy pastrami with a subtle balance of salt and smoke that can be used in recipes from a classic Reuben sandwich to breakfast hash, a savory pie, or pastrami-topped latkes.
Special equipment: You will need a roasting pan fitted with a roasting rack that sits at least 1 1/2 inches above the bottom of the pan. You can try flipping the roasting rack over (like we did) if it sits too close to the bottom in its traditional orientation. Or use a wire cooling or steaming rack.
Giant resealable storage bags, like these jumbo 2-gallon bags, are the perfect size to use for the curing process. If you can’t find these bags, you can cure the pastrami in a roasting pan covered with foil.
To smoke and steam the pastrami, you will need around 4 yards of 18-inch-wide heavy-duty aluminum foil.
And you’ll need a very clean coffee or spice grinder for this recipe.
What to buy: It’s especially important that you use kosher salt here to ensure your quantity is correct. We prefer the Diamond Crystal brand, available in most grocery stores. If you use Morton kosher salt, you will need 1/4 cup. If you have another brand, weigh out 55 grams.
Curing salt, also known as pink salt or saltpeter, contains 6.25 percent sodium nitrite. It is colored pink so as not to be confused with regular salt. Curing salt is available at Butcher & Packer online.
You should buy pure, resin-free, bark-free wood chips. For this recipe, we recommend apple wood or hickory chips, which can be purchased at most hardware and grocery stores or online.
Game plan: The entire curing, smoking, and cooking process takes at least 10 days, so plan accordingly. Since the smoking and steaming steps each take a few hours, we’ve added instructions on how to stop after smoking, and then proceed with steaming the next day.
This recipe was featured as part of our How to Make Oven-Smoked Pastrami project.
Cinco de Mayo
Flip the brisket over and sprinkle it evenly with the remaining curing mixture. Let it sit until the curing mixture hydrates, darkens in color, and adheres to the brisket, about 15 minutes more. 
Fit a roasting rack over the chips. (The roasting rack should sit at least 1 1/2 inches above the bottom of the pan. You can try flipping it over if needed. If your roasting rack still sits too low, use a wire steaming or cooling rack that sits at least 1 1/2 inches above the bottom of the pan.) 
Place the brisket on the rack fat-side up. 
Bring the long edges of the foil up to meet in the middle. 
Fold the foil down three times and crimp it to close tightly, making sure it’s not touching the brisket so that the smoke can circulate around the meat. 
Bring up the foil on the sides to meet the top seam and crimp, making sure the entire rack and brisket are completely surrounded with foil and there are no gaping holes. 
Discard the foil and smoking wood chips. (You can immediately proceed with the recipe and steam the pastrami, or cool the meat to room temperature and refrigerate it tightly wrapped in plastic wrap for up to 24 hours.)
Steam the pastrami in the oven until knife tender, about 3 hours.