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Sliced Montreal Smoked Meat on a cutting board.
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4.70 from 42 votes

Homemade Montreal Smoked Meat

Smoky, flavorful, and so crazy good, homemade Montreal Smoked Meat is a labor of love but it is so delicious! Perfect piled high on sandwiches, this sliced meat is so good, you'll never buy it again!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time6 hours
Curing time7 days
Total Time7 days 6 hours 10 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Canadian
Keyword: beef, brisket, montreal smoked meat, pellet smoker, smoked, smoked beef
Servings: 10 servings
Calories: 352kcal
Author: Chef Jenn

Ingredients

  • 5 pounds beef brisket
  • 1 cup kosher salt use half as much table salt
  • 1 tablepsoon ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon ground coriander
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Prague Powder #1
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 5 bay leaves crumbled

For the rub:

  • 2 tablespoons whole black pepper crushed
  • 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds crushed
  • 1 tablespoon mustard seeds crushed

Instructions

  • Trim the brisket leaving about 1/8-1/4 inch of fat along the top.
  • Mix the salt, ground coriander, black pepper, sugar, ground cloves, bay leaves, and Prague Powder #1 in a small bowl.
  • Rub the brisket all over and pop it into a zipper-top bag, and put it into the fridge.
  • Turn the brisket daily, massaging the liquids around the beef.
  • Remove the brisket from the dry cure early on the 8th day and give it a good rinse under tap water.
  • Soak the brisket in clean, cold tap water for 20 minutes, then replace the water with fresh water, soaking it for another 20 minutes to remove any excess salt. Repeat for a total of 4 soaks.
  • Dry the brisket with paper towels.
  • Combine the crushed black peppercorns, crushed coriander seeds, and crushed mustard seeds in a small bowl, then rub the brisket all over with the crushed spices.
  • Fire up your smoker and smoke the rubbed brisket at 180-F for about an hour, then turn up the temperature to 225-F until the internal temperature reaches 165-F.
  • Remove the brisket from the smoker and set up a stove-top steamer. I used a large roasting pan with a v-rack. Add enough water to the bottom of the pan so that it is barely touching the bottom of the rack, then steam the brisket until it reaches an internal temperature of 200-205-F. Add water as needed.
  • Remove the brisket and let it rest until cool to the touch.
  • Refrigerate the brisket for 4-6 hours or overnight, then thinly slice it with a meat slicer.
  • Build the sandwich of your dreams, and enjoy!

Notes

Chef Jenn's Tips

  • Montreal Smoked Meat is not a quick fix. It needs to cure for a week, and then the smoking and steaming process will take you most of a day. Give yourself 8 days to prepare it, ensuring that you have the whole 8th day to smoke and steam. If you chill it overnight before slicing, you'll be ready to eat your homemade Montreal Smoked Meat on the 9th day.
  • You can dry the brisket in the fridge overnight between the last soak to remove salt, and rubbing it with the crushed spices. Air-drying it in this fashion will help the fat and meat dry out, creating a layer of pellicule which some say helps the smoke stick better. I believe that more smoke flavor comes from wet smoking - smoking the meat without air-drying. This is a personal choice.
  • I've seen some crazy Montreal Smoked Meat rubs. Less is more; again personal choice but I like the complex flavors of smoke, pepper, corriander, and mustard seeds. You don't need more than that.
  • Slicing meat is much easier when it is cold. Don't try to thinly-slice meat on a meat slicer if it isn't cold cold.
  • Using Prague Powder #1 is an exact science.
  • A digital meat thermometer is a must for this recipe. Always cook to temp, not time.
**sodium content is not calculated because it is impossible to determine how much salt penetrates the meat. 

Nutrition

Serving: 6ounces | Calories: 352kcal | Protein: 47g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 141mg | Sodium: 179mg | Potassium: 748mg | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 4mg