Some further 'net research reveals that navel is an alternate name for the
plate. The plate appears to be just aft of the brisket and is where fajitas
come from; the diaphragm muscle (skirt steak and the traditional source for
fajitas) is one part of the plate, I think.

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Louis Cohen
Living la vida loca at N37° 43' 7.9" W122° 8' 42.8"


"Louis Cohen" > wrote in message
...
> "Into the Fire" on FoodTV the other night did a piece on the Carnegie
Deli.
> They showed the plant where Carnegie processes raw beef into their corned
> beef and pastrami. When a shipment came in, the guy from Carnegie asked
> whether the shipment was corned beef or navels.
>
> I assume that when he said corned beef, he meant brisket. But what's beef
> navel? That is, where's Bossie's pupick?
> A brief web search suggests that navel is the traditional cut for
pastrami,
> and that navel is sometimes called plate, which I have heard of but I
don't
> know what part of the cow it comes from.
>
> I'm not certain of all the details, but it looks as if Carnegie injects
all
> the beef to be cured with a brine, and lets it cure 3-7 days. Then they
> apply their rub to the pastrami and smoke it for just 3 hours.
>
> When the meat gets to the restaurant, the corned beef is boiled and the
> pastrami is steamed (very important that the pastrami never touch {liquid}
> water, he said).
>
> --
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> Louis Cohen
> Living la vida loca at N37° 43' 7.9" W122° 8' 42.8"
>
>
>