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The Road to Reuben: Smoking the Pastrami

Pastrami is corned beef that has been smoked and then steamed. I talked here about the corning process. I woke up early on a cold Sunday morning to start the fire for smoking. I made a rub with pastrami seasonings.
After several hours in the Pit Barrel Cooker, I removed the brisket for the process known as the Texas Crutch. I wrapped the brisket in foil with some added beef stock and put it in the oven for about two more hours. Doing this in the cooker doesn't make a lot of sense given that the smoke can't get to the meat. I consider this process to be the moral equivalent of steaming. The next step was to assemble everything into the Reuben. That is the subject of a later post.
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