This began as a conversation my mom and I were having about how much we liked Reuben sandwiches. I had recently been studying up how to make corned beef, and she had just started 'fermenting' some kraut. It turns out, though, that what I was actually trying to figure out how to make was pastrami...the difference between corned beef and pastrami is how you cook it after the brining/curing process. After the beef has been cured, you boil/simmer it for a few hours to produce true corned beef. If you'd prefer to apply tons of dry rub and smoke it on the egg for 8 hours or so (my preference), the end product is pastrami.
She wanted to make traditional Reubens, and I was after pastrami, so I bought two briskets...what the hell. Normally when cooking brisket I'll get a 'packer' - the whole brisket with the flat and the point. For this experiment I just got two flats. I'm sure the points would have worked just fine, but the consistent thickness of the flat seemed optimal for ultimately thin slicing sandwich meat. Also, when cooking brisket, I NEVER trim them. I went to town on these flats, though, as I wanted them to be as lean as possible in the end. I hesitate to post this, but here's how they looked before going into the brine:
I spent the afternoon working on the brining/curing concoction. The house smells ridiculous. Here's a pic of how they will live for the next 10 days or so while they cure in the fridge (the air was removed and the bag was sealed before going in):
In 9 - 10 days they'll come out, be thoroughly rinsed (and possibly soaked over night in fresh water in an attempt to remove most of the salt), and be put back in the fridge for one day uncovered to neutralize. Then one will be boiled, and the other will spend the better part of the day on the egg.
Should be fun...we'll see what happens.