Directions

• Brine
• Mix the water and all other ingredients except for the Brisket in a large pot over low heat. When all of the salt, sugar, etc are dissolved, turn off the heat and allow the brine solution to start cooling.
• Add the solution and about 5 lb of ice to a large plastic bag. I used a 3 gallon ziplock bag I found on Amazon. Make sure the temp of the brine gets down below 40 degrees before adding the meat. Add the meat.
• Place in a refrigerator or quality cooler (Yeti). If you are using a cooler, make sure to put ice under and over the brine bag. It will stay here for 6 days. Make sure to turn the bag over every day to keep the brine properly mixed.
• After 6 days take the meat out of the brine bag and rinse it very well. Dump the brine solution out of the bag and rinse the bag with fresh water. Put about 1 gallon of cold water back in the bag and add the meat back in. Put back in fridge or cooler for 8 hours. This step is to remove a little of the salt from the meat so the salt isn’t overpowering.
• Remove the meat from the fresh water and place on a sheet pan.
• Cooking
• Mix the rub ingredients in a small bowl. Make sure everything is combined and no lump remaine.
• Since you just took the brisket out of the fresh water it should still be wet. We will use this as the binder. Liberally spread the rub onto all sizes of the brisket. Don’t be shy. It is a big piece of meat and can handle a good amount of rub. Place the brisket back on the sheet pan and put in fridge overnight. Rub should be on the brisket for at least 12 hours.
• The next morning, take your brisket out of the fridge and set on a kitchen counter for at least an hour. Now get your smoker ready. You will be smoking at 250 degrees using pretty much any kind of wood for smoke. I used Hickory and it turned out great.
• Smoke until the rub it set and does not come off when you rub your finger across it. The time to get to this spot will be dependent on the thickness of your brisket flat. This usually happens when internal temperature of the thickest part of the flat reaches 160-170 degrees.
• When your brisket reaches this point it is time to wrap. I wrap tightly in 2 sheets of aluminum foil. Make sure there are no pockets in the foil or that will generate steam and soften your bark. Place a temp probe in the thickest part of the brisket.
• When the internal temp reaches 203, you can start checking for doneness. You can open the foil packet and probe the meat with a thermometer or you can just use a bamboo skewer. The probe should slide into the meat like it is going into warm butter. there should be no resistance. If it is not there yet, close up the foil await 20-30 minutes to try again. It should be like this over all of the brisket. If there are some parts tender and others not, wait for all of it to be tender. You will be greatly rewarded.
• When the brisket is tender all over, take it out of your smoker and bring to your kitchen counter. Cover with a few towels and let sit for 1 hour. More is fine, but try to let it sit for at least an hour.
• When you are ready, slice the pastrami across the grain in 1/4 inch slices. If you want, you can use the juices from the foil wrap. Try to skim off as much fat as you can, then pour the remaining juices over the cut pastrami.
• Serve on some good rye bread with sour kraut or cole slaw and some good kosher dill pickle slices.