Thanks guys. I'm humbled.
Here's a link to a better one that I did because I didn't forget about the meat overnight during the soaking process.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=81353
The soaking process is my best advice. Most of these prepackaged Corned Beef Briskets (CBB) are just loaded with sodium. Often CBBs are cooked slowly on the stove top in water (al a my mom's recipie for Corned Beef and Cabbage) this leaches out much of the salt content. With smoking you're not going to get that benefit. So while I won't go as far as to say that you MUST soak it, I'd say it's a good idea.
What does the label say the sodium content is? Most I've seen are over 1,000mg per serving. That's a lot of salt. Probably enough to bury most of the taste of the smoke and/or your rub. So I usually give it a minimum of a 6 hour soak and do a couple of water changes duing this time. And of course for safety reasons...
1) Use a food grade container
2) Use ice cold (below 35*F) water
3) Keep it refridgerated the entire time
From here, you can do a fry pan test. Just slice off a small piece and fry it on the stove top. Here's where you'll need to decide if you've soaked long enough, or if you need to soak longer.
Then rub it with whatever you choose. You can use the DJ's or search the internet and look for more traditional pastrami rubs. Usually they're pretty heavy on the cracked black pepper and garlic. But I don't go that route. Once you've smoked a CBB it is now pastrami.
Other ramdom thoughts...
-I recommend trimming the fat off prior to smoking
-Foil at 165* add a little liquid of your choice and continue to cook to 190*
-Let rest in a towel lined cooler for an hour or so
-Refriderate overnight and slice the next day
-Many steam (traditional) to reheat, but often I just nuke it in the vacubag on the defrost setting til heated through.
Good luck with this one! If you have any questions I'll do my best to help. You can PM me if you want. Don't forget the qview!!!!