Looking at this thread this morning got me to looking up some things about corned beef and pastrami. I ran across a discussion on "Chow" of how pastrami really got popular. Al Langer of Langer's Deli in L.A. pushed it because it was cheaper than corned beef. Maybe his used the cheaper naval cut.
Langer's uses navel for their pastrami, and to the best of my knowledge, that's all they've ever used for nearly 70 years. Navel has always been the choice for pastrami made by the traditional Jewish delis, and cost, at least originally, was the driving factor. When the Romanian Jews migrated to New York City in the late 1800s they wanted to duplicate the pastrami (pastrama) they previously made in their home country which was typically prepared using goose breasts. With the breasts in short supply, and cost prohibitive, they switched to beef, and specifically, navel.
But that prompted a response from a fellow who said this. "I don't get it - why is pastrami less costly? I make both, and the wood used for smoking is not free. I braise both - in a covered half-pan, with an inch of water. The corned beef is fully cooked this way (about 4-5 hours in a 250F oven) while the pastrami only needs about 2 hours - but then, it's already been cooking in the smoker for 6-8 hours before braising."
So now I'm wondering, have you ever braised the pastrami after smoking? I'm about to head into town and plan on coming home with a corned beef and some ribs, and it might be worthwhile to braise the brisket after the smoke.
I've made a lot of pastrami from scratch over many years, and have never braised it, nor have I ever seen a recipe for doing so. That said, I've always steamed it when finishing, another common practice of the traditional Jewish delis. To me it's one of the 3 essential steps in preparing pastrami - curing (corning), smoking, and steaming.