I wanted to add to Smithy's discussion. So far I've boiled and smoked and smoked won, hands down. The meat was juicy and flavorful, much different than what I'm used to with brisket, which is a tough meat that I've never learned to cook properly. It was chewy, but in a good way, because you could keep chewing and chewing and flavor would squeeze out of every bite. I don't know if it's the smoke or the corning, but this was the most flavorful pastrami I ever had. Even though it was chewy, it was very juicy and tender.
I loved boiled too, I followed Suzanne Goin's recipe, and she boils at 325F for 4-4 1/2 hours. They were fall-apart tender but the flavor was different, it wasn't as beefy. They were both delicious but different.
Next, I'm going to try sous-vide, as I hope it'll give me the best of both worlds.
