I'd go with brisket. So.. here is my epiphany on brisket.. We've made a bunch of corned beef and turned a fair bit of that into pastrami (which is just smoked corned beef) and while they were good.. they weren't fall down slavering at the mouth good until we discovered the secret! Steaming! After you've made the pastrami you have to steam it .. for hours.. good food often isn't fast alas! There is a place in Portland that makes it close to right:
http://www.kennyandzukes.com/
Corned beef
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1 gallon water
2 cups Kosher salt (you can also use pickling salt with is also iodine free but then you have to adjust the amount because pickling salt is a LOT more dense so stick with kosher to avoid math)
5 teaspoons pink curing salt (sodium nitrite, #1 cure) - technically optional if you are really clean also makes meat attractively red
3 Tbsp pickling spices (you can get these premixed at most grocers or
1/2 cup brown sugar (optional imho)
This does about 5 lbs, adjust up as needed.
Bring to a boil to sterilize/dissolve.
Cool covered.
Add to meat in some sort of container you won't need for a while. Easiest way is to put meat + mix into a large zip lock bag, but anyway you can keep it submerged works, sometimes you need to put a plate on it to keep it under if its in a bucket.
Turn meat over daily.
Cure for 5 -7 days (have gone as long as 2 weeks, honestly couldn't see much difference after 1week).
You now have corned beef.. You could also buy this.. but hey where is the fun in that.
Pastrami
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Some folks do a cold water soak for a .. I'm not a big salt fan and usually don't bother and its not excessively salty to me. If you don't like much salt at all (or are reducing sodium) soak it in ice water for ~3-4 hours here.
Rinse corned beef (if not soaked), pat dry and let sit on a rack covered with a towel for an hour or more to finish surface drying (if the surface isn't dry it doesn't pick up the smoke as well).
Some people put other spice rubs on around here. I may add a little cracked black pepper and coriander or not depending on how I feel.
Smoke for about 45m-1hour per pound. I like doing it pretty cold of you can keep it below 100 that's perfect; but you can also do it hot if you have to, just adjust down the smoking time to avoid getting the inside to hot. It won't take up as much flavor hot smoked but its still pretty good. At the end raise the temp to 250-300 (smoker temp) for the last ~hour and cook until the meat hits about 145 (we're going to cook it again so around 145 is where I usually stop for the long process - if you were going straight to sandwiches from the smoker you'd take it to 165 or so).
Technically you could buy the pastrami as well.. but it would be compromising pretty hard.. and imho store bought all cooked to far for step 3 and doesn't have enough fat left on
Now comes the magic! Put the meat into a steamer with enough water to just not touch the meat. Steam for ~4-5 hours (seriously yes 4-5 trust me on this one). Make sure to check the water every 30m or so cause if it runs dry boy howdy the smell and all is lost (not to mention fun times cleaning the pot)! At the end take it out and let it sit for a few minutes to "firm up" cause it will be absolutely melty to start with! The long steam does some sort of magic to the fat turning it buttery and the meat is dreamy. Cut cross grain and enjoy!
This guy is on the right track and has some commentary about another famous spot doing this process:
http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/close_to_katzs_home_made_pastrami.html
Now that we've gone this far, well can't ruin it with store mustard!
German brown mustard:
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1C brown mustard seeds. Either whole or cracked works, we usually use whole.
2+C dark beer (low hop content an english brown or mild or schwartz or dunkel or marzen or octoberfest or.. something like that)
Soak mustard seeds in beer at least overnight, make sure they are covered add more beer if needed. The longer you soak the hotter it will be up to say ~5 days. Usually we do 2-3 but even 12 hours works. Check it every ~12 hours to make sure it stays covered and add more beer if needed.
2 tbsp honey or brown sugar
1 tablespoon turmeric
2 teaspoons salt
1/3C dry yellow mustard (optional, I think it makes it better)
1+tsp dry chinese mustard (taste before adding and use to adjust heat)
1/2C vinegar (to taste, but that's close - apple cider works well for this mustard)
Mustard/beer + above into the blender and whir whir to break up mustard a bit (not to much its better chunky). Add more beer if to dry. Add more vinegar if not tangy enough add more chinese mustard (carefully) if not hot enough. Best if put in jars and let set for 2-3 days but pretty darn good right out of the box.
FYI Dijon and plain yellow mustard is even easier and much faster and still waay better than store bought.
I would also add that imho this is best on dark soured rye bread that gets its color from being cooked at low temps for a long time and having the dough been soured for several days ahead of time but I'll save that for later
edit: no needles were harmed in any of this process. Usually I only use a needle if I'm curing something with bones in it and need to get the cure down alongside the bone or perhaps a really large/dense piece of meat where the cure wouldn't penetrate well like a boneless ham. Not needed for this.
