I was at the market the other day and the young man checking out my cart remarked that seeing the briquets that I was ready for a summer barbecue. I said that I was going to make Pastrami by smoking an already prepared but not cooked corned beef. This subtle difference between what is corned beef and what is Pastrami always seems to surprise people. Before I left I answered a variety of questions… what makes the meat red even after cooking ( sodium nitrate), how do you know it is done, what type of wood to use and what kind of smoker is best. I was there for quite a while.
Maybe next time I will just say… “Yeah, I am going to barbecue” and leave it at that.