Corned beef /venison brats
1000 g ground venison
1000 g ground lean beef, 4.5mm
250g ground pork fat 3mm
250g ground brisket fat 3mm
2.2% salt <<wanted a bit salty
0.25% cure#1
0.5 % nonfat dry milk <<binder, (normal stuff from Safeway, Walton’s was out of the better High Heat stuff on my last order. This works well, the HH stuff apparently works better)
8% water
0.1% ascorbic acid (vitamin c, 1x 1000mg tablet per kg meat, cure accelerator for strong color and no cure rest, stuff then smoke 2 hrs later)
0.1% each coriander seed, mustard seed

1. Grind beef and fat separately, beef 4.5mm fat 3mm. Venison pre ground.
2. Mix spices, cure1, with most of the water. Add to meat with salt, mix in Kitchenaid 1 min. Add ascorbic acid mixed with remainder of water and binder (NFDM), mix 3 min. Add fats, mix 1 to 2 min to blend evenly. Ensure good protein extraction, blend more if needed… Kitchenaid mixer extracts super fast with paddle compared to my 25lbs hand mixer.
3. Stuff into 32mm hog casings. Link at 6".
4. Dry in fridge on racks 2 hrs, accelerated cure working.
5. Into preheated 120f smoker 30 min to dry more, increase to 130f add smoke 1 hr.
6. I didn’t want a lot of smoke, so I pulled them off, bagged them in 1gal bags 1 layer with air removed, and then Sous Vide finished them.
7. SV cooked to 160f for 1 hr. Supposedly the max color from nitrite cure happens at 160f, as well as instant lethality at 161f per USFDA chart I have, so went to there. Probably only needed 15 or 20 min, but I didnt check internal temp til 1 hr, got busy.
8. Dumped in ice bath 15 min, air dried, into freezer for later bagging.

I posted the sourdough rye recipe in the Sourdough thread.

Taste:
Tasted exactly like corned beef. I had debated using allspice and juniper, which is sometimes in the commercial boil spice packs, but decided to play it safe and skip. Nice good pink corned beef color. I used a bit of the brisket fat to ensure it had that CB fat flavor, I liked it. Saltiness-- good, bit salty like corned beef usually is. I probably wouldn’t use more than 2.2 or 2.3%, but did want a strong salt/corned flavor.
Next time changes: I might let cure in fridge 1 day do I for sure get full salt/protein cure throughout. I’d skip the vitamin c if I did. I think I got the full cured flavor and color, but just want to try a longer sit to be sure. I might add 1 bay leaf and 1 or 2 berries of allspice and juniper to the roughly 6lb block.