Hello, I’m not in favor of the meat substitutes. You may want to check the typical high sodium levels, other ingredients, and the manufacturing process to make them. I’ll stick to the clean and natural wild venison I harvest every year.

We only buy beef at a nice restaurant. At home it’s some sort of venison meat we have taken.

A smoker and oven in essence are both heaters, so I haven’t noticed a material difference. My method is to begin either cooking method at 130 degrees and increase it by 10 degrees every hour to 160 degrees and leave it until the internal reaches the 140s. In this way I lessen the chance of fat melt. Once in the 140s I increase the temp in 5 degree increments to no more than 175 degrees and remove my sausage or sticks at a minimum of 152 degrees. Extra: If one begins with too much heat at the beginning in an effort to speed things up, they run the risk of creating a cooked exterior of the sausage which impedes heat reaching and cooking the core. It’s similar to searing a steak to produce a rare center. Also research the term “barbecue stall.”

As for cure: Instacure/Prague powder # 1 is used for any type of cured meat product that will require cooking, such as bacon, hams that are not air-dried, and smoked sausages. 2 tsps of Instacure 1 is enough to cure roughly 10 lbs of sausage or bacon.

Instacure/Prague powder # 2 is used for meat products that will be air-dried and not cooked, such as dried salamis, pepperonis, and some air-dried hams.

The reason for the addition of sodium nitrate in Instacure 2 is that over a long curing period, sodium nitrate breaks down very slowly into sodium nitrite.

Respectfully, our family does not cook venison tenderloins since they are so precious. Many times, this extends to back straps taken from a young deer, but not elk. If you are a meat connoisseur and enjoy your meat very rare consider our way of enjoying venison tenderloins, Carpaccio style.

1. Slice the deer or elk tenderloin as thin as possible by using a slicer or wrapping the meat in plastic wrap and chilling it until firm and using knife. Leaving the plastic wrap on while knife cutting makes the meat more manageable and will assist in producing uniform cuts, but makes for a little more clean-up. Using a long cutting stroke with a roast carving knife makes this process easiest for me.

2. Lay the meat out on a platter without overlap and very lightly sprinkle with coarse salt, Preferably Kosher salt. Sometimes we don’t make it to the next step and start eating.

3. Next, drizzle the meat with a high-grade balsamic vinegar.

4. If we make it this far, we add capers and it’s done. You can add cracked pepper and other greens or garnishes to your liking, but for us it begins to camouflage the true taste of the meat.

5. Enjoy before it disappears!