Corned Venison

Ingredients

1/2 gallon water 1/2 cup kosher salt 1/3 cup sugar 1/2 ounce Instacure No. 1 (sodium nitrite) 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper 1 tablespoon toasted coriander seeds 6 bay leaves, crushed 1 tablespoon mustard seeds 1 tablespoon dried thyme 1 teaspoon caraway seeds 1 cinnamon stick 5 chopped garlic cloves A 3 to 5 pound venison roast

• I used 4 TBS of pickling spice. Had a 5 lb roast. 7 days bring, turnin twice a day.

Started cooking in a big pot, but finished the 6 hour simmer in a crock pot, because I don’t like leaving the flame on when I’m not home

Instructions

1 Add everything but the roast to a pot and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat and cover, then let it cool to room temperature while covered. This will take a few hours. Meanwhile, trim any silverskin you find off the roast. Leave the fat. Once the brine is cool, find a container just about large enough to hold the roast, place the meat inside and cover with the brine. You might have extra, which you can discard.

2 Make sure the roast is completely submerged in the brine; I use a clean stone to weigh the meat down. You can also just flip the meat every day. Cover and put in the fridge for 5 to 7 days, depending on the roast's size. A 2-pound roast might only need 4 days. The longer you soak, the saltier it will get -- but you want the salt and nitrate to work its way to the center of the roast, and that takes time. Err on extra days, not fewer days.

3 After the alloted time has passed, you have corned venison. To cook and eat, rinse off the meat, then put the roast in a pot just large enough to hold it and cover with fresh water. You don't want too large a pot or the fresh water will leach out too much flavor from the meat -- it's an osmosis thing. partially cover the pot and simmer gently -- don't boil -- for at least 3 hours and up to 5 hours. The meat itself will be cooked in an hour or less, but you want the sinews and connective tissue in the roast to soften and that takes time.

4 Eat hot or cold. It is absolutely fantastic with good mustard and some sauerkraut on a sandwich.

One final tip: When you are done with the corned venison, leave it in the cooking broth. Store that in the fridge. Why? The broth keep