Anyone into home brining, cold smoking and other curing methods of meats? (grocery store, sausages)

[Rcm58]

I have just recently gotten back into this, in 1973 I worked for a place in Fort Lauderdale that made varieties of sausages and their own corned beef from briskets we cut from full carcass beef. I can't remember what I ate for dinner last night but for some bizzar reason I can recall exact weights of spices and such from that time period.
For a corned beef you can use anything you like, Top or Bottom round for a leaner corned beef or Brisket or Chuck roast for a more traditional one.
Ok before I get into this too deep, one part of this recipe, is either Salt Peter "Potassium Nitrate" or Sodium Nitrate. These chemicals are becoming difficult to buy. CVS, Rite Aid and other chains have discontinued handling either. Small town drug stores are about your only hope or online.
The recipe:
4 quarts hot water ( boiled for 10 minutes then removed from heat )
2 cups kosher salt
1/4 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of pickling spice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt peter or sodium nitrate. The difference will be: Salt Peter will prevent spoilage but will produce a grey exterior and sodium nitrate will produce a traditional red exterior.
When the mixture has cooled to around 34 degrees you can add 3 whole cloves of garlic and the meat.
This recipe should cover a 5 lb piece of beef or 2 - 2 1/2 lb pieces in a large tupperware or generic food safe container. The main thing is to be sure that the meat is completely submerged in the liquid. I use a stoneware bowl on top of the beef to keep it submerged. We used a brick in the 70's. turn the beef every 3 to 5 days.
The 5 lb piece of beef with take 3 weeks to fully cure in the refridgerator and the 2-2 1/2 lb will take 2 weeks.
Personally I like the grey corned beef best, the flavor is amazing.
Make sure your container is sterile, use a cap full of bleach in the water when washing it. Any contaminates will multiply in the brine over the weeks it takes to cure the beef.
Enjoy

[Rcm58]

For those that don't know, hams are brined first then smoked, a fresh ham or picnic or bone in or boneless piece of pork. Brines can be made up of any spices you like to compliment the flavor. Most grocery store bought hams today are Ham and water products. Fresh hams are cured buy running the brine through the arterial artery for a short period of time then smoking or adding liquid smoke. For the home cold smoker " smoking at no more than 85 degrees " you can brine your hams the old fashioned way over time, let them hang and dry for a few days and then smoke them to produce a firm dry ham like we ate before mass production.

[Rcm58]

A side note or afterthought is that cold smoking corned beef produces Pastrami

[Rcm58]

Here is a picture of the pork belly i've brined and am getting ready to smoke to make bacon. The belly is fully cured as it is, if I wanted I could let it dry for several days, wrap it in linen and hang it in a cool dark spot in the cellar and it would keep for around 6 months.

[Davachka]

No, but I love smoked cheeses and smoked fish. I wish I knew someone who could do it well....the stuff at the grocery isn't always that great...need a better deli/market/etc

[Bulldogdad]

Just jerkey for me. Venison, Beef, Turkey, etc....