So I'm making venison summer sausage for the first time and plan to smoke it in my smoker. I'm confused by the amount of time I need to let the meat cure in the fridge before I put it in the casing. Some recipes call for 3-5 days of curing, others just read like you throw it in the smoker as soon as you mix the meat & spices.

Any suggestions?

In general, if your recipe has cure #1 it can be smoked immediately after mixing. I prefer to leave mine overnight in the refrigerator to help the flavors (and cure) to absorb more evenly into the meat. For me, I cool, dry, then vacuum seal. Then I store in the fridge a couple more days before freezing to give the smoke a chance to penetrate more deeply before I toss in the chest freezer. Everthing stops at -10 degrees!

That helps a lot - thanks! I was worried if it didn't cure long enough I would really mess it up but overnight sounds reasonable.

^^^^

What he said but even if using cure which I would recommend you do for SS is to let it sit in the fridge for at least 24 hours to "dry" and come together then smoke. Best if you can separate the logs the whole time but not necessary just move them around every few hours if possible so you get as much air circulation as possible.