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I had neighbours who made Kielbasa. It is a Polish sausage. I have always loved it and have tried to make it several times to improve the final product to what I wanted.
In doing my research, a lot of modern recipes call for additives to improve texture. However, I wanted a more traditional sausage and asked for family recipes from people I knew. Wow! Some people are really fantatical about their Kielbasa.
I have incorporated many of the ideas I got into my efforts and I thank them all!
My Kielbasa is made out of pork. I would normally use pork shoulder which has a perfect fat/lean blend for the sausage. However, for this attempt, pork loin was on sale and I had some save pork fat so I used pork loin with 10% added fat. This gives a good result but the product was a little paler than pork shoulder.
An important thing to know about making any sausage is to keep the meat cold at all times. Make sure you have taken the meat right out of the refrigerator and to put it back in the refrigerator if you are not doing something with it. If you don’t, the texture of your sausage will be pure.
I started by cubing my pork to one inch cubes except for 10% of the weight I cubed to 1/4 inch cubes. Weigh the meat and set the 1/4 inch cubes aside.
I ground the one inch cubes through the medium plate of my grinder.
I put the meat in the fridge for 1/2 hour to chill.
While the meat is chilling, for each kilogram of meat used, mix the following into a slurry:
80 ml ice water
25 ml skim milk powder
10 ml kosher salt
10 ml garlic powder
5 ml coarse ground pepper
4 ml marjoram
2 ml sugar
2.5 grams (2 ml) Prague powder #1
If you are metrically challenged, make the slurry out of the following per pound of meat:
3 tablespoons ice water
1 tablespoon skim milk powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/5 teaspoon Prague powder #1
Spread the ground pork on a tray and poke holes in it with your fingers. Pour the slurry over the pork.
Mix the pork with the slurry by folding half the meat toward you and pressing flat. Rotate the tree one quarter turn and fold half it toward you and pressing flat. Continue folding and pressing for 3 minutes. Put the mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Put the mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix at medium speed for three to four minutes until the mixture is almost pasty. Add the reserved 1/4 inch cubes and mix.
Put in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour to chill.
I put the mixture in my sausage stuffer and put 8 feet of 35 mm (1 1/2 inch) (collagen casings on the horn and stuffed the casings.
I squeezed a flat spot every foot on the casings and cut at the flat spot. I put the pork in the fridge for 2 hours to chill.
My smoker’s lowest temperature is 165 F (74 C). So, I cold smoked the Kielbasa for 4 hours in my barbecue grill using my A-Maze-N tube smoker. I filled it with pellets and lit it. It smoldered for 4 hours in my unlit grill with the sausage in it. I put the sausage in the fridge overnight to chill.
The next day I put it in the oven at 140 F (60 C) for one hour, 150 F (60 C), and then I put it in my smoker at 165 F (74 C) for one hour, and increased the temperature to 170 F (77 C) and smoked for 1 hour. I increased the temperature to 180 F (82 C) and smoked until the temperature was 155 F (68 C).
I plunged the Kielbasa into ice water for 10 minutes to stop the cooking and left it on the counter for a couple of hours. Refrigerate and freeze any that won’t be eaten in the next week.
The Verdict
This is very reminiscent of what I ate from our friends. It has a nice bight, a ham taste and wonderful garlic notes. I have arrived at my Kielbasa recipe!
The Old Fat Guy
In doing my research, a lot of modern recipes call for additives to improve texture. However, I wanted a more traditional sausage and asked for family recipes from people I knew. Wow! Some people are really fantatical about their Kielbasa.
I have incorporated many of the ideas I got into my efforts and I thank them all!
My Kielbasa is made out of pork. I would normally use pork shoulder which has a perfect fat/lean blend for the sausage. However, for this attempt, pork loin was on sale and I had some save pork fat so I used pork loin with 10% added fat. This gives a good result but the product was a little paler than pork shoulder.
An important thing to know about making any sausage is to keep the meat cold at all times. Make sure you have taken the meat right out of the refrigerator and to put it back in the refrigerator if you are not doing something with it. If you don’t, the texture of your sausage will be pure.
I started by cubing my pork to one inch cubes except for 10% of the weight I cubed to 1/4 inch cubes. Weigh the meat and set the 1/4 inch cubes aside.
I ground the one inch cubes through the medium plate of my grinder.
I put the meat in the fridge for 1/2 hour to chill.
While the meat is chilling, for each kilogram of meat used, mix the following into a slurry:
80 ml ice water
25 ml skim milk powder
10 ml kosher salt
10 ml garlic powder
5 ml coarse ground pepper
4 ml marjoram
2 ml sugar
2.5 grams (2 ml) Prague powder #1
If you are metrically challenged, make the slurry out of the following per pound of meat:
3 tablespoons ice water
1 tablespoon skim milk powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/5 teaspoon Prague powder #1
Spread the ground pork on a tray and poke holes in it with your fingers. Pour the slurry over the pork.
Mix the pork with the slurry by folding half the meat toward you and pressing flat. Rotate the tree one quarter turn and fold half it toward you and pressing flat. Continue folding and pressing for 3 minutes. Put the mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Put the mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix at medium speed for three to four minutes until the mixture is almost pasty. Add the reserved 1/4 inch cubes and mix.
Put in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour to chill.
I put the mixture in my sausage stuffer and put 8 feet of 35 mm (1 1/2 inch) (collagen casings on the horn and stuffed the casings.
I squeezed a flat spot every foot on the casings and cut at the flat spot. I put the pork in the fridge for 2 hours to chill.
My smoker’s lowest temperature is 165 F (74 C). So, I cold smoked the Kielbasa for 4 hours in my barbecue grill using my A-Maze-N tube smoker. I filled it with pellets and lit it. It smoldered for 4 hours in my unlit grill with the sausage in it. I put the sausage in the fridge overnight to chill.
The next day I put it in the oven at 140 F (60 C) for one hour, 150 F (60 C), and then I put it in my smoker at 165 F (74 C) for one hour, and increased the temperature to 170 F (77 C) and smoked for 1 hour. I increased the temperature to 180 F (82 C) and smoked until the temperature was 155 F (68 C).
I plunged the Kielbasa into ice water for 10 minutes to stop the cooking and left it on the counter for a couple of hours. Refrigerate and freeze any that won’t be eaten in the next week.
The Verdict
This is very reminiscent of what I ate from our friends. It has a nice bight, a ham taste and wonderful garlic notes. I have arrived at my Kielbasa recipe!
The Old Fat Guy
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