First successful Kielbasa!! Cheddar style w/PIcs

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

dwaytkus

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Apr 9, 2013
136
42
Hudson Falls, NY
So when I first got my smoker I made some venison Kielbasa.  And it came out terrible due to my fault.  I cooked at too high of heat and all the fat rendered out.  

So after being on this forum for a while now and reading tons I have learned alot.  I have upgraded my smoker with an Auber PID too for sausage making.  

So here we go.  I bought 2 picnic shoulders and deboned and cleaned up all the meat and cut into chunks for grinding.  I added some pork back fat to get the ratio i was looking for as the picnic shoulders were not too fatty.  I ended up with 8lbs of lean pork and 2 lbs of back fat.  Ran all the meat through the course plate and then the fine plate.   The seasoning I used was a package of LEM Backwoods Kielbasa seasoning.  Mixed the seasoning and cure up into water and mixed till I got that nice tacky cake your hand feel.  I then added 2 cups of NFDM and mixed into the meat.   Now I have used High temp cheese in the past and I can't see spending the money on that stuff so I have read guys using regular store bought cheese.   So I gave it a test run.  I cut up some extra sharp cheddar into some small squares and mixed into the meat.    Finally time to stuff.  The meat was stuffed into hog casings using my LEM 5 lb stuffer , tied into rings and hung in the fridge overnight.  


As I type all this I wish I got pics of the whole process.  Oh well.  hang in there pictures coming soon.  

The next morning the Kielbasa came out of the fridge and onto some racks on the counter to get some additional air dry.  

Next fired up my MES 30 Analog smoker with the Auber PID running.  Set a program of 110 degrees for 45 min, 130 for an hour, 145 for 1 1/2, 160 for 2 hours and then 168 till finish.  

For the smoke.   Used Todd's AMNPS started with some cherry pellets for about 2 hours and then apple for another 2.  I did have some trouble with the pellets going out but I think my issue may have been I had it on top of my water pan turned upside down for a deflector.   I switched that out for a small cast iron pan and then had no issues.   

Now I did have issues with heat flow in the smoker.  The rack hanging in the back finished way before the front.  The meat in the back was pulled at 155 degrees.  When I pulled them the front hanger was only at 133.  Is this normal?  Anything I can do to improve this?

So meat pulled at 155 and into some ice cold water till they cooled down below 100 degrees.


And then onto some racks at room temp to bloom



  And finally the cut view!!!!!!!!

Regular cheese worked perfectly!!!


Thank you everyone for your help!
 
Wish I had some, Great job  Looks very good

gary
 
drool.gif


That is some fine looking sausage!

Happy smoken.

David
 
Very nice Dan......The sausage looks excellent.... Your making sausage like the pro's. I dont know anything about your smoker but its good to have a lot of area and not have the sausages so close together. I used to do 60 lbs in my smoker and the IT temps were uneven everywhere. When I backed off to 30 lbs the IT temps evened out and the sausages finish all at once. just my experience with my smoker.....

points.gif


Joe
 
Joe,

With the 2 sticks hanging in the cabinet I had enough distance to atleast stick my hand between them.  I had the Auber thermometer hanging between the two.  It must just get hotter at the back of the cabinet.  But I will take your suggestion and see if I get different results next time. 

Thanks for the help.

Dan
 
 
Joe,

With the 2 sticks hanging in the cabinet I had enough distance to atleast stick my hand between them.  I had the Auber thermometer hanging between the two.  It must just get hotter at the back of the cabinet.  But I will take your suggestion and see if I get different results next time. 

Thanks for the help.

Dan
Yeah. I would say you have a hot spot then
 
Looks awesome, how did they taste, I am going to have to give this a try. 

A full smoker is a happy smoker

DS
 
 
D, Nice job on the kielbasa! I go about half way  through smoking and rotate the sausage ,front to back and sometimes up goes down if tied properly.
points.gif
 
You guys with these sausages and kielbasas--just plain freakin' awesome!  I may need to start assembling my wish list for some of the equipment that it takes to grind and stuff...  I'm currently taking my meat (boar, deer, etc.) to a local butcher for processing and sausage making.  I;'m sure I could recoup my cost of the equipment with one or two trips to the butcher, but I don't know if my kielbasas and smoked sausages and pan sausages would turn out as nice as the Pros...
 
CrazyMoon.  Thanks.   I will give that a try next time around.  

These all sliced up are not lasting long wherever I share them.  I'm getting awesome feedback.  My favorite one I have heard many time is better then Hillshire! 
 
I've had a MES 30 for years. There's a known hot spot in the rear right corner of it. I just got a big ceramic tile and set it on top of the smoker box as a heat baffle. Seems to help a little.
 
I've had a MES 30 for years. There's a known hot spot in the rear right corner of it. I just got a big ceramic tile and set it on top of the smoker box as a heat baffle. Seems to help a little.
 
I've had a MES 30 for years. There's a known hot spot in the rear right corner of it. I just got a big ceramic tile and set it on top of the smoker box as a heat baffle. Seems to help a little.
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky