Smoked Kielbasa — It's about time!

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couger78

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
May 3, 2011
679
243
Northern California
Well, its been a little over three years (!) since I last made home-made kielbasa and I figured its time I finally get back into some serious sausage making.

As luck would have it, our local grocer had twin-bagged pork butts on sale for a mere 89¢ a pound. I promptly snagged three large packs (just over 50 lbs) and stowed the majority in our outside freezer for later use, keeping one pair to grind!

All ingredients assembled, and I cubed the pork butts. 15.7lbs of bone-in butt became 11 pounds of usable pork. I set aside about two pound of pork fat for another project.

Single grind (4.5mm plate). The standard ingredients for classic hot-smoked Polish kielbasa (salt, sugar, marjoram, garlic and cure#1).


Leaner than store-bought, but still juicy enough to make a good kielbasa (18-20% fat).


I stuffed the mixture into 28-32mm natural casings I had been soaking while the grinding & mixing was going on.

I forgot to snap a 'stuffing' photo so I'll just use an older shot of the little grizzly, loaded up & about ready to do it's job, five pounds at a time...


I hung the load in a prewarmed smoker (no smoke) at about 110°f to allow the links time to dry before applying smoke. After about an hour, I used my a-maze-n tube full of PECAN pellets, and began applying smoke for the next 3-4 hours, gradually raising the temp to about 150°-155°F towards the end of the four- hour period.

The links had taken on good cold and had an IT of about 135°F. Next step was to finish them in a hot water bath.

I place the load into my vintage turkey roaster filled with hot water (165°F). Temp probe in both the water and the links.


After about 30 minutes, the IT of the sausages reached 158°F and I then plunged them all into a basin of ice water, then hung them to dry and bloom.

Eleven pounds of Polish Goodness


I usually let these rest overnight in the refrigerator but the family wanted to have some with dinner. My wife made sauerkraut with apple & onions; country potatoes and we had plenty of different mustards to try—plus some cold beer! The kielbasa turned out quite tasty —maybe I'll add bit MORE garlic next time—but overall, a good first attempt after a long, long layoff!

NEXT up: BOLOGNA!

thanks for readin!

Kevin
 
Looks great. Points for this.

Watching for the bologna episode.
 
Looks great. I am soaking the casing to make kielbasa tomorrow. If mine comes out as nice as those I'll be quite pleased with myself. I'm making all beef though.
 
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Nice job Kevin!

The sausage looks delicious!

The bologna looks pretty darn good too!

points.gif


Al
 
That looks great!  I use the same ingredients.  Simple and delicious.  POINTS!!   Going to be making about 50 pounds of it for an upcoming charity event.  Question for you if you don't mind.  Because of the large amount I  have to make, I am going to be smoking in a friends large pellet smoker.  It's a FEC 120.  The smoke flavor from pellet smokers is not known to be  overwhelming but since its fired completely by pellets, there will be smoke the whole time.  It won't allow me the drying time without smoke plus I might finish it completely in the smoker because warm water bathing that much sausage might be difficult at my friends home.  Just wondering if you think it would be too smokey?  Thanks
 
Nice looking Sausage  Great job   --------------- Points

Gary
 
Kevin, great to see you back.  I missed your posts over at the other sausage making sites.  Nice to have another sausage maker who knows what he's doing and produces wonderful product.  Poaching after smoking is the way to go in my opinion as well.
 
Really nice looking sausage. That roaster sure looks familiar....LOL

I think I have a garlic bologna recipe copied of yours and I really am wanting to try it, but you know how it is, so much to do and so little time.

Nice to see you back again.
 
Now, those are some pretty sausages!
:points:
Never thought about bringing up to temp in hot water. I like it.
Checking out the Balogna link as well...
Thumbs Up
 
Looks good .Kielbasa is my favorite. I mixed up 5lbs. this morning, it's in the fridge, I will stuff it tomorrow morning. Got some nice cool weather to smoke.
 
Great thread Kevin....    Everything looks awesome.....  especially the stuffed bologna...   no air pockets.....   Soooooo, tell me how you stuffed it, so no air pockets were in the meat.....   
 
 
Great thread Kevin....    Everything looks awesome.....  especially the stuffed bologna...   no air pockets.....   Soooooo, tell me how you stuffed it, so no air pockets were in the meat.....   
Thanks, Dave!

Now you're testing my memory on the bologna (Jan, 2012)! I believe I used the little old Grizzly 5lb stuffer with the largest diameter feed tube. One key to ensure one minimizes air pockets (notice I said minimize, not eliminate) I stumbled across is to make sure the grind is not only fine, but uniform. Coarser grinds are more prone to holding air pockets no matter how tightly one stuffs the casing. Slow & steady stuffing was important in this case. Since the casing used was synthetic and less prone to breakage vs a natural, I could exert max pressure in squeezing out air. Since it was an 8-pound chub, it required a Grizzly reload after the first 5 pounds of meat. Before the second load, I took time to TWIST the half-stuffed chub so that it was well-packed.

Clear casing meant I could see and poke holes where external air pockets were visible.


 
Looks great Cougar!!! Nice job as always,,,,

A full smoker is a happy smoker 
sausage.gif


DS
 
 
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