# Utopenci



## bill ace 350 (May 8, 2018)

Love pickled sausages. Have made lots and lots of pickled sausage and pickled hot dogs using, vinegar, spices etc.

Found a Czech recipe for "Utopenci", a type of pickled sausage.

According to the recipe, kielbasa is most often used, but any fully cooked sausage will work.

This recipe calls for the sausage to be cut in lengths, cut lengthwise, almost all the way through.

The sausages are then opened, smeared with mustard, thinly sliced onion placed in the sausage, and the sausage is then closed back up and placed into a sterilized jar, with thinly sliced onions, placed between each layer, even thinly sliced hot peppers added for flavor.

Vinegar and spices, such as whole allspice, peppercorns etc are boiled, then poured into the jars, fully covering the sausage.

lids are placed on the jars, and the recipe calls for 21 days of refrigeration before sampling.

I picked up my supplies at the commissary today. Will post pics this weekend, maybe sooner.


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## pc farmer (May 8, 2018)

Following this.  I have been wanting to make something like this for a long time.


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## bill ace 350 (May 8, 2018)

c farmer said:


> Following this.  I have been wanting to make something like this for a long time.



Cool! Only thing I couldn't find at the commissary was whole allspice. Will look for it elsewhere.
I bought Hillshire Farms Beef Smoked Kielbasa for this attempt.

They have natural skins/casings which I will remove prior to preparing them.

Forgot to mention the recipe I want to follow called for removing the casing.

Think I might pick up some half-gallon canning jars, if they make such a thing.... might be easier than quart jars


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## bdskelly (May 8, 2018)

I love any kind of old school bar food! Pigs feet, pickled eggs, smoked fish, jerky and pickled sausages. 
Reading your description I’m trying to understand the geometry of the link. Never seen that type. But down here pickled sausage is typically a hot link kind of affair. 
...Sitting next to Adam to see what happens next. B


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## crazzycajun (May 8, 2018)

Don’t forget pics:)


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## oddegan (May 8, 2018)

Following as well. Sounds very interesting. Big jars should help a lot. I like the idea of using store bought sausage instead of sacrificing good homemade to a test.


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## SonnyE (May 8, 2018)

Oh, this is dangerous!
There is about a half a Kielbasa in the Fridge from the other day. The wife fried some up with eggs, sooo good!
Where's Al? Al would probably love this.
I've made pickled Hot Dogs and Onions. Talk about Bar Food, Bri. Make it hot and beer chasers.
Ohhh... I even have some empty Mason jars.... Oh dang! And a fresh jug of vinegar... :eek:

Double dang! No fresh onion. Guess I'm goin to the market...


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## pc farmer (May 8, 2018)

I have one gallon glass jars to try this with.


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## one eyed jack (May 8, 2018)

I am signed on.  Looking forward to more info and pictures.


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## 73saint (May 8, 2018)

Can’t wait to see this unfold...


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## motocrash (May 8, 2018)

I'm in.Growing up,a buddies dad used to bring something like this back from PA dutch country where he grew up.They were excellent.


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## bill ace 350 (May 10, 2018)

Picked up 6 2 quart ball canning jars at Walmart on the way home from work tonight. They're in the dishwasher with some detergent and bleach, will boil them before filling them.


Anyway, couldn't find whole allspice, so will have to use ground.


Any idea on how to convert a half-teaspoon of whole allspice to ground measurements?

Will use white onion and red onion, and some Kuhne German mustard.

I will change the recipe just a little. It calls for salt and whole peppercorns.

I'll substitute smoked peppercorns and smoked coarse salt for the regular.

I'm also gonna add some sliced jalepeno.

Also picked up some Eckrich Polska Keilbasa in addition to the Hillshire farms, for a total of about 6 pounds. Go big or go home, right?

Pics to follow.


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## chef jimmyj (May 10, 2018)

1/2t whole Allspice is about 1/4t ground. Eckrich is way closer to the real deal than Hillshire. Good luck...JJ


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## bill ace 350 (May 10, 2018)

Thanks for the help!


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## tropics (May 11, 2018)

Be sure the sausage isn't to greasy,the hot brine will release it into the jars.
Richie


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## bill ace 350 (May 12, 2018)

I plan on boiling the water, vinegar and spices, then cooling it prior to adding to the jars, the recipe i'm using also mentioned this.


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## tropics (May 12, 2018)

bill ace 350 said:


> I plan on boiling the water, vinegar and spices, then cooling it prior to adding to the jars, the recipe i'm using also mentioned this.



I found a link to mine.
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/pickled-kielbasa-sticks.240832/

Richie


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## oddegan (May 12, 2018)

meatsandsausages.com had a recipe that was a little different than the one bill Ace describes. Going to give that a try. Maybe do a mash up of the two. I really like the idea of the mustard. Got some Guldens spicy brown that would work awfully nice.


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## bill ace 350 (May 12, 2018)




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## dls1 (May 12, 2018)

Very nice job, bill ace. Sounds like you're on the right track for some great upcoming snacks. Like!

Though I,ve never made my own utopenci, which literally translates to "Drowned Man", I've had more than my fair share of it throughout the Czech Republic, especially in and around Prague. Your thread has inspired me to try my hand at it in the near future.

Utopenci, and the same 4 or 5 other snacks are something that you'll find in any and every pub or bar in the CR. Sort of a national heritage kind of thing, and they don't vary much. From place to place, utopenci, for the most part, is pretty much the same with a slight variation in the spices used. The one major exception is the type of sausage used. In some places they use what's casually called a "Parky" which is basically a frankfurter that's been boiled to cook before processing. Other places use a short fat sausage known as a klobasa (similar to a kielbasa) which has been cured and smoke cooked. The former's OK, but I far before the latter.

One thing that you didn't mention is that the casings are always removed before processing. Did you do that with yours?

Great job.


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## bill ace 350 (May 12, 2018)

Thanks! I had them back in the day there  before it was known as the Czech Republic.
Had similar snacks while in Poland, a long, long time ago.

I used skinless Kielbasa.

Here are the ingredients straight from the recipe I found-

Total time: 40 min.
Resting in the fridge:
With hot liquid 3 days.
With cold liquid 7 – 14 days.

3 cups water
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp whole peppercorns
1/2 tsp whole all spice
3 bay leaves
2 polish kielbasa (13 oz each)
1 onion
mustard of your choice

2 quart size wide mouth mason jars

I made the following changes-

ground allspice, couldn't find whole.
hickory smoked whole peppercords
smoked kosher salt
used red onion
added sliced jalepenos

I have 6 more packs of Kielbasa to use.

I might try experimenting with the spices, such as adding mustard seed, crushed red pepper etc., nothing too drastic.

I will slice the onion thinner, and use tooth picks to close the sausage tightly around the onion.

2 quart size wide mouth mason jars


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## tropics (May 12, 2018)

Bill you could use pickling spice it is available in most food stores. Likes for you
Richie


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## Braz (May 20, 2018)

This caught my attention so I thought I'd give it a try. I only made a small batch, one quart jar, and used turkey hot dogs instead of sausage. This is just a test to see if I like it. I messed with the recipe a little because that is just what I do. I added a bit of mustard seed to the pickling brine and used some of my wife's homemade pickling spice mix which contains the allspice, bay leaf and some other secret stuff. I also added a bit of store bought "Chicago style" hot jiardiniera to the jar.

Simmering the pickling brine.







Garlic, onion, jalapino, franks.






Stuffing - mustard,onion, jalapino.






Now for a nice week long (or more) rest in the refer.


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## oddegan (May 20, 2018)

Looking good Braz. I was inspired to try this as well. Another week and I'll see how it it tuned out. Wish I'd thought of the jalapeno.


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## bill ace 350 (May 25, 2018)

Saturday will be 14 days...
Time for a sample


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## Bearcarver (May 25, 2018)

bdskelly said:


> I love any kind of old school bar food! Pigs feet, pickled eggs, smoked fish, jerky and pickled sausages.
> Reading your description I’m trying to understand the geometry of the link. Never seen that type. But down here pickled sausage is typically a hot link kind of affair.
> ...Sitting next to Adam to see what happens next. B




LOL---You missed "Blind Robbins"---There's some nasty little suckers I used to love!!!

*I'm keeping an eye on this Bill Ace !!!*
Sounding good so far!!
Bear


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## Braz (May 25, 2018)

No way can I wait 14 days. I will be sampling Sunday at 7 days.


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## oddegan (May 26, 2018)

Had to try mine today. 13 days. Doubt they last the weekend. These things are great!


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## bill ace 350 (May 27, 2018)

Opened a jar of the utopenci made with the Ekrich brand.

Very good flavor, but will add some additional spices next time around,maybe mustard seed, celery seed, possibly fennel.

The onions and jalepenos were very crispy and tasty.

I didn't care for the texture of the Ekrich sausage, a little "crumbly".

Will compare to the Hillshire Farms when I open one of those.

All in all, very tasty and enjoyable snack.

Had one with a pickled egg, a few slices of smoked extra sharp cheddar and a cold one.


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