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Ugliest Kielbasa Ever & What I Learned

Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2020 20:23
by Scogar
So I decided to somewhat make Stefans kielbasa viewtopic.php?p=42526#p42526 but since I didn't have the time to do it correctly I thought what the heck let me knock some more sense into the noggin. Knowing that his salt and cure content of 1.6% and 0.2% made perfect sense if I wanted it to be at a safe nitrite level for smoking, but I didn't have time to smoke things (or I just wanted to be lazy) I wasn't going to worry about nitrite. I decided needing a garlic sausage was more important than holding off.

I dropped the nitrite to 0.1% and upped the salt to 1.7%. I wanted to keep the 1.8% level but my reasoning was to see if the small amount of nitrite was detectable in the end product as I didn't want grey meat on purpose. To my surprise it was very evident,

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so for color 0.1% is sufficient. Less may be as well, but I haven't tried that and really have no need at this point. However since it is so ugly, I don't think I'll ever not smoke again. It makes such a difference. Simple poaching gives you a grey ugly outside skin on the meat
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The good news is that it tastes delicious even without the smoke. The bad news is that curing the meat before the grind made it very sticky and since I was doing grinding and stuffing by myself I had a dickens of a time getting decent stuffing without gaps, lots of breaks because I used older casings and just really lumpy sausage. I let it age in reefer overnight, but on a tray, that malformed things even more. So to avoid flattening sections of the sausage I will hang from now on. I poached everything at 160-165F until the sausage was done.

SUMMARY - Not only will I make sure to make the time to smoke things...there's a reason! But I will also have to lock my equipment down so it doesn't move while stuffing or work with my buddy. All in all I have a tasty albeit ugly sausage, learned that very little cure #1 is needed for color, and was able to dial in a few other things on my process. :mrgreen:

Re: Ugliest Kielbasa Ever & What I Learned

Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2020 23:54
by Butterbean
Looks pretty pale on the inside too or is it the photo?

Re: Ugliest Kielbasa Ever & What I Learned

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2020 00:45
by Scogar
It certainly isn't as red as a full cure, but it is pink and I was surprised that 0.1% would give this much color

Re: Ugliest Kielbasa Ever & What I Learned

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2020 02:16
by StefanS
If I remember correctly that to achieve curing color of meat is needed 30-40 ppm of nitrite.
BTW - Scogar - you made almost perfect polish brand of White Kielbasa. It is very popular kielbasa made during preparation of regular smoked to be eat out of poaching when is hot. Also in some regions of Poland it is traditional dish served during holiday breakfast. Many makers do that kielbasa without nitrites. It is consumed right away without storage ( it is kept in deep freeze but without poaching - it is done after thawing). Somewhere in depths of my freezer i'm keeping a few rings. It is good for grill also. White kielbasa contain a lot of marjoram. Maybe ugly but very tasty

Re: Ugliest Kielbasa Ever & What I Learned

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2020 12:32
by Scogar
Wow, that's great news. I'll have to increase the marjoram next time but I'll look for this recipe. It is very tasty I must say. I agree I would probably freeze it raw next time and poach or grill as needed.

Re: Ugliest Kielbasa Ever & What I Learned

Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2020 21:29
by Scogar
So based on this post and StefanS noting that last year's sausage was close to a white sausage, I decided to research it and make a more accurate product. So here is my recipe for Biała kiełbasa. I found it here https://www.e-ksiazkakucharska.pl/2018/ ... robic.html and with some help from Google Translate pulled a recipe together. At the last minute I checked Marianski's Polish Sausage book and found a recipe there as well. The one I copied was pretty close so I was happy. Here's where I landed, the main difference being a substitute of granulated (dry) garlic for fresh:
  • Salt 1.70%
  • Garlic 0.40%
  • Black Pepper 0.20%
  • Marjoram 0.17%
I did cure the meat with the salt overnight but am not sure 16 hours or so is long enough. Next time I would go for the full 48 hours. I also didn't separate meat classes and ground everything through a 3/8ths plate as this was also sort of a test for the new grinder. Next time I would separate meats into appropriate classes and cure as stated. Let me say this sausage is delicious just fried up in a pan and I am curious to see what improvement would occur with longer cure time and different grinds combined.

Re: Ugliest Kielbasa Ever & What I Learned

Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2020 15:06
by StefanS
Scogar wrote:
Sun Nov 29, 2020 21:29
Let me say this sausage is delicious just fried up in a pan and I am curious to see what improvement would occur with longer cure time and different grinds combined.
you should get more "juicy" staff with finer texture.

Re: Ugliest Kielbasa Ever & What I Learned

Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2020 18:52
by redzed
Adding 10% lean beef finely ground will also help to retain moisture. Just don't over cook it. Often people wonder why their sausage is dry and think it's the recipe or process but thet are either cooking it with high heat or cooking it too long. My take on biała kiełbasa is here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5274&hilit=bia%C5%82a+kie%C5%82basa

I like this sausage, but have a confession to make. If I were to name my favorite white sausage, I'd take the Munich style weisswurst over the biała. :D

Re: Ugliest Kielbasa Ever & What I Learned

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2020 02:05
by Scogar
LOL ich liebe Weisswurst. That is on my soon to be agenda. I have eaten a lot of it on my trips to Munich. Of course they are two differnt beasts but I am looking forward to the day I make a true Weisswurst