Christmas Kiełbasa 2020
Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 06:24
Christmas Kiełbasa 2020
Every year at this time I crank out a larger than usual amount of kielbasa and share it with my friends. This year I made a traditional Polish sausage with the essential ingredients: pepper, garlic and marjoram and added two optional spices, caraway and mace. The sausage was prepared using the Polish meat classification system, curing the meat prior to grinding, and smoking until good colour is on the sausage rather than by time. I'm happy with the results and have received several complements. The key to making a good sausage is more in the process than in the list of ingredients. It's a bit more work and attention to detail, but in the end always worth it.
Recipe for 1kg of meat
Pork, Class I, (butt and loin) no connective tissue, very little fat, 450g
Pork, Class II, (butt and loin) 35-45% fat, 400g
Pork Class III, (hock) rich with connective tissue, no fat, 50g
Beef, any Class, no fat, 100g
Ingredients
Salt, 16g
Cure #1, 2g
Pepper, medium grind, 3g
Fresh garlic, 6g
Marjoram, 1.5g
Mace, 1g
Caraway, ground, 1g
Corn syrup solids, 2g
100ml. water
Processing Instructions
1. Cube the pork and beef, keeping the different classes of meats separate. The beef and Class III pork can be combines at this stage. Add the salt and #1 to the cubed meat, mix well, pack into a container, cover, and refrigerate for 48-72 hours.
2. Grind Class I pork through 12mm plate, the Class II pork through 7mm plate and class III pork and beef twice through the 3mm plate. Make sure the meat stays very cold. Placing in the meat in the freezer between the grinding may be necessary.
3. After the grinding Class III pork and beef add all the spices and approximately 30% of the water. Mix and mix until you achieve a sticky but still loose paste. This meat will be binder for the sausage. Add this to the other ground meats and mix well. Add the rest of the water gradually. I first mixed the mixed this batch for 10 minutes in my 33lb. electric mixer.
5. Stuff into 36-42mm hog casings. Twist into neat and uniform links or coils.
6. Set the sausage overnight in fridge or two hours at room temperature.
7. Preheat your smoker to 160F, let it cool, and load your sausage into it. Open top and bottom dampers wide and warm sausage at 110F for one hour. Smoke at 130-145F (55-65C)until you achieve a good colour. Rearrange the sticks mid way through the smoke.
8. Finish by poaching with water at a temp of170F (76C) until the internal temperature of the sausage reaches 152F (71C). Cool gently with water and hang at room temp for 2 hours before refrigerating. Don't over chill. The sausage should still be slightly warm inside when hanging to bloom.
9. Allow sausage to bloom at room temperature for two to three hours before moving to a cooler environment. Don't package the sausage for 24 hours.
Sausage is excellent when eaten cold. If heating, bring up to temp only, don't cook again.
Wesołych Świąt!
Every year at this time I crank out a larger than usual amount of kielbasa and share it with my friends. This year I made a traditional Polish sausage with the essential ingredients: pepper, garlic and marjoram and added two optional spices, caraway and mace. The sausage was prepared using the Polish meat classification system, curing the meat prior to grinding, and smoking until good colour is on the sausage rather than by time. I'm happy with the results and have received several complements. The key to making a good sausage is more in the process than in the list of ingredients. It's a bit more work and attention to detail, but in the end always worth it.
Recipe for 1kg of meat
Pork, Class I, (butt and loin) no connective tissue, very little fat, 450g
Pork, Class II, (butt and loin) 35-45% fat, 400g
Pork Class III, (hock) rich with connective tissue, no fat, 50g
Beef, any Class, no fat, 100g
Ingredients
Salt, 16g
Cure #1, 2g
Pepper, medium grind, 3g
Fresh garlic, 6g
Marjoram, 1.5g
Mace, 1g
Caraway, ground, 1g
Corn syrup solids, 2g
100ml. water
Processing Instructions
1. Cube the pork and beef, keeping the different classes of meats separate. The beef and Class III pork can be combines at this stage. Add the salt and #1 to the cubed meat, mix well, pack into a container, cover, and refrigerate for 48-72 hours.
2. Grind Class I pork through 12mm plate, the Class II pork through 7mm plate and class III pork and beef twice through the 3mm plate. Make sure the meat stays very cold. Placing in the meat in the freezer between the grinding may be necessary.
3. After the grinding Class III pork and beef add all the spices and approximately 30% of the water. Mix and mix until you achieve a sticky but still loose paste. This meat will be binder for the sausage. Add this to the other ground meats and mix well. Add the rest of the water gradually. I first mixed the mixed this batch for 10 minutes in my 33lb. electric mixer.
5. Stuff into 36-42mm hog casings. Twist into neat and uniform links or coils.
6. Set the sausage overnight in fridge or two hours at room temperature.
7. Preheat your smoker to 160F, let it cool, and load your sausage into it. Open top and bottom dampers wide and warm sausage at 110F for one hour. Smoke at 130-145F (55-65C)until you achieve a good colour. Rearrange the sticks mid way through the smoke.
8. Finish by poaching with water at a temp of170F (76C) until the internal temperature of the sausage reaches 152F (71C). Cool gently with water and hang at room temp for 2 hours before refrigerating. Don't over chill. The sausage should still be slightly warm inside when hanging to bloom.
9. Allow sausage to bloom at room temperature for two to three hours before moving to a cooler environment. Don't package the sausage for 24 hours.
Sausage is excellent when eaten cold. If heating, bring up to temp only, don't cook again.
Wesołych Świąt!