Smoked Kielbasa: First time This Weekend

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couger78

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
May 3, 2011
679
243
Northern California
Time to smoke a 'cured' sausage—'polish kielbasa'— after spending the past few weekends creating piles of 'fresh' sausages for the troops. This is no small feat as the standard was set by my wife's polish grandmother year's ago. Her 'polska  wędzona kiełbasa' is what I'll try to replicate. Although the recipe is pretty basic (salt, pepper, garlic, marjoram), there are expectations to be met! 
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First, as grandma did, I cubed a portion of the lean into 1/2" cubes (about 3.5lbs):

53b833b7_35lbs_diced.jpg


I added a third of the total cure to the cubes & refrigerated this overnight:

af3923c7_35lbs_cured.jpg


This morning, I ground the rest of the pork (about 7.5lbs) through a 4.5mm plate:

6f70322f_kielbasa_grind.jpg


Like I said, the recipe is pretty straight-forward. Ingredients ready:

20812e2d_Ingredients.jpg


Friday night, FedEx dropped off a package containing this: Kirby's solution to mixing larger quantities of sausage: The Kirby Mixer!

f23027a0_Kirby_mxer01.jpg


Looking down the spindle, you can see the mixing blade:

d71eac24_Kirby_mxer_blade.jpg


Both meats loaded (cubed & ground)— about 11 lbs total:

cf4eb85d_Kirby_mxer_meatload.jpg


All spices, garlic & water added:

5f2b449b_Kirby_mxer_spices_added.jpg


Lid snapped on, power drill attached & ready to go. I sat on a chair with my feet on the board on both sides of the bucket:

5a1c4baa_Kirby_mxer_drill_ready.jpg


This is the result after only 30-40 seconds of mixing (raising & plunging the drill as one does in mixing mortar, thinset, etc). Very thorough & well-mixed. Pretty amazing for 10+ pounds!

ec4c1bf7_Kirby_meat_mixed.jpg


ON TO THE STUFFING:

Nice morning to be outside, so got the kirby cannon set up for action. The lazy susan comes in very handy for long ropes.

ad94e29a_KCannon_lazySus.jpg


11+pounds loaded!

d4bcc6d7_KCannon_loaded.jpg


Phase One Done: I've now two large plate-loads of fresh kielbasa. Next step is to prep the smoker. These will sit in the fridge overnight.

4d729a9d_Kielbasa_fresh.jpg


More to come.....

Kevin
 
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Looking very nice!!

 Love the mixer..I will have to get one!!

Have a great day!!

  Craig
 
Man that is some operation. Great looking sausages.
 
This morning I took the kielbasa from the fridge & hung them up to air-dry & come to room temp while I got the smoker prepped.

Simple wood dowel between chairs:

fbe936ce_Kielbasa_hangdry.jpg


Since my MES hasn't yet arrived, I'll be using my old weber smokey mountain (WSM) to do the smoking. This unit tends to run hot (200°) so I needed a plan of attack...

9a0a9dae_WeberSM.jpg


I discovered that I can keep the temp in the 135-160° range by adding about a dozen briquettes. I also placed an old pizza stone above the coals to help absorb & distribute the heat:

b74bee86_pizza_stone.jpg


Since I'm using only a few coals, hickory wood chunks wouldn't be ideal, so I opted for the smaller chips:

d0a654ae_HickoryChips.jpg


Ideally I wanted to hang the kielbasa but decided to use a 3-tier rack arrangement. The three racks are approximately 3" apart:

13a0f058_Kielbasa_stacked.jpg


Once the WSM's temp got up to about 135,° on went the kielbasa....

0e62ec93_NuTemp.jpg


2de06253_Kielbasa_onSmoker.jpg


I heavily smoked the kielbasas for just under 90 minutes, keeping the temp around 155-160° for the last 30 minutes or so.

Smoke rollin'.......

81b5d1af_Kielbasa_Smoke.jpg


Time to pull 'em off....

8dbade86_Kielbasa_smoked.jpg


After the smoke, my plan was to hot-water bath the load in this bad boy: a 1950 Westinghouse turkey roaster...

e610d9ab_TurkeyRoaster.jpg


2fd75000_Kielbasa_Bath.jpg


Kept the kielbasas in their hot tub at around 160° for about 30 minutes until the IT reached 155°

f008a27d_Kielbasa_BathTemp.jpg


Dropped them into an ice bath to quick-cool 'em down & then hang dry to bloom:

a7038d63_Kielbasa_bloom.jpg


Money shot. Overall I thought the end results do justice to what my wife (& family's) expectations are for 'good' kielbasa—garlicky, smokey with a touch of saltiness, firm, and a good 'snap' when you bite into them. They certainly taste better than anything you find at the local grocery store.

Thanks to you guys here on this forum who helped me quite a bit & giving me the initiative to try this. Good fun!

Kevin

30283de7_Kielbasa_moneyShot.jpg
 
AWESOME!!!!

I love the old Westinghouse!!

 Thanks for the great step by step and the pics! 
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  Craig
 
I've sliced ('kielbasa coins") about 75% of the load & foodsaver'd the lot. Kept 2 of the larger ropes in the fridge for quick access.

My son was poaching/frying some in a pan when I took this shot. The 'cubes' of pork in the sausage are a bit more evident than in the earlier shot.

Kevin

Cookin' in the pan....

2b9dea71_Kielbasa_coins_revised.jpg
 
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Nine K-Coins

Kevin how much did it cost you to make the basa?

Reason i ask is cuz i was at a local butcher today and his smoked basa was $8.49 lb....Holy cr@ppers
 
Great looking kielbasa.............. Nice toys too..............
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Nine K-Coins

Kevin how much did it cost you to make the basa?

Reason i ask is cuz i was at a local butcher today and his smoked basa was $8.49 lb....Holy cr@ppers
Well, let's see....

TOTAL MEAT purchase: 2—Twin-packs of boned pork butts (about 28lbs) from Costco: $50 = $1.78/lb

(EQUIPMENT: Not figuring this in as these are and will continue to be used.

Kielbasa MEAT (10lbs)= $17.85

SPICES: had 'em already; grew the garlic; = 0

1/2 oz cure ($3.50/lb) =(10lbs) .11¢

Casings: Pork 32-35mm ($20.08/100lbs)=(10lbs) $2.00

Charcoal: 10 briquettes (1lb)= .03¢

Hickory chips/ handful = .06¢

Beverage(s) for the Chef: 2 Dos Equis = $2.66

TOTAL: $22.71 for 10 lbs or $2.27/pound

sans Beer: $2.00/pound.

Peace of mind knowing what's going INTO the sausage: PRICELESS
 
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Well, let's see....

TOTAL MEAT purchase: 2—Twin-packs of boned pork butts (about 28lbs) from Costco: $50 = $1.78/lb

(EQUIPMENT: Not figuring this in as these are and will continue to be used.

Kielbasa MEAT (10lbs)= $17.85

SPICES: had 'em already; grew the garlic; = 0

1/2 oz cure ($3.50/lb) =(10lbs) .11¢

Casings: Pork 32-35mm ($20.08/100lbs)=(10lbs) $2.00

Charcoal: 10 briquettes (1lb)= .03¢

Hickory chips/ handful = .06¢

Beverage(s) for the Chef: 2 Dos Equis = $2.66

TOTAL: $22.71 for 10 lbs or $2.27/pound

sans Beer: $2.00/pound.

Peace of mind knowing what's going INTO the sausage: PRICELESS

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