I decided to try kielbasa. A friend of mine's family makes it but they don't cure or smoke it. They mix the meats and poach it and eat it immediately. I adjusted the recipe to use cure and to smoke it.
Here is the recipe I used:
667 grams (1 1/2 pounds) pork shoulder
333 grams (1/2 pound) lean beef
4 cloves garlic
5 ml (1 teaspoon) kosher salt
5 ml (1 teaspoon) fine grind black pepper.
5 ml (1 teaspoon) dried marjoram
2.5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) Prague powder 1
100 ml (1/2 cup) ice water
50 ml (1/4) cup dry skim milk powder
I ground the meat with the large plate in my Kitchen Aid.
I chopped the garlic fine and mixed the remaining ingredients into a slurry.
I mixed the slurry thoroughly into the meat.
I stuffed it into hog casings in about 12 inch links.
I let them sit in the fridge overnight. Then I hung them for a couple of hours to get totally dry.
I put a probe in one and cold smoked them in the Bradley for 2 hours over pecan. Then I turned the heat up to 180 F for another 2 hours.
The internal temperature was about 130 F and I took it out and finished it by poaching it until the internal temperature hit 165 F and then plunged it in ice water. It only took minutes to get to temperature.
I let it hang for a couple of hours.
Here is the finished product.
The Verdict
This is way better than the store product. It has a nice chew and a good garlic flavour. However, I will still try other recipes as I believe I can do better. I will enjoy this first effort though and I have already eaten a lot of it.
Disco
Here is the recipe I used:
667 grams (1 1/2 pounds) pork shoulder
333 grams (1/2 pound) lean beef
4 cloves garlic
5 ml (1 teaspoon) kosher salt
5 ml (1 teaspoon) fine grind black pepper.
5 ml (1 teaspoon) dried marjoram
2.5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) Prague powder 1
100 ml (1/2 cup) ice water
50 ml (1/4) cup dry skim milk powder
I ground the meat with the large plate in my Kitchen Aid.
I chopped the garlic fine and mixed the remaining ingredients into a slurry.
I mixed the slurry thoroughly into the meat.
I stuffed it into hog casings in about 12 inch links.
I let them sit in the fridge overnight. Then I hung them for a couple of hours to get totally dry.
I put a probe in one and cold smoked them in the Bradley for 2 hours over pecan. Then I turned the heat up to 180 F for another 2 hours.
The internal temperature was about 130 F and I took it out and finished it by poaching it until the internal temperature hit 165 F and then plunged it in ice water. It only took minutes to get to temperature.
I let it hang for a couple of hours.
Here is the finished product.
The Verdict
This is way better than the store product. It has a nice chew and a good garlic flavour. However, I will still try other recipes as I believe I can do better. I will enjoy this first effort though and I have already eaten a lot of it.
Disco