Haven't posted a cook in a while so I figured I'd share this simple but awesome kielbasa recipe I have been messing around with for the last year or so. I recently purchased a case of pork cushion meat which totaled about 60 pounds. @Chef Willie inspired me to start using cushion for sausage and I have always been happy with the results. Its lower in fat and calories than butt but still makes a nice juicy sausage that I don't feel guilty about eating during the week when I'm trying to be healthy
It was a rainy, windy day, so I resorted to smoking on my MES 30 in my garage with a tarp covering the open gararge door to protect all the stuff in my garage while still allowing the smoke to escape. Disregard those ribs haha they were cooked hot and fast with the vortex (didn't get any pics of that)
Here's the recipe for a 5 lb. batch (I did 7.5 lbs. today) and the technique I used:
5 lbs course ground pork cushion
2 T kosher salt
1 T fine ground pepper
1 T dried marjoram
8 cloves of fresh garlic
1 teaspoon of cure#1
1 cup non fat dry milk powder
1 cup of ice water
Mix all ingredients into ice water.
Mix spice slurry into meat with hands for at least two minutes or until meat is tacky and sticky. (A good test is to make a small patty and press it against your palm and hold your palm down. It should stick to your palm without falling off even when moving your hand).
The cooking process was at follows
1. Dried sausage in the smoker without applying smoke for about an hour and half at 100-120 degrees.
2. Loaded up the AMNPS with hickory pellets, lit and put it in the smoker and bumped the temp up to 150 degrees
3. Applied smoke for 4 hours
4. Removed sausage from the smoker and finished it off in a warm water bath in a large pot on the stove (water temp was about 160 degrees)
5. Took the sausage to an IT of 152 and plunged in ice water to stop cooking.
6. Once the sausage got to about 80 degrees IT, I hung on a rod to bloom for a few hours
I usually don't do instructional typed posts like this but a friend of mind was asking me to write up my process so i figured I'd share it with you all, especially because these kind of posts are how I learned how to make sausage. I am really happy with the way this batch came out and I can't wait to grill some up. Definitely enjoyed the extra meat from the stuffer. Made it into patty and fried it up and toped with a sunny side up egg and some more cheese...cook's treat haha. Thanks for looking!
-Chris
It was a rainy, windy day, so I resorted to smoking on my MES 30 in my garage with a tarp covering the open gararge door to protect all the stuff in my garage while still allowing the smoke to escape. Disregard those ribs haha they were cooked hot and fast with the vortex (didn't get any pics of that)
Here's the recipe for a 5 lb. batch (I did 7.5 lbs. today) and the technique I used:
5 lbs course ground pork cushion
2 T kosher salt
1 T fine ground pepper
1 T dried marjoram
8 cloves of fresh garlic
1 teaspoon of cure#1
1 cup non fat dry milk powder
1 cup of ice water
Mix all ingredients into ice water.
Mix spice slurry into meat with hands for at least two minutes or until meat is tacky and sticky. (A good test is to make a small patty and press it against your palm and hold your palm down. It should stick to your palm without falling off even when moving your hand).
The cooking process was at follows
1. Dried sausage in the smoker without applying smoke for about an hour and half at 100-120 degrees.
2. Loaded up the AMNPS with hickory pellets, lit and put it in the smoker and bumped the temp up to 150 degrees
3. Applied smoke for 4 hours
4. Removed sausage from the smoker and finished it off in a warm water bath in a large pot on the stove (water temp was about 160 degrees)
5. Took the sausage to an IT of 152 and plunged in ice water to stop cooking.
6. Once the sausage got to about 80 degrees IT, I hung on a rod to bloom for a few hours
I usually don't do instructional typed posts like this but a friend of mind was asking me to write up my process so i figured I'd share it with you all, especially because these kind of posts are how I learned how to make sausage. I am really happy with the way this batch came out and I can't wait to grill some up. Definitely enjoyed the extra meat from the stuffer. Made it into patty and fried it up and toped with a sunny side up egg and some more cheese...cook's treat haha. Thanks for looking!
-Chris
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