Right after Christmas, I ordered some more natural hog casings (38/42mm) from Butcher & Packer, so I was planning on making some sausages to start the new year. Last week, I also picked up a nice pork shoulder on sale for 79¢ a pound and decided to reserve it for kielbasa. Anticipating the arrival of the casings in the mail THAT day, I went ahead and began making the kielbasa.
For this recipe, I used a combination of pork and beef (chuck). Most times I make an all-pork kielbasa, but this time I thought I'd try something different. I diced up the shoulder/butt into grindable cube-size, reserving about two pounds for a smaller dice. Total pork weight: 13lbs. I cubed the beef and ground it as well (3 pounds of ground chuck). All with a 4.5mm plate on the grinder. I had some pork fatback saved so used an equal amount of fat to beef (3 pounds). Here's a shot with most of the meat and fat already ground. You can see where I'm chopping the reserve pork into smaller pieces to be added to the bin. Additional ingredients in the bowls: fresh garlic (about 10 large cloves (40g)), dried marjoram (3.5g), kosher salt (108g), freshly-ground black pepper (15g), cure#1 (19.5g) plus about 3 cups of ice-water in reserve.
Everything mixed into the bin (just under 20lbs), including the finely-diced pork pieces. This will go into the refrigerator for at least overnight, if not a bit longer. I know it's often stated that you shouldn't premix and wait to stuff your sausages. The concern is the mix may become too firm, stickier and more challenging to stuff into natural casings. Honestly, I've done it both ways (grind & then immediately stuff into casings; or grind, let the mixture sit for a day or two in the fridge, and then stuff into casings) and, with the exception of stuffing delicate sheep casings, I did not notice a significant difference in the difficulty of working with mixed/seasoned meats that have sat. I actually think there is some flavor benefit by allowing the salt, cure and seasonings to mingle for an extended period in the fridge before smoking. Typically this (hanging links overnight before smoking) is done with the links made, but as in this instance, thats not always possible. Anyway, into the fridge until the hog casings show up in the mail...
Fast-forward two days: NO package from Butch-Packer. No casings. Grrrrr...........
On to PLAN B: Stuff the 19.5lbs of seasoned meat into....mahogany fibrous casings! I did have plenty of THESE on-hand to accommodate this large load. So in the end I wound up with a dozen 14"long 2.5"diameter mahogany kielbasa tubes!
SMOKING: What I like about these fibrous casings is they are tough! you an really stuff 'em tight! They are porous so smoking is not a problem. I've used them often before for bolognas, summer sausage and braunschweiger. First time with the Polish sausage. Into the preheated Masterbuilt XL (set at 110°F) went all 12 chubs. I kept a large aluminum foil roasting pan full of water at the base to help moderate temps. I raised the temp to 135°F and within the hour began adding PECAN smoke. Heavy smoke for the next 3.5 hours, keeping the temp below 140°F. After four hours I slowly raised the temp to 155°F as the smoke diminished. I pulled all the chubs out when their IT hit 135°F and plunged the lot into a hot bath (167°F) for about 20 minutes. Once the kielbasa temp hit 154°F they all went for a quick ice bath to cool. Into the fridge for there to hang & bloom overnight.
And of course, within an hour of finishing the entire job, my package from Butcher-Packer shows up on my front step.
SAMPLE TIME: Okay, this didn't LOOK like my typical linked kielbasa—more like a garlicky summer sausage—but the kielbasa flavor was definitely there! Most time we wind up slicing the linked kielbasa for frying, so in reality, nobody really missed having linked sausages.
Either way you stuff it, so long as the flavors there, there will be some happy faces!
For this recipe, I used a combination of pork and beef (chuck). Most times I make an all-pork kielbasa, but this time I thought I'd try something different. I diced up the shoulder/butt into grindable cube-size, reserving about two pounds for a smaller dice. Total pork weight: 13lbs. I cubed the beef and ground it as well (3 pounds of ground chuck). All with a 4.5mm plate on the grinder. I had some pork fatback saved so used an equal amount of fat to beef (3 pounds). Here's a shot with most of the meat and fat already ground. You can see where I'm chopping the reserve pork into smaller pieces to be added to the bin. Additional ingredients in the bowls: fresh garlic (about 10 large cloves (40g)), dried marjoram (3.5g), kosher salt (108g), freshly-ground black pepper (15g), cure#1 (19.5g) plus about 3 cups of ice-water in reserve.
Everything mixed into the bin (just under 20lbs), including the finely-diced pork pieces. This will go into the refrigerator for at least overnight, if not a bit longer. I know it's often stated that you shouldn't premix and wait to stuff your sausages. The concern is the mix may become too firm, stickier and more challenging to stuff into natural casings. Honestly, I've done it both ways (grind & then immediately stuff into casings; or grind, let the mixture sit for a day or two in the fridge, and then stuff into casings) and, with the exception of stuffing delicate sheep casings, I did not notice a significant difference in the difficulty of working with mixed/seasoned meats that have sat. I actually think there is some flavor benefit by allowing the salt, cure and seasonings to mingle for an extended period in the fridge before smoking. Typically this (hanging links overnight before smoking) is done with the links made, but as in this instance, thats not always possible. Anyway, into the fridge until the hog casings show up in the mail...
Fast-forward two days: NO package from Butch-Packer. No casings. Grrrrr...........
On to PLAN B: Stuff the 19.5lbs of seasoned meat into....mahogany fibrous casings! I did have plenty of THESE on-hand to accommodate this large load. So in the end I wound up with a dozen 14"long 2.5"diameter mahogany kielbasa tubes!
SMOKING: What I like about these fibrous casings is they are tough! you an really stuff 'em tight! They are porous so smoking is not a problem. I've used them often before for bolognas, summer sausage and braunschweiger. First time with the Polish sausage. Into the preheated Masterbuilt XL (set at 110°F) went all 12 chubs. I kept a large aluminum foil roasting pan full of water at the base to help moderate temps. I raised the temp to 135°F and within the hour began adding PECAN smoke. Heavy smoke for the next 3.5 hours, keeping the temp below 140°F. After four hours I slowly raised the temp to 155°F as the smoke diminished. I pulled all the chubs out when their IT hit 135°F and plunged the lot into a hot bath (167°F) for about 20 minutes. Once the kielbasa temp hit 154°F they all went for a quick ice bath to cool. Into the fridge for there to hang & bloom overnight.
And of course, within an hour of finishing the entire job, my package from Butcher-Packer shows up on my front step.
SAMPLE TIME: Okay, this didn't LOOK like my typical linked kielbasa—more like a garlicky summer sausage—but the kielbasa flavor was definitely there! Most time we wind up slicing the linked kielbasa for frying, so in reality, nobody really missed having linked sausages.
Either way you stuff it, so long as the flavors there, there will be some happy faces!
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