Polish sausage fail

[JC in GB]

Made a batch of Polish sausage last weekend. The meat mix had great flavor and stuffed well into the casings.

I wanted to do a hot smoke on them being it is summertime. I started my smoker up and thought everything was ready to run.

After 8 hours, my sausages were only up to 140 F and were dry like jerky. Just awful.

I am certain that the culprit was a poorly placed thermal probe for my controller. Lesson learned.

Now I really feel like I wasted 20 pounds of pork cushion and about 14 hours of time making these tasty Polish projectiles.

Yes, they tasted good but were hard and dry. I am wondering if I should pitch them and never mention them again or find a use for them?

Any suggestions?

JC

 

[chilerelleno]

Doctors bury their mistakes.
Lawyers see theirs go to jail.
Journalists print theirs.
Guys pay child support.
But Cooks, they have to eat theirs.

 

[bhambrewer]

I'm just wondering how they would do as an ingredient in a stew or braise...?

 

[JC in GB]

I'm just wondering how they would do as an ingredient in a stew or braise...?

I was wondering if they would work chopped up in a potato hash?

 

[JC in GB]

I'm just wondering how they would do as an ingredient in a stew or braise...?

Polish sausage stew. That has me thinking.....

 

[xray]

Polish sausage stew. That has me thinking.....

This could be worth a shot.

Kapusniak (Polish sauerkraut soup)

Here's another winter warmer. Kapusniak is made a lot of ways. Here's how I made this batch. This recipe makes a lot. Slightly tangy, slightly savory. Warms the belly on an icy day like today. I cook the ingredients one at a time so that everything has a chance to lightly saute. If you overload...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[bhambrewer]

many fine ideas on this thread...

 

[chilerelleno]

Kielbasa with Cabbage/ Potatoes
My Mom would pull out her biggest pressure cooker and fill it with a couple pounds of cut up Kielbasa, a head or two of cored/quartered green cabbage, Russet potatoes peeled/halved, a chopped onion or two, a whole stick of butter, a palmful each of Kosher salt, coarse black pepper and crushed red pepper.
Then add about a quart of chicken or vegetable stock, and enough water to cover.

Was one of my favorite dinners... Haven't had it in way too long, need to fix that.

 

[bhambrewer]

Kielbasa with Cabbage/ Potatoes
My Mom would pull out her biggest pressure cooker and fill it with a couple pounds of cut up Kielbasa, a head or two of cored/quartered green cabbage, Russet potatoes peeled/halved, a chopped onion or two, a whole stick of butter, a palmful each of Kosher salt, coarse black pepper and crushed red pepper.
Then add about a quart of chicken or vegetable stock, and enough water to cover.

Was one of my favorite dinners... Haven't had it in way too long, need to fix that.

.... that sounds really good, and that quantity would probably feed at least a couple of teenage boys ;)

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

I take it the cats won't even touch them?

 

[chilerelleno]

If you have any dogs that don't like you, the sausages might help you make friends.

 

[bbqbrett]

You could also steam them to freshen them up a bit and mix em up with a bit of BBQ sauce, peppers and onions.

 

[oberst]

If it is anything like the dry crumbly batch I somehow screwed up, the garbage can was the only solution. I still can’t figure out what the heck I did!

 

[R Blum]

No such thing as a fail in this house. We would make something out of it.

 

[Omnivore]

If they're a little salty and smokey I bet they'd be pretty good diced up in some fried rice. I'm also guessing you are your toughest critic.

 

[BrocktheBeast]

Doctors bury their mistakes.
Lawyers see theirs go to jail.
Journalists print theirs.
Guys pay child support.
But cooks, they have to eat theirs.

Hahaha

 

[sawhorseray]

Use up a couple at a time, meat loaf made from 73/27, nice fatty stuff. RAY

 

[Hijack73]

Something like that, I'd love it.
I will sometimes dry out Hillshire farms on my smoker, slice thin, and make hoagies out of it. That's a lot, but I'd put a dent in them before I tapped out lol

 

[indaswamp]

JC in GB... I have been making both fresh and smoke sausages for over 20 years. I have had my share of mistakes. I've burnt them, scorched them, forgot to add cure #1, had casings bust in the smokehouse, forgot to add salt, ran out of casing in the middle of stuffing 200# of smoke sausage, and had plenty of bad recipe experiments-some of which I just had to throw away. It was all a learning experience...

Here's a new one that happened just today.. I had stuff everywhere while making salami today. So I turned and set the food lug of the meat that I had just weighed out on the stove top range...the only free spot in the kitchen. Well the lug slid just right and turned the burner on. No idea how that happened. I freaked out when I started smelling plastic! Reached over real quick, turned the burner off, and shoved the meat to the side. Only had one piece of beef with a little cooked part, so I trimmed it real good (meat was 31* in the food lug) and discarded the cooked part. I went to the ice chest where I had the beef on ice and cut a small replacement piece. Sometimes, crap happens...just got to roll with the punches, adapt and overcome...and learn from it!

 

[indaswamp]

I'll be buying 1 new food lug at Cabela's after the storm passed.....