Kielbasa Question

[JZ]

I am new to the sausage thing (hooked after doing SS one time) and am going to try Kielbasa and did a search for recipes. Looks like something I can handle but noticed that some recipes call for mixing all the meats, spices and cures then leaving it in the fridge overnight and others go straight to stuffing and cooking.

Is it important to leave in fridge overnight or is this a preference thing.

[OU812]

I believe its more of a preference thing.

I grind, mix in the seasonings, stuff, hang at room temp to dry wile the smoker warms up and smoke/cook all the time.

Some times there aint enough time in the day to get every thing done, thats when the sausage sits in the fridge overnight.

For me its more important to mix the seasonings in the water first and let sit in the fridge wile you grind and prepair to make the sausage.

Sitting in the water allows the seasonings to open up and blend together

[JZ]

Thanks OU812 and I appreciate the heads up about the water and spice sitting together for awhile to blend. I guess the same thing happens when the meat / spice mixture sits in the fridge overnight.

I am going to give Mr Walleyes Kielbasa recipe a try and I will probably end up having the whole mixture sit in the fridge overnight just because of timing. Pixs will follow.

[viper125]

I find mixing cure and water to add to meat helps. It will mix better and contact more meat  surface. But when I can I prefer letting set in fridge to mingle flavors. Honestly I really dont know how much it changes any thing. Other then stuffing. I do stuff small sticks and casings before letting set. Cure will harden or toughen up the meat making it harder to stuff I feel. I don't have this problem with bigger casings.