First GO at Smoked Kielbasa: MANY Photos...

[Kevin A]

This is my first attempt at smoking 'cured' sausage—'polish kielbasa'— after spending the past few weekends creating piles of 'fresh' sausages for the troops. This is no small feat as the standard was set by my wife's polish grandmother year's ago. Her 'polska wędzona kiełbasa' is what I'll try to replicate. Although the recipe is pretty basic (salt, pepper, garlic, marjoram), there are expectations to be met!

First, as grandma did, I cubed a portion of the lean into 1/2" cubes (about 3.5lbs):


I added a third of the total cure to the cubes & refrigerated this overnight:


This morning, I ground the rest of the pork (about 7.5lbs) through a 4.5mm plate:


Like I said, the recipe is pretty straight-forward. Ingredients ready:


Friday night, FedEx dropped off a package containing this: Kirby's solution to mixing larger quantities of sausage: The Kirby Mixer!


Looking down the spindle, you can see the mixing blade:


Both meats loaded (cubed & ground)— about 11 lbs total:


All spices, garlic & water added:


Lid snapped on, power drill attached & ready to go. I sat on a chair with my feet on the board on both sides of the bucket:


This is the result after only 30-40 seconds of mixing (raising & plunging the drill as one does in mixing mortar, thinset, etc). Very thorough & well-mixed. Pretty amazing for 10+ pounds!


ON TO THE STUFFING:
Nice morning to be outside, so got the kirby cannon set up for action. The lazy susan comes in very handy for long ropes.


11+pounds loaded!


Phase One Done: I've now two large plate-loads of fresh kielbasa. Next step is to prep the smoker. These will sit in the fridge overnight.


More to come.....

Kevin

[ghost9mm]

WOW... Kevin that looks like something out of a professional handbook on how to make kielbasa..and the pictures and the ID of the spices are awesome...well done my friend...

[Bigbirdoffroad]

SWEET!!!!! I was jujst doing the same thing with my KC. Gotta love it!!! Have fun Kevin.

[Keymaster]

Im very very impressed and so glad that drill motor said "dewalt" on it instead of ryobi ;D Not only did you do a awesome tutorial but the pictures kicked butt.  I'd eat some of that any day of the week. Good Job Kevin!!!!

[Bigbirdoffroad]

Hey Kevin, GREAT idea using the lazy susan.

[devo]

Great looking sausage Kevin. I think the fun part is in using the Kirby cannon don't you?

[Kevin A]

I think the fun part is in using the Kirby cannon don't you?

I do enjoy using the KC. Of of the nicest features I like about it is, once I set the right flow speed, I have two hands free with which I can manipulate the casing/tube end and support the links as they are formed. Had no blow-outs this time!  :)

[pensrock]

Nice looking kielbasa. It looks like the mixer worked very well.

[squirtthecat]

NICE post!   Looking forward to the end results..

[NePaSmoKer]

Nice snausages  ;D

[pikeman_95]

looking forward to the final pictures. I think your family will be pleasantly supprised with the results.

KC

[Hopefull Romantic]

What every one said

HR

[Kevin A]

This morning I took the kielbasa from the fridge & hung them up to air-dry & come to room temp while I got the smoker prepped.
Simple wood dowel between chairs:


Since my new electric hasn't yet arrived, I'll be using my old weber smokey mountain (WSM) to do the smoking. This unit tends to run hot (200°) so I needed a plan of attack...


I discovered that I can keep the temp in the 135-160° range by adding about a dozen briquettes. I also placed an old pizza stone above the coals to help absorb & distribute the heat:


Since I'm using only a few coals, hickory wood chunks wouldn't be ideal, so I opted for the smaller chips:


Ideally I wanted to hang the kielbasa but decided to use a 3-tier rack arrangement. The three racks are approximately 3" apart:


Once the WSM's temp got up to about 135,° on went the kielbasa....



I heavily smoked the kielbasas for just under 90 minutes, keeping the temp around 155-160° for the last 30 minutes or so.

Smoke rollin'.......


Time to pull 'em off....


After the smoke, my plan was to hot-water bath the load in this bad boy: a 1950 Westinghouse turkey roaster...



Kept the kielbasas in their hot tub at around 160° for about 30 minutes until the IT reached 155°


Dropped them into an ice bath to quick-cool 'em down & then hang dry to bloom:


Money shot:


Overall I thought the end results do justice to what my wife (& family's) expectations are for 'good' kielbasa—garlicky, smokey with a touch of saltiness, plump & firm, with a good 'snap' when you bite into them. They certainly taste better than anything you find at the local grocery store.

Thanks to you guys here on this forum who helped me quite a bit & giving me the initiative to try this. Good fun!

Kevin

[Keymaster]

Those look perfect, That old turkey fryer was a score!!! I bet it's so old it probably has one of those cloth wrapped cords with no ground plug, I searched on craigslist for one but I think you got the last one in existance in that condition.

[ghost9mm]

Well done Kevin, just plain excellent job, Oh !!! the other roaster like that is in the Smithsonian.. :D