Polish ham kielbasa (pics)

geofite · April 09, 2008, 08:58:53 AM

Hello, everyone!

I have been reading for some time and then bought a bradley smoker last month. My first smoke was ribs, but I over smoked them. They were okay, but not overly great, next time I will make them better. Here is my second smoke, Polish ham kielbasa. It is the best kielbasa I ever had. I have tried many over the years as I am Polish, but I never tried homemade.

The recipe is from Rytec Kutas, Great sausage recipes and meat curing, page 226. I modified it by poaching the sausage after smoking, because we could not wait to eat it. Next time, I will cook it in the smoker only, and see how that will taste.

The fresh meat. Ham pork.

The meat cut up and cure added. Now it will sit in the fridge for 48 hours to cure.

Chop and grind the meat for the sausage. Half the meat was just cut up into smaller cubes and not put through the grinder. Also, added 1 pound of hard fat that was ground very fine after the meat was seasoned.

The stuffed casings. Ready for the smoker.

Into the smoker to be smoked for 2 hours with apple smoke.

Finished smoking.

Poaching in 168 degree water bath until internal temp reaches 158 degrees fahrenheit.

Cooling, cold water sprayed, resting.

Eating Polish ham kielbasa with borsch, pirogi, mizeria (polish cucumber salad), beets and horseradish and rye bread.

Homemade lemon cheesecake for desert.

CLAREGO · April 09, 2008, 09:04:35 AM

wow yum got to try that

iceman · April 09, 2008, 09:06:05 AM

Very nice. LUNCH TIME!!! ;D

Mr Walleye · April 09, 2008, 10:14:59 AM

Great job Geofite! 8)

And.... Welcome to the forum! ;)

Mike

geofite · April 09, 2008, 10:44:15 AM

Thank you for the greetings and comments. There are a few things to change to make it a better kielbasa, so will work on it next time. ;D

geofite · April 09, 2008, 10:46:40 AM

Here are pics of my first smoke.

I oversmoked them for my liking. But, they were okay. A bit dry though.

Habanero Smoker · April 09, 2008, 02:00:04 PM

Looks good!

Arcs_n_Sparks · April 09, 2008, 05:47:41 PM

geofite,

Welcome to the forum. Great stuff.

The kielbasa looks great. Throwing in the pierogi really hurt. :o

I guess I'll bug my Russian Orthodox friends for Easter; hopefully I can get some of both.

Arcs_n_Sparks

La Quinta · April 09, 2008, 06:03:45 PM

Man that looks awesome...what type of casings did you use Geo? I've tried to make keilbasa before and wasn't very happy with what I canked out...

FLBentRider · April 09, 2008, 07:22:40 PM

W E L C O M E geofite!

I bet that kielbasa tasted as good as it looked!

kiyotei · April 09, 2008, 07:46:40 PM

dude, wow is all I can say. I so want to try making klobase (Slovanian version of Kielbasa).

geofite · April 11, 2008, 02:55:32 PM

Quote from: La Quinta on April 09, 2008, 06:03:45 PM
Man that looks awesome...what type of casings did you use Geo? I've tried to make keilbasa before and wasn't very happy with what I canked out...

I used fibrous kielbasa casing, I think it was the 32 mm one. I bought it from a sausage supple company close to where I live. This kielbasa was very tasty. It is fantastic fried too. Next time, I will do a few changes to the way I made it to make it even better. But, the taste of this batch is excellent! I have about a foot of it left.

This is ham kielbasa (the entire leg meat was only used for this kielbasa), and the meat was bought from a polish butcher, and they get their meat from the mennonite community so the meat was very good quality and very fresh.

Where did you get your recipe from? If you want to make good kielbasa, then get Rytek Kutas' book.
This is the book I used for the recipe.
http://www.sausagemaker.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=413

I also have this book and will make recipes from it as well, in time.
http://www.amazon.ca/Polish-Sausages-Authentic-Recipes-Instructions/dp/1432713442

This is where I got my casing. This shop has everything to make sausages. It is close to my home.
http://www.yesgroup.ca/main_site/

aces-n-eights · April 11, 2008, 03:10:54 PM

Awesome, Geo! That looks great! It looks like you've got a great recipe for kielbasa as well as figuring out how to post pictures! Thanks for taking the time to post the pics - they really add a lot to an informative post.

geofite · April 11, 2008, 03:17:28 PM

Thank you all for the greetings and comments. I really like this site. Great recipes and pictures. I will attempt to make a pulled pork butt next in the BS, so thanks for all the great pics, recipes, and ideas.

Buck36 · April 11, 2008, 04:22:35 PM

Geo that looks awesome! I will bring some of my Grandma's czernina and paczki and have a feast!