I had a hankering for some smoked kielbasa, so I mixed up a 5 lb batch.
Smoked KielbasaIngredients: 5 lbs Ground pork shoulder
4 tsp Pickling Salt
1 tsp Cure #1 (Prague Powder #1, Instacure #1, etc.)
1 1/4 tsp Sugar
2 1/2 tsp Ground Marjoram
1 1/4 tsp Pepper (Black or White)
1 1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds (optional - but I love them in this sausage)
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder, or 2 - 3 garlic cloves finely minced
5/8 tsp Nutmeg
5 oz Water
If grinding your meat, use a medium plate (1/4").
Mix all seasonings with water and stir until salt & sugar are dissolved. Pour the slurry evenly over ground pork (in a tub) and mix thoroughly until sausage is uniform in color (no pink spots - it should all take on a slightly grayish tint from the cure).
Stuff into Hog casings, then hot-smoke (165° - 185°) until an Internal Temperature of 152° is reached.
Optional: You may cold smoke first, for 2 - 4 hours, if a deeper smoke flavor is desired.Once 152° I.T. is reached, plunge sausages into an ice water bath to cool quickly and keep the sausages plump. Once cool, dry off and store as normal.
What's in the bowl was about 1/2 lb that was left in the tube & neck of the stuffer. It won't go to waste.
Hung on my sausage rack and into the MAK with the A-Maze-N pellet tube (below the grate on the right) and a Maple/Hickory/Cherry blend of pellets, for a couple hours of cold smoke. I made a couple patties out of the leftover sausage which also went in.
After about two hours of cold smoke, I put a probe into one of the sausages and turned the MAK on to Smoke Mode with more of the Maple/Hickory/Cherry blend. I really like the flavor and color this blend gives to smoked sausage.
Once an internal temp of 152° was reached the sausages were plunged into an ice water bath to cool quickly and keep them plump.
Finished, and ready to eat! The patties will get cut up and added to a pot of beans.
Thanks for looking!
