Tubular Charcuterie: My First Attempt

[TAFKAP]

We'll see how this goes. Polish kielbasa made via recipe in Michael Ruhlman's Charcuterie book. It didn't take too long to get the hang of getting the casings uniformly filled. They'll dry out a bit in the curing fridge, then I'll smoke them tomorrow evening. Keeping my fingers crossed

First grind�.I used 2 lbs of boneless sirloin roast and 1.3 lbs of pork belly

The recipe said to use 12 oz. of crushed ice�..I sort of skimmed over that part and broke the spindle of the auger because I'm a dumbarse. Note to self: don't put ice cubes in the hopper

Fortunately, the grinding was done at that point, and there was still enough spindle to turn the auger and stuff the casings.

 

[BamaProud]

Awesome.

 

[TAFKAP]

Smoked it last night. I shall test the final product tonight. It sure looks good.

 

[TAFKAP]

I just steamed one of those small links, and it's absolutely delicious. It's less fatty than a Hillshire Farms, so it feels a little mealy. But I've had some legit Polska kielbasa before, and it's much closer to that�.much meatier Absolutely spectacular.

 

[BamaProud]

Looks great

 

[gat51]

That looks great. I'm getting hungry

 

[Vermin93]

That does look great. My mom's parents were Slovak and my grandpa was a farmer and a sausage maker. He never wrote down his recipe and technique for making kielbasa (they call it klobasa). One of my uncles was afraid my grandpa would take the recipe to the grave, so one year he went to the farm and asked if he could help my grandpa make it. He wrote everything down and shared it with the family when my grandpa died. The only thing we can't replicate is my grandpa's smoker, which was one-of-a-kind. My grandpa used a mix of deer and pork. Nobody else in my family hunts, so I'm the only one capable of producing the real deal. :grin:

You are right about it being much meatier and less greasy than something like Hillshire Farms. If that's how yours turned out, then it sounds like you nailed it!

 

[TAFKAP]

I got my comparison from a buddy that grew up in western Massachusetts. They're all Polish up there, and one guy runs a Polish butcher shop. The kielbasa recipes he kicks out every day are all different, but were similar consistency to this. I was close enough to know it was legit. The consistency is somewhat mealy/grainy, but not a bad way�.it really just melts. I'm hooked.

 

[Vermin93]

When I was a kid my grandpa would send everyone in the family a package of his homemade klobasa. For Christmas my mom would make homemade nutroll and we would boil up grandpa's klobasa and have nutroll, klobasa and fried eggs on Christmas morning. My brother and I thought it was the best breakfast ever. We would fight over who got the last piece of klobasa.

When I make a batch of klobasa most of it gets eaten for breakfast with fried eggs.

 

[TAFKAP]

Huh�..we have eggs, and we have kielbasa. But it'll be in stiff competition with the bacon I just made for tomorrow's breakfast.


Aww hell, who am I kidding? We'll have both.

One of my Pollack friends from college is going to bring over her granddad's recipe soon. I think I might hit my roots a little, though, and make some Irish bangers.

 

[JMcB]

Looks awesome. The mealy texture your getting is the fat breaking down from not being cold enough. The grinder also heats the fat so everything needs to be kept as cold as possible during the entire process. Thats why there is ice in the recipe instead of just water. Also, freeze the meat and let it lightly thaw before the grind. You can float your grind bowl in ice to keep the meat cold and even refrigerate the metal hopper before use. I even let the stuffed casings run out on metal tray covered with ice and water. Cold, cold, cold and you will be happy.

Also, cooking at to high of a temp can cause the sausage to "fat out". Wouldn't smoke higher than 160.

 

[TAFKAP]

I followed all of those rules. And after having eaten all that sausage, I think I'll have to back myself out of the "mealy" description. The whole batch didn't end up that way, just one of the first trial links.

The second ground was nearly solid when it went through, and I ground it straight into the mixer bucket which was sitting in ice water. Everything spent an hour in the deep freeze prior to handling.

This will only get better with practice�..I was too quick to jump on the grainy bandwagon, mostly because this was completely different than the greasy stuff from the grocery store. I really enjoy my new hobby

 

[JMcB]

I'm with ya on that. All of our venison except the backstrap goes to either jerky or sausage. My first couple batches had the mealy texture. I tried a smaller grind, then adding more fat. Tasted great but the texture was awful. I finally had to get a pro help me figure it out. We have a great Asian market here in Knoxville where they will sell me slabs of pork fat that I mix with. I'm kinda on a bread making kick now, but soon as game starts hitting the ground, the grinder will be out again.

 

[TAFKAP]

Rather than seeking fat, I liked using the pork belly from Whole Paycheck. It helped with the meatiness, but I wonder if there was enough fat to begin with.

 

[JMcB]

Couple other things can effect texture. If your recipe calls for curing salt, the cure has to be evenly distributed in the mix. From looking at your pictures, it may just be that cooking at to high a temperature is rendering some of the fat and causing it to separate from the protein. Using curing salt, I was told to set my smoker @ 160 and cook till internal 150. Has been working great.

 

[TAFKAP]

This was definitely a hot smoke. I ran the cure mix in the blender for about 5 minutes, as the recipe called. The grill was 225 where the sausages were. I'm not set up for a cold smoke. But this recipe called for a hot smoke, as well.