EQUIPMENT

1. MEAT! 1.5 HP Grinder
2. MEAT! 15lbs. Vertical Sausage Stuffer
3. MEAT! 20lbs. Meat Mixer
4. Smoker or Grill

Classic Polish Kielbasa Directions:

1. Remove the sausage casings from their original packaging. To remove excess salt, thoroughly rinse and set in cool water overnight, or for at least 1 hour in lukewarm water prior to stuffing.
• Pro Tip: Freeze the grinder throat as well. This will keep it from getting hot and will help with grinding the meat.
2. Cube your meat and fat into roughly 2” pieces and then partially freeze your meat and fat to make grinding easier.We’re using a mixture of pork shoulder, pork belly, and pork fat to keep this relatively traditional.
3. Peel and mince your garlic and onion, dice your optional ingredients and prepare your dry ingredients by mixing them together in a bowl.
• We’ve left a small range for you to adjust this recipe to your preference. Feel free to keep it subtle, or pack on the flavor if you prefer.
4. Place your partially frozen meat in a separate bowl and add your garlic, parsley, onion and optional peppers or mushrooms. Mix until well incorporated and place back in the freezer if necessary to harden again.
5. With your meat and fat still partially frozen, put the small chucks through your MEAT! 1.5 HP Grinder. We are roughly using a 20% ratio of fat to meat, but feel free to adjust to your preference.
6. Grind all your meat and fat together using the fine grind plate. Make sure you evenly distribute the pork and fat as best you can
7. Once finished with grinding everything together, add your ground meat to the MEAT! 20lb Mixer and slowly add in your dry seasonings while mixing.
8. Stop mixing when your meat mixture takes on a slightly tacky texture and all your ingredients are added.
• You do not want to overmix your sausage; it will take on a tough or rubbery texture.
9. Great job, you’ve made your Polish Kielbasa filling. Now it’s time to stuff it and decide whether to keep it coiled and classic or segment them for simplicity.
10. Using the MEAT! 15-lb Stuffer, press your final meat mixture into the canister. You will want to make sure you get it packed down to remove any air bubbles from the meat.
• Pro Tip: We suggest throwing the meat into the canister with a little force and lightly packing it down every so often.
11. With the canister full, attach the casing to the stuffing tube. Leave an inch of casing hanging off and do not tie until you have pumped in some of the meat into the casing.
12. If you are going to coil your sausage, pump it slowly and coil it as you stuff it.
13. If you are going to twist it off, feel free to treat the kielbasa the same way you would a brat. We recommend 5-7 inches per sausage.
14. Using a sanitized sausage pricker or fine needle, prick sausage to pop air bubbles.
15. Hang sausages for 3-4 hours then place in fridge for a couple of hours to allow the casing to shrink and adhere to the meat.

How to Cook Polish Kielbasa

No matter how you plan to serve your Polish Kielbasa, you should first smoke it low and slow to get the best flavor. After smoking it, it is great on its own in a bun or served with sauerkraut and potatoes.

How to Smoke Polish Kielbasa

Set your pellet grill to 180 degrees or get a low and slow fire going in a Kamado grill.

Once the grill has come up to temperature and the grates are warm, place your polish kielbasa on the smoker perpendicular to the grates. If your sausage is coiled, make sure there is a little bit of space in between each layer so the heat and smoke can circulate.

Allow the polish sausage to smoke for at least 1-hour, it’s not necessary to flip your kielbasa. Obviously, the time to cook will speed up the higher you set your smoker. Check the center of the kielbasa with a meat thermometer periodically. Once your brats have reached 155 degrees they are safe to pull off the grill, rest and serve or store for the future!