Smoked Polish Sausage

[reinhard1]

Time for polish sausage again.  Some of this will go to deer camp [probably most as usual].  Added some crushed red pepper to it this time along with the extra mustard seeds and of course plenty of diced garlic.  25 pounds of polish.   16 pounds of pork butt and the rest 80/20 ground beef.  My grandfather in Germany had a butcher shop and he added beef to all of his sausage so I'm doing the same.   Heck even my breakfast sausage has some beef in it.   I ground the meat yesterday and mixed everything up well.  Also got the hog casings ready to go.  I'ts important to leave the casings in the fridge overnight after you rinsed them through and stored them in water.  Makes them nice and soft and easy to slip on the stuffing tube.  So today I will stuff the sausage into links and cold smoke them for a few hours and then crank the heat up to get them done.  Here is the start and I'll post the step by steps as the day goes.  good luck.

 

I ground the meat only once through my medium plate.  If you look at my blog at the polish sausage step by step in the Homemade Sausage page,  you will see that I used to grind the meat once through the course plate and then mixed everything up and then I ground the mix one more time through the medium plate.  That worked well and gave it a finer texture but I like just grinding it once through for a courser texture on polish now.  For Kielbasa I run the meat through the course plate twice.

 

 

Here is everything mixed up and ready to go into the fridge for a overnight stay for everything to meld together.  The cure needs to meld in overnight especially.  More to come.......

[Boar]

Awsome, Im looking for a braut or polish recipe to do with bear/beef or bear/pork,  lookinfg forward to watch tis.

[reinhard1]

Looks like I wont be stuffing and smoking until tomorrow.  Have to watch the little one while my wife takes the other kids to the corn maze.  The mix will be just fine for one more day.  Grandkids rule.  good luck.

[reinhard1]

Ok,  I'm ready to get going.  good luck.

 

[bobberineyes]

Those hog casings Reinhard? That's my next stuffing adventure,  my salami turned out really good so it's on to some brats...or perhaps some swedes 

[reinhard1]

Ya, those are hog casings.  Polish are still cold smoking.  Will be turning up the heat soon..  Chili dogs next for me.  good luck.

[Boar]

whats that wire brush thinga majiggy in the picture.

[reinhard1]

That's a meat tenderizer Boar.  i use that for putting the small holes in the casings at points for easier stuffing and to break up any air pockets.  The thing has very small sharp points so it's handy.  Heck a simple corn cob holder with the two prongs work great also.  I also use it for larger pieces of meat like a pork butt when I brine them for cottage ham.  I use it also if I want a marinade to get inside meat faster.  More pics and stuff to come.    good luck.

Edited October 11, 2015 by reinhard1

[reinhard1]

Here are some more pics from yesterday.  good luck.

 

Lining up the links for the cold smoke to come.

 

 

You can see the red color of the meat through the casings from the cure.

 

 

Getting some cold smokin on those links.  I had them with the cold smoke for about 5 hours.  Then I crank up the heat and finish them off when the internal is around 155-160 deg.

 

 

Here are some that just came out of the cold bath.  Once the polish has the right internal temp. I pull them and put them in cold water to stop the cooking process.  This stops any shrinkage and you won't have those wrinkles in your casings.  I only keep them in the cold water for around 5 minutes.

 

 

Some more that came out of the smoker.

 

 

Closer look.

 

 

Here they are for a sample that I simmered in water for about 10 minutes for a taste.  I added 2 tablespoons of crushed red pepper to this 25 pound batch along with 4 tablespoons of mustard seeds.  Got a little kick to them, but just right.  Should be a hit at deer camp.

 

 

All vac packed and now to date and label them, and then off to the freezer.  good luck.

[bobberineyes]

Good god Reinhard. ....on my way!!

[ThunderLund78]

Looks AWESOME Reinhard!

Just curious, how big is your freezer ???

[reinhard1]

I have a large chest freezer in the garage.  I bought it when I used to process deer in my garage for 10 years.  Very handy LOL.  good luck.

[Boar]

we...... are not worthy, mighty meat maker

[reinhard1]

Thanks everyone!!  I just posted my whole process on my blog [kind of a long one] for those who want the recipe and the step by step.  Now to make some chili dogs.  Just put two more half boneless loins in the brine for CB also.  good luck.

[Scenic]

There is some very good reading here.  I have been away way to long!!!   Rienhard you refer to your blog.  Where do I find that at?    Probably right in front of me and I just don't see it...LOL

 

[reinhard1]

www.sausageheavenoutdoors.com     good luck.

[Scenic]

Thank you Sir.