I could show you what to do. Its not terribly hard. You have to cure the ground pork and beef. Then pack it into casings with just the right amount of fat and salt pepper and garlic, then cold smoke it.
I feel bad that they are raising the price of this crap kielbasa. All meat is going up because feed prices are going up.
Im very lucky the hood where I work is right next to Phillys Polish neighborhood. The best kielbasa in the world. I think their wedding kielbasa is about the same price as hillshire farms.
If you want, let me know Ill pack up some Krakus market wedding Keilbasa and ship it out to you if you want. Ill stop by there this week and see how much it is.
In our house Kielbasa ans sauerkraut pay a big part of Christmas. We celebrate Christmas Slovakian style.
My wife absolutely loves the kielbasa. Its one of the reasons I married her.
Cap can never stay on topic. I used to have a great place to get this kind of stuff, but I noticed the past few times that there’s a significant texture change and much more fat. I believe if you get that sawdust texture, that’s an overapplication of organ meat, and well, fat in the wrong proportions in a sausage just feels nasty.
Back when football season first started I was trying to replicate Johnsonville Brats. This site: The Bratwurst Mystery | The Paupered Chef got me pretty damn close. In the myriad of links he provides, you can find this one:
No disrespect intended, because tastes vary…but honestly, Hillshire would be the farthest example I can think of to represent Polish kielbasa. It is really nothing at all like the real deal
In any case, if you really want to try to emulate it, use a lot of salt and a lot of MSG with the following as a guide:
2 lbs beef, coarsely ground
2 lbs pork, coarsley ground NOTE-- Real kielbasa should not contain any beef, just pork.
1 to 1 1/2 lbs lb pork fat (preferably leaf lard, the fat from around the kidneys)…don’t scrimp on the fat, you’ll wind up with really dry sausage.
1 Tblsp powdered Marjoram
2 to 3 Tblsp salt
1/2 cup ice water
1 Tblsp (or more) white pepper
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder**
1/2 Tblps sugar**
1/2 Tblsp Corn Syrup Solids**
1 tsp MSG**
Prague Powder #1 or Morton Curing Salt** (amount according to package directions)
**denotes ingredients not present in real kielbasa
Grind the meat cold; mix in other ingredients and stuff fairly loosely into hog casings (or collagen casings)…keeping in mind that it will expand especially due to the dry milk and sugar additions (personally, I can’t stand sausage made that way)
Hang stuffed sausage in a cool place overnight; smoke as per the method of your choice (Hillshire is smoked for a bit then steam cooked). Hand in a draft -free place to allow the smoke flavor/color to ‘bloom’.
If you want fresh sausage (ie., not smoked) leave out the curing salt, the dry milk powder, and the corn syrup solids. The uncured kielbasa can be cooked right away (in the oven in a very shallow bath of water is the best way).
Good luck. But you owe it to yourself to try and score some real kielbasa…there’s no comparison.
I’m glad I was reading this thread a few days ago. I found out about the International Deli not too far from my commute, it mostly has Eastern European stuff including meats. I picked up some wedding sausage and swojska kielbasa. Both are great.
I also got some vobla from the deli case, which is some kind of dried fish. I got it on the recommendation of my brother’s “mail order bride” ;D She’s funny, she calls herself that because she’s from Ukraine, but she’s been here ~20 years. Anyway, the fish was ok but incredibly salty. I’m going to try some different varieties next time I go back, they had a bunch of pre-packaged stuff, including dried calamari.
I went looking for suva govedina, but I only found the brand that nic mentioned in the other thread, and based on his brief review, the lack of pricing, and the large package (hehe) I didn’t buy it. Maybe next time.
If anyone has any recommendations on stuff to buy at those kinds of places let me know, non-Americanized versions of Eastern European food are pretty new to me.