Kielabasa Diary

[col klink]

On my latest foray into kielbasadom, I know what it’s supposed to taste like and I know it’s supposed to feel in your mouth and all I have left to do is figure out how to get from bulk cuts of meat to one of the best sausages in the world. I’ve also decided that samples will be given to the eGullet public at large for which I’m very grateful to for providing an audience.

In my last diaries there were a couple of steps that I left out pictures for so I thought I’d introduce them here. For instance, hog casings have to be reconstituted and rinsed before you can stuff them (sorry about some of these pictures, the camera isn’t exactly fool proof):

The results of this excursion I’m pretty happy with, although I’m still spending far too much time setting up and taking down all of the equipment. For instance, it took me 45 minutes to shuck 7 heads of garlic by hand. Luckily I bought one of those Black and Decker small food processors so it hardly took any time at all to mince everything up. That little guy has already paid for itself. Next time, depending on the size of the batch, I’m seriously considering buying pre-shucked garlic and hopefully the result will be just as good.

Another problem I ran into was forgetting that I didn’t have enough hog casings. Two out of three times I’ve made kielbasa I’ve run out of casing and that really bothers me. In another case of absent mindedness, when I ground the back fat I used a fine grinding plate and I forgot to change back to the coarse plate before I started grinding the pork and the beef! Luckily the new stuffer just stuffs and doesn’t grind like the Kitchen Aid that my buddy lent me and the final texture wasn’t too bad, just not chewy enough. And yes I know, the grinding kit comes with a plastic blade that you use to stuff sausages so you don’t grind them again, but it’s missing.

Maybe this absentmindedness is due to what’s in the foreground?

For the most part the new stuffer worked better than I had expected. I knew that there would be a pretty decent chance that some meat would leak around the edges of the piston. I lost a lot of meat this way the first night because the meat wasn’t as cold as it could have been. When I went back and stuffed the rest Tuesday morning (I would’ve done it Monday, but I was pretty hung over from the Super Bowl party I went to and therefore somewhat lackadaisical), the meat was thoroughly chilled and I hardly lost any at all around the edges. What I like most about the stuffer is that it is feasible for one person to stuff alone. Now if only I could mount it on something it would be even easier to use, oh and have a more ergonomic handle. Your hand gets pretty sore if you don’t use a towel.

Because of the grind plate snafu, the texture is finer than I wanted. This doesn’t mean it isn’t kielbasa; it just means it’s not authentic as it could be. And folks, I’m still working on consistency issues. The sausage I cased the first night weren’t as tightly packed as they should have been and so some of them suffered from fat rendering out and moving to outside of the link. This was partly because the meat wasn’t as cold as possible and also it was my first attempt at using the device and still figuring out the best way to do things. This was remedied in the second stuffing.

I’m pretty happy with the taste of the kielbasa. I used more pepper than last time (I didn’t have enough and had to shop for more, also lengthening the process) but I think I can cut back a little on it though. I cut back on the garlic from last time but I’ll increase it for the next batch. Though the previous batch was too garlicky, that garlic wasn’t as finely minced as this time; you’d get huge blasts of overpowering garlic instead of a strong baseline of garlic that is supposed to be in kielbasa. I also think the smoking level is just about right, although I would like to get them smokier but that will be difficult without a completely different smoker.

Here’s all sixteen (yes only sixteen!) pounds of smoked kielbasa:

I probably shouldn’t be mentioning this since it really doesn’t have a place in the world of kielbasa, but this was so good I just had to. I bought four half-shoulder roasts for the kielbasa but they had bones and skin. Now I didn’t put any of the skin in the kielbasa (maybe I will sometime as an experiment) but I did brine them and after I finished smoking the kielbasa, I put the skins, a brisket (for Jason) and a trout (for dinner) on the smoker to finish off the evening.

Despite spending over 45 minutes on the smoker, the trout didn’t pick up the smoke as much as I would’ve liked but that didn’t bother me, as it was an experiment. On the other hand, the experiment with the pork skins did pan out and I can say WOW! Those were GM Chrysler good! I know it’s sounds disgusting to eat straight pork fat, but until you’ve tried real smoked pork, AND its respective smoked fat, you just don’t know what heaven can be. It was at this moment, that I realized that smoked animal fat just might be the best fat in the world.

If you’ve had good smoked brisket and not the lean stuff, than you have an idea of how divine smoked fat can be. I remember the first time I truly understood what good brisket was; I sat down with a whole mess of brisket on butcher paper and I noticed that fat on the outside edge and thinking, uh, no, that’s not for me. I’ve always been told that fat is bad for you. But for some reason I was overcome by the situation and I thought “what the hell?” I ate some and it was an epiphany! I realized then and there that brisket is nothing without the fat because that’s where the smokiness and most of the flavor is.

The closest non-smoking experience I can think of is biting into a roasted duck. You break the crunchy exterior and there’s a gush of fat that melts in your mouth and rushes everywhere it can. It’s then you realize why you eat meat. These luxurious lipids coat every portion of your mouth and reach down inside you and say “despite everything happening in the world, you are happy.” This is where you realize that somebody on this Earth hasn’t known the extreme pleasure that I know, and I must spread the Gospel. Despite how good roasted duck is it’s still not as good as smoked duck fat.

The main reason for recidivism for vegetarians is bacon and there’s two reasons why. Bacon comes from a pig, and bacon is smoked. This isn’t a loin (a highly overrated cut), nor is it a ham, bacon is about pork fat smoked hours on end. Don’t get me wrong, the best roasted duck has skin that everyone must try at some point but it doesn’t compare to unprocessed pork fat smoked until it loses most of its structural integrity. Ever think, “why this is a fantastic vegetarian dish” only to think, “it could be even better if had bacon?” Smoked fat provides to the palate an omnipresence that no vegetable fat or even non-smoked fat can. But is this true?

I recently bought a whole duck and instead of smoking it, I decided to quarter it and render all of the excess skin. The duck fat is wonderful and made for some of the best roasted potatoes I’ve ever had but it doesn’t quite hit the mouth like smoked duck fat. All last night and this morning I’ve been wondering why smoke works the way it does and now I’m on a quest to figure out if it can be bested. I’m going to experiment with several fats both smoked and non-smoked and do taste comparisons. This is where I need your help; please tell me what are your favorite fats to eat and cook with because I would truly like to know if there’s something better than smoked animal fat.

My first experiment is with the pork skins that smoked for 4 hours. I’m currently rendering the fat in my skillet and I’ll do a comparison between taters roasted with duck fat and taters roasted with smoked pork fat. My plan is to do a “Battle of the Fats” to see who is the victor! So far I’m planning to eventually include the major poultries: chicken, turkey, duck and goose then work with the red meats like beef and lamb. Then I’ll move on to fatty fish like salmon and mackerel. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn of some exotic game that has incredible flavor, but I’m looking for the fat that most people can get through their supermarket.

This doesn’t mean that I haven’t given up on kielbasa, not even in the slightest, but my quest for learning meat will never end.

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[Varmint]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Colonel Klink has been promoted to General Klink, by the authority of Association of Carnivorous Smokers International.

By the way, the term "luxurious lipids" is awesome and will be part of my daily lexicon.

Thanks for all the great reports, Klink.

[CathyL]

General, we who are about to [Atkins] diet salute you.

[NewYorkTexan]

It is almost painful to read that wonderful post at 4:30 in the afternoon. Too early for dinner but long enough since lunch that the keyboard is looking tasty.

Klink, please put me down for an order with your next batch.

After that post and the resulting drool on my desk, I am definitely going for barbeque for dinner…maybe even drive down to Lockhart.

[jhlurie]

Klink was obviously in a FOG when he wrote this!

[Jinmyo]

General, my sincerest thanks.

[col klink]

Just got back from the Post Office folks, it'll be 2 to 3 days before you get your packages. What's even better? Shipping is only $3.85 a package.

[Schielke]

Excellent.

Ben

[CathyL]

How does one obtain a Klink Kielbasa allocation?

[Gen'l, I'll trade for some beef jerky, as soon as I get a chance to smoke some.]

[col klink]

It's as easy as asking. I announced in the last diary that I'd open up the new batch to whomever would like some and everyone who asked before the deadline has been sent some kielbasa. Currently NewYorkTexan is on the list for the next batch. Cathy, a trade for jerky would be just great. I'm not sure when the next kielbasa trial is though. Maybe in a couple of weeks or maybe a month or two. I guess it depends on demand! I'm also thinking about shipping smoked meat as well. I've been shipping Jason smoked pork, kielbasa, turkey and now brisket and even some smoked pork skin (let it render in cast iron for three or four hours on low, you'll thank me). That brisket I smoked was so damn good I'm going to smoke up another one this weekend and it's just not fair to not let everyone who'd like to try some to try some.

[Stone]

That brisket I smoked was so damn good I'm going to smoke up another one this weekend and it's just not fair to not let everyone who'd like to try some to try some.

Whole untrimmed brisket? Spice rub? Slow and low heat? About 220?

[vengroff]

Fantastic report, Klink!

Was that a gully you were drinking?

[col klink]

Whole untrimmed brisket?  Spice rub?  Slow and low heat?  About 220?

No, yes, yes, yes. The brisket came from my grocer and initially weighed about 3.5lbs and it was pretty much trimmed but had more fat than the average trimmed brisket. The rub is my own basically of spices I had around, salt and brown sugar. There was delicate heat coming off of it after a few seconds in the mouth. It really was an exquisite brisket. It smoked for 5 hours.

Yes indeed Vengroff, that was a flaming orange gully and a gully that didn't last long.

[CathyL]

Sorry, Klink, I'm behind in my eGullet reading, what with this pesky full-time job and all. Must go back and review prior kielbasa diary entry.

We'll arrange a jerky/kielbasa exchange...

[trillium]

The results of this excursion I’m pretty happy with, although I’m still spending far too much time setting up and taking down all of the equipment. For instance, it took me 45 minutes to shuck 7 heads of garlic by hand. Luckily I bought one of those Black and Decker small food processors so it hardly took any time at all to mince everything up. That little guy has already paid for itself. Next time, depending on the size of the batch, I’m seriously considering buying pre-shucked garlic and hopefully the result will be just as good.

You might not want to resort to peeled garlic. It leaves a metallic taste in foods that could be disappointing in your sausage. What about using a silicone garlic peeler instead?

regards,

trillium

[Varmint]

Although my neighborhood Whole Foods peels the garlic themselves. They sell an 8 oz. container (approximately 40-50 cloves) for about 2 bucks. It keeps its potency for 3 to 4 days and is well worth it to me.

[Schielke]

I hear those garlic peelers work pretty well, but I dont peel that much gralic to warrant buying one...perhaps you do Gen Klink.

Also, that pic of the waterlogged casings at the top of this page keeps freaking me out when I come to read it. All I can think is "Huge Tapeworms"

Ben

[col klink]

Trillium, are the silicon garlic peelers the same as the rubber tube ones? I tried one once without any affect. I hear that it depends on the garlic. The way I peel my garlic is after breaking it off the head, I chop off the root and if the skin doesn't come right off I give it a twist and then it usually does somewhat easily. If I'm only doing 4 or 5 cloves, it's no problem. It's just when I'm peeling 7 damn heads does it take an inordinate amount of time.

Today I made the first delivery of my kielbasa to Blue Heron and MsRamsey and we did it at Salumi, my favorite sandwich shop here in Seattle. Armandino Batali (the owner) has gathered a lot of fame because he cures his own meats in the old school Italian style, of course it also helps that his son's name is Mario. I had the beef tongue sandwich which was awfully damn good. Anyway, Armandino really liked the kielbasa I left for him as well as the rest of the folks who work there including his wife who's just a darling. When I left she told me told me "to keep making sausage" (she was working the register with about 8 people in line). I asked if she'd like for me to bring more around she replied "oh no, but do keep making kielbasa."

Also, that pic of the waterlogged casings at the top of this page keeps freaking me out when I come to read it.  All I can think is "Huge Tapeworms"

Ben, are you sure that you weren't thinking of the scene in Empire where Luke passes out on Hoth?

"And I thought they smelled bad . . . .

. . . on the outside!"

[Schielke]

LOL!

That one really hit home. I got a mental picture of the whole scene.

Ben

[Rachel Perlow]

Just to clarify - since I just got our package - I should render the pork fat in my cast iron skillet on low, with nothing else? No water? Skin or fat side down? How low? Our range as a low - which would probably be medium on most ranges and a small simmer burner which produces a flame about the size of four candle wicks.

Edited January 31, 2003 by RPerlow (log)

[col klink]

Render the skin skin side up, you'll want the fat to be in contact with the pan. You'll more than likely find the setting that's best for you, but basically you want a slow simmer and avoid burning.

Last night I did the first of the lipid tests and I matched the smoked pork fat versus duck fat in a potato roasting contest. I am sorry to say the duck fat won. You could hardly taste the smoke in the pork potatoes and despite the duck fat not tasting like anything when tasted straight, all of a sudden exploded with ducky scrumptiousness when roasted with something else. I was really stymied laste night becuase eating the two fats straight the duck didn't even come close. The pork potatoes were still good, but they weren't duck good. Cooking with the smoked pork fat is not that much better than cooking with regular bacon fat. Sorry.

[Rachel Perlow]

Well, since I have some rendered bacon fat I can do a side by side comparison. And, since we know it is not necessarily better, maybe Jason will be willing to part with some of the rendered product when we meet with some fellow egulleteers over the weekend.

Camp is boring, please send duck fat.

[Stone]

Although my neighborhood Whole Foods peels the garlic themselves.  They sell an 8 oz. container (approximately 40-50 cloves) for about 2 bucks.  It keeps its potency for 3 to 4 days and is well worth it to me.

I peeled a whole bunch of garlice about a month ago, and they've been sitting in my fridge under some vegetable oil. Should I toss them?

[Dave the Cook]

Although my neighborhood Whole Foods peels the garlic themselves.  They sell an 8 oz. container (approximately 40-50 cloves) for about 2 bucks.  It keeps its potency for 3 to 4 days and is well worth it to me.

I peeled a whole bunch of garlice about a month ago, and they've been sitting in my fridge under some vegetable oil. Should I toss them?

Perhaps you should. Botulism makes those clippie things look pretty tame.

[col klink]

Camp is boring, please send duck fat.

The next time I buy a duck, I'm smoking it! I'm very interested in how smoked duck fat compares to regular duck fat.