Kielbasa (Polish) sausage

Polish sausage:

Kielbasa is a typical English name for sausage found in Eastern European countries such as Poland and is actually derived from the Polish word kiełbasa. But the word is also similar to the Ukrainian name kovbasa and the Hungarian name Kolbász. In fact, most of the sausage called kielbasa in the US is very different from those that are native to Poland. And one thing is for certain, Eastern Europe has a plethora of different types of sausages. Technically the recipe I use below is similar to a Polish sausage referred to as wiejska which is made from pork and veal along with marjoram and garlic. One of the characteristics of Kielbasa is that is made with leaner meat than Italian or German sausages for example. It is common to serve fried onions with Kielbasa in Poland. I might recommend onion rings instead.

Ingredients (serves 10 to 12 – I usually make a large amount and freeze what is left over):

• 5 pounds – pork shoulder including bone (Boston butt), cut into pieces to fit into the meat grinder (cut large chunks of fat off and discard)
• 3 pounds – veal (I use veal shoulder blade steak), cut into pieces to fit into the meat grinder
• 2 tablespoons – salt
• 2 tablespoons – mustard seeds
• 1 ½ teaspoons – marjoram
• 1 ½ teaspoons – black pepper
• 3 cloves – garlic, finely minced
• Sausage casings – enough for about 6 to 7 ft.

Preparation:

Pork shoulder (left) and veal.

Grind the meat using the coarse blade on the Kitchen Aid (see the instructions for Italian sausage to learn how to use the Kitchen Aid).

Grinding the meat.

Ground meat.

Add the salt, mustard seeds, marjoram, pepper, and garlic to the ground meat and mix thoroughly.

Ground meat with spices.

Use the sausage stuffer that comes with the Kitchen Aid as described for Italian sausage.

Sausage being stuffed.

Once the sausage is stuffed, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and cook in a baking dish with water (water should be about half way up on the sausage) for about 45 to 60 minutes. Enjoy!

Kielbasa sausage

J. Botticelli