Thread: just wanted to share tonight's dinner with you guys..

Originally Posted by cudarunner

Well if your going to eat, you need ingredients. So Sunday my son and I made Smoked Kielbasa. All of my kids have helped with making the various sausages that I make but Sunday was special. While we were getting ready to get going I mentioned that he really needed to pay attention to how things worked as someday I wouldn't be around and since he'd helped the most it would be him making the sausages in the future. He then said that he wanted to run the stuffer, place the casings on, then link the casings and put them on the smoke sticks.

He did a great job! Here's a few pics after stuffing while he was linking;

Attachment 216788

Here he's using the boning knife to measure the links for uniformity;

Attachment 216789

Here's some on a smoke stick ready for the smoker;

Attachment 216790

We decided to try something different so we stuffed some 3 and 7/8" X 24" collagen casings;

Attachment 216791

Well my smoker started acting up and we barely got the linked sausage done so I put the collagen casings ones in the freezer and am hoping it'll turn out right in a day or so. With that said, here's a few of the finished links. All others are packaged, frozen and ready to use or just eat with cheese and crackers. Some of them will be Christmas Presents;

Attachment 216792

I hope all have enjoyed.

You just made my day !!!!!!

Originally Posted by cudarunner

He did a great job! ; I hope all have enjoyed.

Bravo Connor! 'Seems like Dad did a great job also. W/ sausage and w/ raising a fine helper.

Ohh Roy,, Haven't had home made Kielbasa since I worked at Husky. Had a polish friend that made them himself at home all from scratch. The smell when he brought in fresh chubs.. Man that makes my mouth water.
Great tradition to pass down..

Thanks my friend, without trying to brag, my Kielbasa comes out very good and I get a lot of compliments on it.

The grocery chain that I work for used to have signage that said Kielbasa Sausage. I told them that the signage was redundant as Kielbasa was Polish for Sausage so all they were advertising was Sausage Sausage!

We use it for sandwiches with hot sauerkraut, mustard sauteed onion served on hoagie buns or small french bread. And as I said just plain with crackers and a cheddar cheese, but I also use i to make a special pizza.

It's a mustard base with Swiss and mozzarella cheese, Sauerkraut some sliced onion and the Kielbasa. There is a pizza place in Clarkston WA that serves a pizza like that and it's my youngest daughter's absolute favorite, it's one of their top 4 selling pizzas.

Off to fix the smoker/still 8-10#'s of the sausage in the large casing to finish!

Originally Posted by cudarunner

Thanks my friend, without trying to brag, my Kielbasa comes out very good and I get a lot of compliments on it.

The grocery chain that I work for used to have signage that said Kielbasa Sausage. I told them that the signage was redundant as Kielbasa was Polish for Sausage so all they were advertising was Sausage Sausage!

We use it for sandwiches with hot sauerkraut, mustard sauteed onion served on hoagie buns or small french bread. And as I said just plain with crackers and a cheddar cheese, but I also use i to make a special pizza.

It's a mustard base with Swiss and mozzarella cheese, Sauerkraut some sliced onion and the Kielbasa. There is a pizza place in Clarkston WA that serves a pizza like that and it's my youngest daughter's absolute favorite, it's one of their top 4 selling pizzas.

Off to fix the smoker/still 8-10#'s of the sausage in the large casing to finish!

It's a damn good thing I got some brats in the fridge cause you are makin my drool reflex go nuts !

Originally Posted by cudarunner

Well if your going to eat, you need ingredients. So Sunday my son and I made Smoked Kielbasa. All of my kids have helped with making the various sausages that I make but Sunday was special. While we were getting ready to get going I mentioned that he really needed to pay attention to how things worked as someday I wouldn't be around and since he'd helped the most it would be him making the sausages in the future. He then said that he wanted to run the stuffer, place the casings on, then link the casings and put them on the smoke sticks.

He did a great job! Here's a few pics after stuffing while he was linking;

Attachment 216788

Here he's using the boning knife to measure the links for uniformity;

Attachment 216789

Here's some on a smoke stick ready for the smoker;

Attachment 216790

We decided to try something different so we stuffed some 3 and 7/8" X 24" collagen casings;

Attachment 216791

Well my smoker started acting up and we barely got the linked sausage done so I put the collagen casings ones in the freezer and am hoping it'll turn out right in a day or so. With that said, here's a few of the finished links. All others are packaged, frozen and ready to use or just eat with cheese and crackers. Some of them will be Christmas Presents;

Attachment 216792

I hope all have enjoyed.

OUTSTANDING! Now that is really great. You must have one helluva smoker to fit all of that in it. Congrats!

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

OUTSTANDING! Now that is really great. You must have one helluva smoker to fit all of that in it. Congrats!

Thank you, I value family and passing along knowledge to others a virtue that is a duty to oneself.

I've tried taking pictures of my smoker and they never really show how it all works. It's insulated and Stainless Steel inside and out unit that originally was natural gas powered. It had been installed in our Deli/China to make their own Chinese BBQ Pork. It was plumbed, test fired but never used. After several years the District Manager told my then store manager to have it hauled to the dump. Knowing my love of making smoked sausage, turkeys, chickens, ducks, jerky etc my store manager asked me if I would 'like to haul it to the dump' and I said, 'I'd love to haul it to the dump'.

On my next day off I drove my pickup to the store with some tools, turned off the gas supply undid the connections and 'hauled it to the dump' in fact we used the stores mobile double stacker to load it in my pickup. I then hauled it home where it sat unused for a couple of yeas as my modified 1940's style (refrigerator) smoker was still going strong. When it needed work I removed all of the gas ventricles and made a wooden bottom and with the help of a friend who is in the heating and cooling business installed an electric thermostat (the old gas one went to 700 degs).

It's weak point is the need to use hot plates for the heat source. This one failed as I hadn't by passed the bi-metal thermostat so it would only be run by the remote thermostat. I've corrected that and it's heating as we speak.

Anyway the usable inside measurements are just under 24"s deep and 17"'s wide, there is a top rack that slides in and out that holds the smoke sticks.

I'll try to get some pics once more but it's not near the top of my priority list.

I do have the large stuffed tubes thawed and tied in the middle (that was a second thought/as using 4 lbs all at once might be a bit much) and I'll try to post pictures when they are done.

Off to see how my repair on the heating unit is working.

Well the sausage is getting smoked! The true test is how the hot plate holds up in the long run.

It was hard to actually show that smoke was coming out!





I've used all kinds of temp probes and all have failed especially the 'remotes' where you can insert the probes and then go back inside and have them monitor the temps for you.



The top temp is the temp inside the smoker. Once things get closer I'll reset it, clean the probe and insert it into the sausage to keep track of the internal temp.

Smoking isn't really 'cooking' it's low and slow until you get the meat up to temp. That's how you get the flavor and texture!

Thanks for looking! :

18 hours after the large casings were put into the smoker, they are up to temp, have been rinsed to keep them from shriveling and are now hanging to cool a little more before placing under refrigeration. Once cold I'll get them packaged and in the freezer.



I hadn't noticed but the camera angle makes it look like the sausages aren't the same size in that the upper ones look longer. However both are very close to being the same size being about 2#'s each.

Sorry I didn't catch it sooner.

Originally Posted by cudarunner

18 hours after the large casings were put into the smoker, they are up to temp, have been rinsed to keep them from shriveling and are now hanging to cool a little more before placing under refrigeration. Once cold I'll get them packaged and in the freezer.



I hadn't noticed but the camera angle makes it look like the sausages aren't the same size in that the upper ones look longer. However both are very close to being the same size being about 2#'s each.

Sorry I didn't catch it sooner.

As penance for the deceiving photo you should send those seemingly smaller lower chubs north for disposal. Once converted to metric, they will seem much bigger.

All kidding aside, those look perfect!