Meats and Sausages
Podhalanska Sausage
Podhalanska Sausage (Kiełbasa podhalańska) is made with lamb and pork. This sausage comes from the Southern part of Poland known as “Podhale” where the Tatry Mountains are located. For centuries it was a region where mountain men (“górale”) raised sheep for their skins. The leather and sheepskin industry operated there and some of the finest master furriers came from that area. Sheep were wandering everywhere and it comes as no surprise that the regional cooking was based on that meat.
| Meats | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| lamb, lean | 200 g | 0.44 lb. |
| lamb, fatter | 400 g | 0.88 lb. |
| pork | 300 g | 0.66 lb. |
| pork back fat or hard fat trimmings | 100 g | 0.22 |
Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat
| salt | 18 g | 3 tsp. |
| Cure #1 | 2.5 g | ½ tsp. |
| pepper | 2.0 g | 1 tsp. |
| herbal pepper * | 2.0 g | 1 tsp. |
| allspice | 2.0 g | 1 tsp. |
| garlic | 3.5 g | 1 tsp. |
| cold water | 100 ml | ⅜ cup |
Instructions
- Grind pork and pork back fat through a 3/8” (10 mm) plate. Grind lean lamb through 1/2” (13 mm) plate. Grind fat lamb at least two times through 1/8” (2 mm) plate. Add water, salt and all ingredients and emulsify together. This can be done in a food processor.
- Mix lean lamb with pork until sticky. Then add emulsified lamb that was already mixed with spices. Mix everything well together.
- Stuff tightly into 32-42 mm hog casings and make a long rope with 1 foot (30-35) cm individual links.
- Hang for 12 hours at 35º-42º F, (2º-6º C) or for 1-2 hours at room temperature.
- Smoke with hot smoke 105º-140º F (41º-60º C) for 80-100 min until light brown color is obtained. In the last 30 minutes of smoking increase the temperature to 140º-176º F, (60º-80º C) while still applying smoke. Temperature as high as 194º F (90º C) is allowed for a short time as you are baking the sausage on its outside only. The sausage is done when an internal meat temperature of 154º-158º F, (68º-70º C) is obtained.
- Divide links into pairs. Keep refrigerated.
OR Hang sausages for 2-3 days at 53º-59º F (12º-15º C) at < 70% humidity. They will start losing moisture and will become dry sausages.
Notes
* Herbal pepper is a mixture of mustard, caraway, marjoram, chili, sweet Hungarian paprika, hot paprika and bay leaves. There are different combinations of spices on the market, so choose something you like. Another combination: coriander, caraway, marjoram, cayenne, mustard, dried horseradish, powdered onion.
