One of my favorite sauerkraut recipes is with kielbasa. Cut up a couple of feet of good kielbasa and put in a crockpot. Add a couple of large cans of sauerkraut, pour in a cup or so of red wine of your choice and add a cup of brown sugar. Stir well and cook for 4 or 5 hours.   This was a recipe of the Hungarian Ambassador to the US, who made it on the old Galloping Goumet show many years ago, and it became a favorite of my family. My late wife particularly liked it because she could put it on before going to work and have supper ready when she got home. My daughter prefers hot southern pork sausage. I prefer the kielbasa.

 

It sure sounded good, so I wanted to give it a try. Here's all you need:

 

dave - that's one thing i really need to do. i have all the stuff, and can do it smoked or un-smoked. the only thing i am really leery about is the casings. i've never worled with them, and would hate to screw it up. i've got two sausage-stuffer-type things. one pretty much the diameter of breakfast sausage, the other is about the diameter of summer sausage. one of these days i'll have an actual, no-excuses stuffer capable with any type or size casing ~

 

i like your ideas on thickening the sauce a little - i know that a lot of hungarian food is thickened by the addition of a little sour cream mixed with flour, and i am sure this would work while also being authentic. i can't swear to it, but i am also sure that a flour/fat roux would be just as good and authentic as well. those are the first two things i would try, so great minds must think alike!

 

as for the casings, i probably wasn't clear in my post; i'm not "leery" of them from a food safety standpoint, but more in the context that i am intimidated by the project due to my low "level" of skill where sausage-making is concerned. i'd definitely like to try making kielbasa and other sausages with them, and will do so eventually!

That's a wonderful job you've done on one of my favorite dishes Ron.

 

Rod is absolutely right...I commonly use casings that have been laying in the fridge for a year or more..as long as they are packed in salt they are fine after an overnight soak in cold water.

If you are concerned about being able to handle them first time out, you could always try the http://www.sausagemaker.com/21011pretubedandpreflushed32-35mmnaturalhogcasings.aspx" rel="nofollow - pre-tubed casings . They are not all that much more expensive, but are indeed MUCH easier to use.

 

as i understand it, kielbasa relies heavily on garlic and marjoram, but i could be wrong. what are the primary features of kielbasa?

 lets do 10 pounds of each.

 

 Fresh Polish kielbasa

 10 pounds pork

 5 tbsp salt

 1 tbsp vinegar

 2 large cloves of garlic

 1 tbsp coarse black pepper

 1 heaping tbsp marjarom

 1 pint ice water

 Grind the pork through a 1/4" plate and put it into a large bowl.

 Add the spices and mix thoroughly.

 Stuff the product into 35-38mm hog casings.

 Put the kielbasa onto smokesticks and hang them in the refridgerator overnite or until dry

 The kielbasa can now be cooked for immediate use or vacuam packed and frozen.

 

 Smoked Hungarian Paprikas Kolbacz

 10 pounds pork

 3 1/2 0z. salt

 2 level tsp #1 cure

 1 tbsp ground black pepper

 1 1/2 oz. Hungarian paprika

 1 pint ice water

 For this product grind the meat through a 3/8 plate (That's a bit coarser than the Polish variety.

 Mix the spices into the meat.

 Stuff into 35-38 hog casings.

 Allow to dry at room temperature for about one hour.

 Now the kolbacz goes into the smoker at 130 degrees. Smoke should be medium.

 When the kolbacz takes on a rich brown color increase the temperature by 10 degrees per hour until the temperature reaches 160 degrees.

 Now remove the kolbacz from the smoker and shower it with cold water till the temperature is reduced to 90 degrees or less.

 The kolbacz has been cooked to 160 degrees and can be eaten as is, or refridgerated, or frozen.

 

 Side Notes

 The Polish kielbasa is spiced differently and ground finer. Not quite emulsified like hotdogs or balogna but close.

 The Hungarian kolbacz contains paprika rather than marjarom, is ground coarser, and makes use of a cure. As a matter of fact, the salt, black pepper, paprika, and cure, plus the smoking almost put it into the realm of jerky or biltong although it is not dried as much.

 Not being Polish, I cant speak of the origins of Polish kielbasa. On the other hand, I can tell you that the Hungarian herdsmen were some of the greatest horsemen in Europe and that the smoked Paprikas kolbacz was considered to be a trail food when these people stayed with their herds.

 

 How good are these horsemen? Pretty good!

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=Vn3fj5eAJJI - http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=Vn3fj5eAJJI