Kielbasa sausages, homemade

pork

🥗Healthier: chicken

💰Cheaper: turkey

Chicken is leaner and often less expensive than pork.

beef

🥗Healthier: venison

💰Cheaper: pork

Venison is leaner while pork is more affordable.

smoked paprika

🥗Healthier: sweet paprika

💰Cheaper: regular paprika

Sweet paprika offers a similar flavor without the smoke.

Assemble a meat grinder with a medium disk and process the meat and fat.

Combine the pork, onion, garlic, oregano, mustard, salt and pepper in the bowl of the stand mixer. Mix well and knead in the machine until a little sticky, about 2 minutes. This step can be done by hand.

Cook a small dab of the mixture to taste for seasoning. Adjust to taste.

Clean and soak the hog casing(s) according to package directions.

Assemble a sausage stuffer and arrange a casing on the tube. Fill the cylinder with the sausage mix. Press the meat into the tube until it begins to appear at the end. Pull a little of the casing off the end of the tube and tie. Fill the casing with the meat mixture, full enough to be plump but not so full as to burst the casing. Tie the final end. Poke in several places with a sausage pick, especially where there are air pockets. One casing might be enough for all the meat mixture, but prepare a second casing if necessary.

Either leave in a spiral or twist into links. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

To cook, either place in a 350°F (175°C) oven and bake for 30 minutes or cook 10 minutes in boiling water. The sausages can be grilled or fried.

Cooking Techniques

Equipment Needed

Spice Level: