Sausages

Krakowska

Chunky Polish Smoked Ham Sausage

Krakowska is a smoked sausage built on a 50% lean meat (chunks) / 50% pork (bind) blend, using lean wild game, fresh pork ham or lean beef. Smoke at 130-140°F (54-60°C), then poach at 165-170°F (74-77°C) and finish at an internal 155°F (68°C), stuff into 2.5-3 inch fibrous casing, grind at 3/8" then 1/8". Exact amounts scale to any batch weight in the DeepWoodz Smokehouse app for iPhone and Android.

The point of Krakowska is the cut face: whole chunks of cured lean meat held in a sticky pork bind. Cure the chunks a couple of days before you stuff, or the centers stay grey while the outside turns pink. Mix the bind hard until it is tacky, fold the chunks in last, and pack the casing tight with no air pockets. Alder smoke is traditional and keeps the garlic and nutmeg in front. With venison chunks the mosaic comes out a deep ruby.

• Smoky
• Peppery
• Garlic
• Traditional

Internal temp

155°F (68°C)

Smoker temp

130-140°F (54-60°C), then poach at 165-170°F (74-77°C)

Casing size

2.5-3 inches

Casing

Fibrous

Bloom

2 hours

What goes in it

• Kosher Salt
• Cure #1
• White Pepper
• Coarse Black Pepper
• Ground Nutmeg
• Ground Coriander
• Dextrose
• Fresh Garlic (minced)
• Ice Cold Water

Amounts are calculated for your batch weight in the app — including the cure, which is held at a fixed, food-safe rate.

The meat

Lean Wild Game · Fresh Pork Ham · Lean Beef · Pork Butt · Pork Shoulder

Bear or wild hog: take it to 165°F and hold 3 minutes. Freezing, smoking and curing do not reliably kill trichinella — only heat does.

How it's made

1. Cut the lean meat into 1" cubes, trimming off all silver skin and sinew. Cut the pork into strips for grinding. Keep them in two separate tubs.
2. Split the salt and cure between the two tubs by weight (half each for this 50/50 batch) and mix each tub well.
3. Pack each tub tightly, cover, and refrigerate for 48 hours to cure.
4. Grind the cured pork through a 3/8" plate, then again through a 1/8" plate. Keep everything below 34°F. Leave the lean cubes whole.
5. Mix the dry seasonings together. Grate the nutmeg fresh from a whole nutmeg if you have one.
6. Stir the garlic into the ice cold water.
7. Add the water and the dry seasonings to the ground pork. Mix hard until it turns into a very sticky paste.
8. Add the lean cubes and mix until every cube is coated and the whole mass holds together.
9. Fry a small test patty and taste it. If it tastes flat it is under-salted, not under-spiced.
10. Stuff very tightly into 2.5-3" fibrous casings, about 16" long. Prick any air pockets and tie both ends.
11. Hang at room temperature for 2 hours to bloom, until the casing is dry to the touch.
12. Place in the smoker at 130°F for 1 hour with the damper open and no smoke.
13. Raise to 140°F and apply heavy smoke for 3 hours, until the casings are deep brown.
14. Poach in 165-170°F water, never boiling, until the internal temperature reaches 155°F, about 1 to 1.5 hours.
15. Cool them down promptly. (Optional - an ice bath is not required. It is personal preference; many just let them cool at room temp, or outside in cold weather. Just cool them down promptly.)
16. Hang at room temperature for 1 hour, then refrigerate overnight before slicing. Krakowska is usually made with chunks of lean pork ham in a pork bind. Our recipe uses chunks of lean wild game, pork ham or beef in a pork butt bind.

Wood

Alder · Cherry · Apple

Before you start

• How much Cure #1 per pound
• Venison to pork fat ratio