Kielbasa Time

This post was adapted from a newsletter by our favorite Polish market - Kielbasa Factory, in Rockville MD.

Witamy!  Kielbasa is an iconic Polish word that describes a traditional sausage. A staple of Polish cuisine, kielbasa comes in several of varieties of primarily smoked or fresh cooked lean pork, also available in beef, chicken, turkey, and veal. Every region of Poland has its own unique ingredients and recipes. The most popular are:

Kabanosy – a very thin, air-dried smoked sausage (referred to by some as a Polish slim jim);

Kielbasa Szynkowa – a very thick smoked sausage made from ham;
Kielbasa Krakowska – from Krakow, a thick, straight, smoked sausage with garlic and pepper, a favorite of Polish Kings;

Biala Kielbasa – a famous un-smoked fresh sausage traditionally used as an accompaniment to White Barszcz, a traditional Polish soup prepared for Easter;

Kielbasa Starowiejska – “old-country style, ”a smoked thin sausage made using a very old, traditional recipe;

Kielbasa Wiejska – a country-style sausage shaped like a large U made primarily from pork or a mix of pork and veal, with marjoram and garlic;

Parówki – a Polish style hot dog made from veal or pork, best served hot. 

The best Polish-style kielbasa uses only the choicest cuts of tender pork with a little beef or veal added to improve its body and character.  Typically, no preservatives are added.  The sausage is seasoned with fresh herbs and spices and then gently smoked, just long enough to achieve the right color, flavor and aroma.  It is good for breakfast, lunch, dinner; snack time or any time!
 
Kielbasa can be served cold or hot, boiled, baked, grilled, or right out of the fridge.  It can be cooked in soups such as Barszcz, Kapusniak (Cabbage Soup), or Grochówka (Bean Soup), baked with sauerkraut or added to bean dishes, stews (notably Bigos or Hunter Stew which is the signature dish of our book.  Often kielbasa is served with Cwikła, a traditional garnish of shredded beets and horseradish.  Our book contains many heritage recipes that make great use of kielbasa.

It’s easy to buy a mass-produced kielbasa at the big grocery stores, but the flavors just don’t measure up to the authentic Polish-style varieties available at Polish delis such as Kielbasa Factory.

Cwikła
2 cans of red beets, drained and shredded in a food processor
5 ounces of prepared horseradish
1 teaspoon of sugar
Combine everything, place in a sealed glass jar and refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to really integrate.  Taste...add more horseradish if your palate can take it.
Smacznego!

Barszcz For Spring

Witamy!  There are a “gazillion” recipes for Barszcz.  It seems that every region, town and village in Poland has its own version.  And very often there are different versions favored at different times of the year.  The elegant holiday variety is essentially a beet consommé, quite peppery, and sipped from delicate china teacups, as an accompaniment to the delicacies consumed at Christmas or Easter.  Then you have your more hearty versions chock full of leafy vegetables, beans, dices of cooked pork, and whatever was on hand that day.  These were especially popular in the country when hard working farmers needed fuel to get through the day. 

 This version is somewhere in between – more filling than a cup of broth, but just filling enough to serve on a bright and sunny spring day.  A hunk of fresh rye bread smeared with sweet butter, and a bowl of Spring Barszcz, is all you need for lunch or a light supper.  

Serves 81 bunch of fresh young beets with leaves, washed and diced
2 cups water
1 teaspoon vinegar
4 cups beef or chicken broth
2 tablespoons flour
¼ cup cold water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped green parsley
1 tablespoon fresh chopped dill, or more to taste
1 tablespoon chopped green onion
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup sour cream
2  hardboiled eggs, sliced

Cook beets in the water and vinegar for 10 minutes or until tender. Add the broth and simmer for 5 minutes.  Add the flour mixed with ¼ cup cold water. (For more "heft"  you could add half a cup of your favorite chopped greens or   cooked  beans). Stir and cook for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Season with lemon juice, sugar, salt & pepper.  Add the dill, parsley, green onion, butter and sour cream.  Ladle into soup bowls.  Float egg slices on top and serve. 
Smacznego!

Polish Pork Chops and Sauerkraut

Witamy!  Laura has been away for a while so if I want to eat at home, it’s on me to cook.  Soup and sandwiches get tiresome very fast!  Although I enjoy cooking, when I’m flying solo, simple and easy is the way to go.  Prep time needs to be quick, otherwise I’m turning the page.  Know what I mean??

Have you seen those TV commercials that declared pork as “the other white meat”  It’s true because pork production has improved a lot and we no longer have to cook it to “flavor-death” for safety’s sake.  Whenever I’m grilling chops over a direct flame, a tiny hue of pink in the middle is my goal. 

We love pork because it is so versatile and hard to screw up -- as long as you don’t dry it out.  And I’m a huge fan of stewed sauerkraut, as in our iconic Hunter’s Stew recipe (Bigos, Page 49).  It has a natural tang which pairs beautifully with almost any meat, and it just sings when you add layers of additional flavorings such as mushrooms, tomato or apple.  Whether sweet or savory, sauerkraut is one of my favorite foods. 

So yesterday I stopped by our grocery store’s meat case and picked up a couple of bone-in loin chops (tip:  bone-in has more flavor) about one inch thick and a small, one-pound bag of sauerkraut.
• About 2 hours before I was ready to eat, I stopped working on our new book (Polish Classic Desserts) and grabbed a handful of Eastern European dried forest mushrooms (bought in bulk on EBay) from our stash in the pantry, and put them in a big mug of hot water (12 ounces) to soak.  Don’t throw away the mushroom water – it has great flavor;
• Next, I put a tablespoon of oil into a deep skillet, browned the chops, set them aside, and lightly golden-browned a small chopped onion - making sure the heat didn’t get too high to burn the brown stuff in the bottom of the pan;

• With a hard spatula I scraped and loosened the bottom of the pan, leaving the brown stuff IN the pan for flavoring;
• Then I rinsed the sauerkraut really well to help mellow  out the flavor;

• The sauerkraut and mushrooms went back in the pan with some additional flavoring.  For a sweeter style you could add half an apple which has been cut into wedges.  Personally, I prefer a more savory taste and added a bay leaf and one teaspoon of caraway seeds;

• Tossed in some salt and pepper, stirred lightly to blend all the flavorings, and the chops went back in the skille, kind of pushed down into the sauerkraut;

• Finally, the mushroom water was poured over the top, covered the skillet tightly with a lid, and cooked on a very low simmer for an hour or so;
• Once or twice I checked the skillet to make sure the liquid hadn’t evaporated.  The easy test for doneness is to stick a fork in the chop -- after an hour the pork should be almost falling off the bone and the fork should twist easily;
• Mashed potatoes are a favorite with this dish, but any green vegetable is healthier.  In Poland they’d be serving this with shots of ice-cold vodka, but I don’t care to drink alone, so a glass of hearty red wine did the trick.

So I spent less than six bucks on the pork and sauerkraut, less than 20 minutes prepping, and I got two meals out of it.  It was full of big bold flavors, the pork was moist, and the whole dish was pretty healthy, so that goes down as a big win.  Polish Pork and Sauerkraut – yum!   Smacznego!


(Photo from Food.com)