What Do You Do With Kielbasa?

Sea2Ski

I make some kielbasa every year. Well 3-4 times a year to be exact. Here is a picture of a typical batch.  The 3 batches in the right row were all kielbasa.


As others have said, boil it, brown in in a pan then add sauerkraut, boil it then butterfly it and grill it, slice into disks, add to sauce, and we always have it Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter as a side to the main protein as @fiver29 mentioned.
My Aunt used to take it out of the casing and make Pierogi with sauerkraut and a bit of the sausage. That was a favorite of mine.  

gdenby

My dad's family was Polish. Endless table talk about sausage and ham. I grew up in a town that had enough Poles that it is still the only place outside Poland that celebrates Dyngus day.  Gotta say, most commercial kielbasa is to the real thing what Steak-Ums are to prime rib.

I don't use much smoked kielbasa. Only 1 local vendor that makes it decent. Works OK if sliced and added to to hunter's stew. Pretty good grilled. Not as juicy as brats, but ends up crisper.

Fresh is my preference. The most common variety, one of dozens, has lots of garlic. Often too much. Works well grilled w. smoke. Most of the finer kind has a very mild flavor, and is overwhelmed by smoke. Its fine boiled, and served w. whatever. I prefer boiling it till its almost done, then fry browning it w. pierogi. Prick it right towards the end so the juices baste the pierogis.

The best I ever had was from an old fellow I worked with. About half the meat was not ground, but hand minced. Unlike most makers, there was a little cure in the mix. So it had a slightly firmer texture than the standard fresh made around here, which doesn't have cure.

Sea2Ski

@gdenby I agree with all you said.  Of the 20-25 lbs of kielbasa I make, I only smoke a couple pounds for my uncle. I am not big on smoked kielbasa myself. 

nolaegghead

Kielbasa literally means "sausage" in Polish.  There are many different types, it's kind of a generic term, although in Poland and around central Europe, they have different names for the different types.  They are made from turkey, pork, chicken, beef, veal, lamb, blood and can be smoked, raw, cooked, dried, etc.  Different regions have different formulations that dominate.

Some regions even have PGI (protected graphical indication) variants.

It's sausage.

nolaegghead

My mom is slavic and we grew up eating the stuff.

Dinah_Moe_Humm

.. orecchiette and broccoli rabe 

Dredger

Navy bean soup, diced potatoes, diced  kielbasa. Simmer until beans are done and add kale. Serve with cornbread or crusty bread.

bgebrent

fiver29 said:

My wife's family is Polish.  At every family get together they slice them into 2-3 inch lengths.  Cook them in a roaster with an inch or 2 of water on the bottom in the oven until done.  The kielbasa they get comes from a local deli and its very garlicky.  It gets served alongside the ham or whatever meat they made to go with it.  I just eat it plain.  It has plenty of flavor on its own without adding any condiments.

This^^^^^. 

Fred19Flintstone

This is a prime example of what to do with kielbasa.   This is not my handiwork.  This is from a Polish restaurant near my Mom's place we went to around Thanksgiving time.  Working clockwise from 12 o'clock, grilled kielbasa, golumpki,  kraut, pierogi  (boiled) and no Polish meal is complete without sour cream.  It was okay.  The kielbasa was not homemade and the golumpki lacked pizazz.   The golumpki should be egg roll shaped, not hockey puck shaped.  The pierogi  was really good though.

pgprescott

Fred19Flintstone said:

This is a prime example of what to do with kielbasa.   This is not my handiwork.  This is from a Polish restaurant near my Mom's place we went to around Thanksgiving time.  Working clockwise from 12 o'clock, grilled kielbasa, golumpki,  kraut, pierogi  (boiled) and no Polish meal is complete without sour cream.  It was okay.  The kielbasa was not homemade and the golumpki lacked pizazz.   The golumpki should be egg roll shaped, not hockey puck shaped.  The pierogi  was really good though.

Exactly! Beautiful plate Fred. Kraut=Delicious.

Budgeezer

@Weberwho  check this place out the next time you're downtown.
http://kramarczuks.com/ 

Legume

With a smoked one, we slow grill it, brush with BBQ sauce every 10 minutes or so and it builds up a nice carmelized coating and stays juicy on the inside if you can keep it from bursting.

RiverRatSkier

@WeberWho @Budgeezer Be sure to pick up a tube of mustard and a jar of horseradish while you are at Kramarczuks as well.  And a variety of their other sausages.  And have lunch (plenty of Kraut at the toppings bar).

Aw hell, just buy some of everything they have. 

WeberWho

@Budgeezer & @RiverRatSkier

Hey thanks. After posting I did a quick search to see where I could find a good Kielbasa. Kramarczuks came up. What do you guys recommend there? 

Ozzie_Isaac

Slice in half length wise, cook on griddle and serve with rice.

Kind of a hobo meal, but I love it.

Theophan

I hope this won't be considered heresy or something, but one of my favorite things I do is cut the kielbasa into maybe 1/2" disks, brown them, the saute some onions maybe a little brown, then a fair bit of sweet Hungarian paprika, then add sauerkraut, a little white wine, a little caraway, and simmer it for a while.  LOVE that stuff!  I like it "plain," too, just cook the kielbasa in the sauerkraut, no browning or paprika.  But I like the darker flavors a lot and do that probably more often.

td66snrf

Kinda like asking Bubba in Forest Gump " what do you do with shrimp? 

nolaegghead

Theophan said:

I hope this won't be considered heresy or something, but one of my favorite things I do is cut the kielbasa into maybe 1/2" disks, brown them, the saute some onions maybe a little brown, then a fair bit of sweet Hungarian paprika, then add sauerkraut, a little white wine, a little caraway, and simmer it for a while.  LOVE that stuff!  I like it "plain," too, just cook the kielbasa in the sauerkraut, no browning or paprika.  But I like the darker flavors a lot and do that probably more often.

No such thing as heresy with Keilbasa.  Or most sausages for that matter.

...unless....

....you add ketchup.