Kabanosy is famous Polish sausage & probably the finest meat stick in the world

Kabanosy is famous Polish sausage and probably the finest meat stick in the world. The name Kabanosy comes from the nickname "kabanek" given to a young fat pig no more than 120 kg (264 lbs) in weight that was fed mainly potatoes in XIX Poland and on former Polish teritories known today as Lithuania (Litwa before). Wonderful meat sticks, type of the american Slim Jims™ but a completely different taste. Try it and you will never want another.

1.	meat selection	Pork - 5 kg (11 lb). 80/20 meat - pork butt, ham, shoulder or other Meat total : 5 kg (11 lb).	salt pepper garlic nutmeg caraway sugar Cure #1	100g 7.5g 5g 3g 2.5g 10g 14g	3.5oz 0.26oz 0.18oz 0.10oz 0.09oz 0.35oz ½ oz	5 Tbs. 3 tsp. 2cloves 1¼ tsp. 1 tsp. 2 tsp. 2 tsp.
	ingredients
2.	curing	Cut meat into 2" dimeter pieces, and add 1 tsp Cure #1, 1 tsp of sugar and 4 Tbs of salt. Mix well together, pack tightly in a container leaving some space on top and cover. Place in refrigerator for 72 hrs.
3.	grinding	Grind lean pork with 3/8"" plate, fatter pieces with 3/16" plate.
4.	mixing	Add remaining 1 Tbs of salt and all other ingredients and thouroghly mix with ground meat.
5.	stuffing	Stuff mixture into sheep casings 22 mm diameter. You may use 24-26 mm sheep casings, anything bigger will not be a meat stick but a sausage.It will also need different smoking and cooking times. Link sausage into 60-70cm (24-27") links so when hung on a smoking stick the individual links (half of the meat stick) will be about one foot long. You can make shorter 6" links if you like. Don't separate stuffed sausage into short individual links, leave it linked but as one long rope. Prick any visible air pockets with a needle.
6.	drying	Leave it hanging on smoke sticks in a cool place at 35-42º F (2-6ºC) for 12 hours. It is permitted to dry it at room temperature for 30-60 min and then to smoke it.
7.	smoking	Kabanosy are smoked in two stages : 1. smoking with hot smoke 104-122 º F (40-50ºC) for 50-60 min and then 2. cooking for about 20 min at 140-190 º F (60-90 º C) until the meat reaches temperature of 154-160 º F (68-71 º C inside. The color of the casings should be dark brown.
8.	cooking	see smoking. Total smoking and cooking time about 70 - 90 min. This is rather short time due to a small diameter of the meat sticks.
9.	cooling	Place Kabanosy for 5-7 days in a room at 54-64 º F (12-18 ºC), relative humidity of 75-80 %, until the weight is reduced by 45 %. If during this drying period you will see slight accumulation of mould on outside surface, just wipe it off, this is normal.
10.	storing	Separate links into individual pieces and keep it in a cool place, no need to refrigerate. In Europe they hang in the kitchen and are consummed on a need basis. If you have made a lot of them, place them in a freezer but remember that unfrozen products, though still healthy, never taste the same.
	notes	If you don't want to bother with curing meat, at least dry stuffed sausage in refrigerator overnight to give salt and nitrite some extra time for curing.


Kabanosy in a smokehouse	Kabanosy will dry out in time, loosing more moisture and becoming a meat stick.
Photos courtesy Marcin Klessa vel Oli