Today I’m making delicious smoked sausage with a little bit of heat and a lot of flavor; Jalapeno Kielbasa!
I like making my own sausages because I’m very picky about what’s in them AND my desired heat levels are a bit higher than most.
But this recipe is for just about everyone. I’d rate the heat level at about a 3 or 4.
I like to keep everything as cold as possible while making sausage so before I start, I put my 2 bowls and all the pieces of the meat grinder in the freezer.
For the Jalapeno kielbasa I use a bone in pork shoulder.
First I mix the insta-cure #1 and kosher salt into 2 cups cold water and place it in the refrigerator for later.
I debone the pork shoulder and cube the meat into pieces that will easily go down the meat grinders throat (about 3×3 inches for mine) Then place the cubed meat into one of the cold bowls from the freezer.
Once I’m finished cubing, I put the whole bowl into the freezer while I clean the prep area or about 20 minutes. This will keep the fat in the pork from smearing while grinding it.
I’ve found that a ratio of 80/20 or 70/30 meat to fat ratio makes a nice juicy sausage and I just eyeball the ratio while I’m cubing it up.
Next I assemble the grinder using the parts from the freezer and run the chilled meat thru the 3/8 grinder plate and into the second cold bowl from the freezer. This will make a coarse grind on the meat but once its fully cooked it will have a smoother texture. Then I put that bowl back into the freezer while I clean the grinder parts up.
I then take the cold meat and mix in the seasoning and the curing mixture from the refrigerator.
It will seem runny a first but as you continue to mix, it will tighten up nicely.
I like to let the mixture cure overnight in the refrigerator.
Then stuff the sausage in natural casings.
Once I’ve stuffed the sausage in the casings I hang them in my (preheated to °130) smoker for the first hour with the dampers wide open. This drys the casings out so they will accept the smoke better.
I then raise the temperature to °150 and smoke the sausages for the second hour. Then raise the temperature to °160 for the third hour and then to °175 for the fourth hour. Then raise the temperature to °200 and smoke until the internal temperature of the sausage hits °153-°155. My smoker usually takes about 5-7 hours to complete the cycle depending on the outside temperature and humidity.
I then dunk the sausages in a 5 gallon bucket of ice water reducing the temperature to about °100 and then place them on a blooming rack at room temperature for about an hour or so. The sausages will turn a nice deep red color when they’re ready to eat!
Heres the recipe:
MILD JALAPENO KIELBASA
5 LB pork shoulder
1 T white sugar
1 T garlic powder
1 T ground mustard
5 tsp ground Jalapeno
powder
1-1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 C dry powdered milk
**2 Cups cold water with 1 teaspoon insta-cure #1 and 7 teaspoons of kosher salt fully dissolved**
As with any recipe it’s fun to modify to your own liking. If you use this recipe, have comments or questions, please let me know.
Thanks!
Chris Burchfield
cbsbeefjerky@yahoo.com
This sounds amazing!!! Thank you for your recipe!