Fresh Polish Sausage
The most traditional of all the Polish Sausages. The best cuts of pork are combined with garlic, marjoram, salt and pepper to give you the flavor well known yet hard to find.
How to prepare Fresh Sausage
1. If the kielbasa is frozen, thaw it a little. Place fresh kielbasa in pot. Add enough warm water to cover. Bring up to boil.
2. Cover and simmer on very LOW heat for about 20 - 30 minutes. Too rapid boiling may cause the sausage to burst. DO NOT prick sausages; they become dry. Also, try not to overcook – the sausage looses flavor and becomes too dry.
3. After about half an hour of cooking sausage comes out moist and delicious, should be grayish white in color and no pink while sliced open. The casing is natural and edible, however I like to remove it, it peels of easily.
4. It tastes best served with a side of beets and horseradish or plain horseradish or horseradish cream. Some people like to replace horseradish with hot brown mustard.
5. After boiling Fresh Sausage can be fried to crispy or browned on a grill. It tastes excellent with fried onions and crusty bread.
6. Can be frozen after cooking.
Kiszka
Kiszka or Kaszanka is the old fashioned sausage consisting of beef blood, barley and natural spices. It comes in natural casing in rings recognizable for its dark brown color.
How to prepare Kiszka
1. Prepare a medium size saucepan, add a teaspoon of butter and chopped fresh onions, fry onions on a slow heat for couple minutes
2. Peel casing off Kiszka, slice into smaller pieces and add to onions.
3. Let Kiszka melt, move with a fork so it does not get burned.
4. Fry on slow heat for about 10 minutes stirring delicately. Keep frying a bit longer for crispy texture.
5. Serve hot (serving straight from the pan is popular!) with good crusty bread and a side of pickled cucumber.
6. A nice alternative to frying can be grilling Kiszka – do not remove casing, just cut the ring into chunks and place on the grill for about 15 min. Once the casing starts bursting, your Kiszka is ready to serve!
7. Kiszka does not reheat well, it is best served immediately after preparing.
