Kabanosy

Hank uses this recipe:
http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-recipes/kabanosy.htm

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.

sauerkraut - mushrooms pierogi

Filling for 2 sets of dough:
1 medium cut up onion fried in butter until it becomes translucent.
Add Polish dried mushrooms (first soak them for a few hours, then get as much of the water out as possible, next finely chopped them - I save this water, which I drain through the coffee filter, so I don't get any sand from my mushrooms)
[You can use canned mushrooms - finely chopped. Or you can use "Bulion grzybowy" which will give you the taste of the Polish dried mushrooms]
Add:
three cans of 14.4oz. sauerkraut (First: drain and wash the sauerkraut to reduce the sharp acid flavor - don't over-wash)
Fry all this on butter for about 5 min , then simmer (about 30 min-1 hr) adding saved water if you are using Polish mushrooms. Finally, add salt and pepper to taste.

Dough:
1 egg
1/2 cup warm milk
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbs melted butter

Combine, knead & rest dough for 30 min, knead again, roll out thin 1/8", cut 3 3/4" rounds (I use my Bread & Dough Maker machine -I set to DOUGH & take out my dough after 30 min. Then we [H is helping here] use pasta machine with setting #3 - I get about 35-40 pierogi).

Add 1 tsp. filling, fold and pinch sealing. Boil pierogi for 5 min, take them out & drain.

I cover pierogi with melted butter (we like when butter is a little brown).
If we are making them in advance, then I put pierogi in a "boilable cooking bags" - this way later whenever I need them I just put the bag in a boiling water, or microwave the bag with my pierogi.

*** makes about 24 pierogi
***using pasta machine with setting #3 - I get about 35-40 pierogi