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

Bourbon balls - from I.C.

Combine:
1 cup finely crushed vanilla wafers
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbs unsweetened cocoa

Add:
2 oz. bourbon (I use Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey)
1 1/2 tbs. light corn syrup

Combine everything, blend well, cover & chill 1 hr. or more.

Shape balls (about 1 inch in diameter) & roll in powdered sugar.
Store in refrigerator or freeze.

Fried "pierogi‏"

Hank and I have been experimenting and after 2 complete failed attempts & 1 1/2 days wasted we got the perfect fried mushroom pierogi - just like my mom use to make or as close as we can get. Making mushrooms stuffing was easy - I guess I paid more attention to it when we made it with my mom, but I never liked to play with dough.

After each attempt of making that dough I was so disappointed that we could not get close to my mom's dough recipe. I am just glad that my mom did not see us dumping all that dough :-[ and Hank wanting to try again.
One of the disaster dough Hank baked as bread.
Hank went on internet & found recipe for Crispellis, from which we finally perfected the recipe to what we have.
http://recipecircus.com/recipes/DsNonna/ETHNIC/Crispellis.html
Our final product Hank did the dough by hand (did not use a bread machine), and we fried pierogi in Crisco one side & then the other for a few minutes until they are golden brown using an electric skillet at 360*.

Dough:
4 cups flour
Package of yeast
2 cups very warm water
1 ½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon baking power
2 teaspoons salt

Mix the ingredients. After the dough is made, let it rise for at least 1 hr. You will have a very sticky dough that is hard to work with!

Mushroom stuffing was made with:
fried chopped onions (large)
fried chopped mushrooms (3 12oz. packages)
salt, pepper, & some breadcrumbs (I used 2 tablespoons - to keep the moisture from mushrooms - not too much of breadcrumbs)
When everything was mixed I send it through meat grinder.

Take about a 1 Tbs. size of dough and spread out in your hand to form a disk (not to thick).
Place about a 1 tsp of stuffing into the disk and seal the ends and gently roll into egg shape dough balls, set aside under a towel so they don't dry.
When you have made about 8-12 dough balls place into hot oil and fry for about 3 min. until golden brown then roll over and fry the top side until golden brown.
Remove and drain on paper towels.

We made 40 of the fried mushroom pierogi & I had a little bit of stuffing left.
I am keeping them for Christmas Eve - they freeze great.

Chicken -beef soup (from Babcia C)

Put in a pot with water:
beef
chicken
onion
celery
carrots
salt
pepper
chicken bullion
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On the side make some noodles for the soup

Babcia L's rosol (Chicken soup)

Ingredients:
water
2 lbs. chicken wings
1 onion
3 cut up carrots
1 ts. salt
3 bay leaves
1/2 cup of white rice
1-2 chicken bullion/s
1/4-1/2 ts. Accent (flavor enhancer)

1. Put your meat into a large pot and cover with water.
2. Bring to a boil, skim off any foamy crud that may float to the surface then immediately reduce heat to bring it to a simmer.
3. Add onion, carrots, salt, bay leaves, rice, and chicken bullion.
4. Cook for about 40 min. covered or partially uncovered.
5. Add Accent
6. Remove the bones, skin, bay leaves & discard them. Cut up rest of the meat & return to the soup.

white borsch (biały barszcz) - soup

Ingredients:
fresh pork kielbasa (about 2 lbs)
5 chopped garlic cloves
4 Bay Leaves
10 Whole black pepper
5 cans (4oz) of mushrooms with liquid
Citric Acid (about 1/2 ts.)

Preparation:
In a 4qt. pot with about 2-3 qts.of water add fresh pork kielbasa (about 2 lbs)
Bring to a boil, then add garlic, Bay Leaves, Whole black pepper, & mushrooms.
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Reduce heat and simmer, cover for about 1 hr.
Add some Citric Acid (about 1/2 ts.)
Mix about about 1/3 cup of sour cream with about 2 Tbs. of flour, then slowly mix in sufficient water to this mixture so it is smooth and does not have any lumps. Pour into the soup while mixing the soup; bring to boil.

When my soup is done:
1. I discard peppercorns & bay leaves from my soup
2. I cut up my kielbasa & return it to the soup