Homemade Krakauer – Hearty, Smoked, Delicious Polish-German Sausage
- Type
- Cooked sausage
- Level
- Medium
- Rating
- Rate this recipe
In this article I will show you how you can make Krakauer at home.
Krakauer is a Polish sausage and originates from the city of Kraków in Poland.
There are many variations. This one is a slightly smoked one which you can fry or grill afterwards.
It is coarsely ground and has a thickness of 4 to 5 cm. Typical spices are paprika and garlic. Due to the intense garlic flavor, it is sometimes also called garlic sausage.
Krakauer sausage is perfect for a barbecue, used in stews or thinly sliced on freshly baked bread.
Enough talking, you can find the complete Krakauer recipe either as video or in written format.
Have fun and good luck making it!
Table of Contents
Krakauer – What do you need to make it?
Ingredients per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Krakauer | ||
| fatty pork belly | 550 g | 55 % |
| lean beef | 350 g | 35 % |
| crushed ice / ice water | 100 g | 10 % |
Spices per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| salt | 17.5 g |
| yellow mustard seeds | 4 g |
| Cutter Phosphate (e.g BRIFISOL 414, PhosThis!, Ames Phos) | 3 g |
| Cure #1 | 2.5 g |
| black pepper | 2 g |
| garlic powder | 1.5 g |
| ginger | 0.5 g |
| mace | 0.5 g |
In addition, you will need pork casings caliber 36/38 to stuff the sausage meat into.
The equipment to make Krakauer
You need a meat grinder to “grind” the meat. The meat is chopped into small chunks with it.
Spice grinder / mortar
To grind your spices, it is best to use a spice mill. Alternatively, a mortar is also suitable.
Food processor / Thermomix
In a food processor, the minced meat and ingredients are mixed into a very fine mass. If you have a Thermomix, you can also use it for this process.
Smoker
The Krakauer must be smoked before they are cooked. For this reason you need a smoker.
Sausage stuffer / attachment for the meat grinder
You need this to get your meat mass into the casing. For the beginning you can also use a filling attachment for your meat grinder.
Casings
To fill your sausage you need a natural pork casing caliber 36/38.
Make Krakauer – Step-By-Step Instructions
Cut your meat into strips. The size varies depending on how big your meat grinder is. The bigger the grinder, the bigger your pieces of meat can be. Divide the meat into 2 bowls. The ratio should be ⅓ and ⅔.
Grind your spices except for the mustard seeds and cutter phosphate into a fine powder.
Roughly divide the spice mix in equal proportions between the two bowls and massage it into the meat.
Put the meat in the freezer for 1-2 hours. This will help later on with the grinding process and the temperature.
Now it’s time to grind the meat. Grind ⅓ of the meat through the coarsest perforated disc. Grind the remaining ⅔ twice through the finest perforated disc.
Put ⅔ of the meat mixture into a sausage cutter or your food processor. Add the cutter phosphate to the mixture.
Mix the meat and add some crushed ice from time to time. The crushed ice is used to cool down your mixture. Let it run until it forms a nice cohesive mass. Measure the temperature in between. The meat should not be warmer than 12 C° (53.6 °F), otherwise your mass will lose its binding and the sausage will crumble later on.
Add the coarsely ground ⅓ and the mustard seeds to the mixture and mix in well.
You can fill the mass into the casings. Make sure that not much air gets into the casings.
Next you can link the sausages. You can decide for yourself how big you want your sausages to be.
Hang your Krakauers into your smoker / smoking chamber to dry for about 1 hour. Alternatively, you can also let them dry in the smoker for 10-15 minutes at 40 °C (104 °F) without smoke.
When your Krakauer sausages are dry, you can smoke them at 60 – 70 C° (140 – 158 °F) for 45 – 60 minutes. The duration depends on your personal preferences. Depending on how much smoke and what color you want.
After smoking poach your Krakauer for about 15 minutes in 80 C° hot water (176 °F). Let them cool in an ice bath afterwards or eat them hot and fresh.
There they are, your Krakauer sausages. Enjoy!
Frequently asked questions
Krakauer or Brühpolnische – which is which?
Krakauer or Brühpolnische – which is which?
In Germany you will meet this sausage under both names, and that confuses more people than it should. Brühpolnische is the umbrella term for smoked scalded sausages made the Polish way. The Krakauer is one of them, named after the city the intro names: coarsely ground, heavy on garlic, smoked first and scalded afterwards, which is exactly the order steps 12 and 13 above go in.
Which of the two names a butcher uses depends on the region and on the butcher, and the two overlap freely. That is how a sausage with a Polish name and a Polish city behind it ends up on a German counter as a German classic, and why searching for one of the names will keep showing you the other. They are not two recipes. They are two names for the same kind of sausage, and this is the one from Kraków.
What is the shelf life of Krakauer?
What is the shelf life of Krakauer?
If you vacuum the sausages, they should keep refrigerated for about 2 weeks. If you store them in the refrigerator without vacuum around 1 – 1.5 weeks.
Great Recipe love your way