As per usual, I was tasked with organizing and providing some protein for the recent annual Pastor Appreciation brunch at Church.
This year, in addition to biscuits & turkey sausage gravy, I decided to make some Beef Kielbasa & a Maple Flavored Picnic Ham. This way there was some kind of meat that everyone would eat (Turkey, Beef & Pork).
I mixed up some brine using Salt, Cure #1 & some of my homemade Fenugreek syrup, then trimmed & injected the picnic ham.
The picnic ham went into a brining bag & fridge to cure for a few days.
Then, Saturday morning a 5 lb batch of Beef Kielbasa was mixed up and stuffed into casings.
Onto the MAK with a pellet tube for a couple hours of cold smoke.
After the cold smoke, the MAK was turned on to Smoke Mode until an internal temp of about 145° was reached.
Once the sausages reach 145°, they were transferred to a 152° water bath to poach. This provides a really nice and even gentle push to their finish temperature, and keeps them plump.
Once they reached their final internal temp of 152°, they were plunged into an ice water bath to stop cooking and prevent fat-out.
Done, and wow do they smell good!
They were cut into serving size pieces and stored in the fridge overnight. All I had to do the next morning was throw them into a slow cooker to be reheated at Church.
Late Saturday evening I put the ham on the MAK with a pellet tube for a few hours of cold smoke, then turned the MAK onto smoke-mode to hot smoke overnight.
Sunday morning the ham was finished and ready to go into an electric roaster to be kept warm until the brunch!
We were all so busy eating and fellowshipping that I totally forgot to get pics of the feast.
