What Not to Miss on How to Cook the Best Polish Sausage

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If you ever visit Poland, there is a high chance that local people will offer you a taste of kielbasa. Known as the Polish meat sausages, kielbasa plays a vital role in everyday cuisine of this Eastern Europe country.

Despite the seemingly complicated texture of Polish sausages, it is actually pretty easy to make them at home. In our article today, we are more than happy to share with you five unique ways on how to cook Polish sausage.

Are you ready? Keep reading to find out more!

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Different Types of Polish Sausage

Kielbasa is seen by Polish as a staple, which means its varieties are not to be looked down on. For over centuries, Polish has brought to life up to 20 types of sausages. Some of them even become a specialty in foreign nations.

However, there are five main types of Polish sausage that we would like to introduce today.

  • Kiełbasa Wiejska. Kielbasa Wiejska refers to the type of U-shaped Polish sausage, which is made from minced pork mixed with garlic. For better storage, Wiejska needs to be smoked in and out.
  • Kiełbasa Krakowska. Another type of Polish sausage is kielbasa Krakowska. Since Krakowska is already roasted or grilled, it can be served hot or cold depending on different cuisine.
  • Fine kielbasa. Fine kielbasa can be made either from pork or horsemeat, although the latter was more popular in the past. What is interesting about Fine is that it gets dried by air, which brings a completely unique taste.
  • Biala kielbasa. Are you looking for a type of sausage to mix with your soup? Biala kielbasa will be your best bet. This is a white, uncooked sausage that needs to be boiled before getting served.
  • Dry kielbasa. A drier sausage compared to other types of Polish sausage is dry kielbasa. Best served when it is cold, dry kielbasa is the perfect choice to mix with vegetables or salads.

Five Ways on How to Cook Polish Sausage

Kielbasa to Polish is like pho to Vietnamese or sushi to Japanese, which is why there are tons of different ways to cook Polish sausage.

Do you want to know what they are?

Scroll down and see our top five recommendations!

1. Boiled Polish Sausage

How To Cook Boiled Polish Sausage

The easiest way to cook Polish sausages is to have them boiled. But first, let’s have a look at the ingredients needed.

  • Polish sausages
  • A cooking pot
  • 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon of minced peppercorns

Now, once the ingredients are ready, you can start by pouring water into the pot. Then, add the prepared herbs into the boiling pot. You can adjust the number and varieties of spices to fit your taste.

After the water boils, slowly put the sausages into the pot. Since high temperatures will break the shape of the sausages, you might want to keep the pot simmer at around 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tada, serve it right away while the boiled Polish sausage is still hot!

2. Baked Polish Sausage

How to Cook Baked Polish Sausage

Another way to cook Polish sausage is to bake it. You don’t need any other ingredients for this recipe. The sausages themselves are enough!

First, let’s turn on the oven and adjust the heat to roughly 662 - 752 degrees Fahrenheit. While waiting for the oven, you can use a sharp knife to cut tiny holes on the surface of the sausages.

It would take around 20 minutes for the sausages to be thoroughly baked. Do not forget to check the thermometer on the oven, so that your sausages don’t stay undercooked!

3. Fried Polish Sausage

How to Cook Fried Polish Sausage

If you are into juicy cuisine, you can try frying Polish sausage and see how it tastes like.

Before you fry kielbasa, you should cut it into small pieces for easier and quicker cooking. Let it get boiled with water in a pot first and make sure the Polish sausage is well cooked.

After that, the procedure is relatively easy. All you need to do is a frying pan with boiling oil. Pour all the cooked sausages onto the pan and let them brown.

Fried Polish sausage will taste better with a bit of ketchup or chili sauce. Or if you want a combination of American and Polish food cultures, you can make some hot dogs using kielbasa.

4. Grilled Polish Sausage

Polish sausage is a cuisine dating back to hundreds of years ago, during a time when the only cooking method was to get kielbasa grilled. If you want to taste the traditional flavor of this dish, let’s go for some grilled kielbasa.

Before setting up the grill, you should boil the Polish sausage. The thick texture of kielbasa cannot be cooked thoroughly using fire through a grill only.

Once you make sure the sausages are edible, let’s prepare the grill. You can use a brush to spread some oil all over the grill bars so that the sausages do not get stuck. After heating the grill for several minutes, start placing Polish sausages on the grill surface.

It usually takes around 5 minutes for each side of the sausages to brown. You can use chopsticks or tongs to flip the sausages around, so everything is cooked evenly.

Grilled Polish sausage can be served hot right away, but do you want to add some more flavors? The spicy taste of mustard will be the best sauce for your grilled kielbasa, so what are you waiting for?

5. Slow-cooked Polish Sausage

The final cooking method of Polish sausage is to slow cook. Basically, you will mix kielbasa and other ingredients into a slow cooker and make a stew. But before getting to that step, let’s check out what you need first.

  • Sliced Polish sausages.
  • Two teaspoons of honey mustard.
  • Two teaspoons of brown sugar.
  • A few pieces of red or green pepper (if you prefer the spicy taste).
  • Minced onion.
  • Minced garlic.
  • Curry powder.
  • Beer.

Okay, have you got everything? Great, let’s start by turning on the slow cooker, ideally at medium heat. Then, mix honey mustard, brown sugar, and beer together. Slowly pour this mixture into the cooker.

Now, shift your focus to the spices. Use a cutting board to slice the pepper into tiny pieces. You can adjust the amount of pepper based on your eating preferences. Put it into the slow cooker with minced onion and garlic. Add some shakes of curry powder.

Once the stew is simmering, pour the sliced Polish sausages into the cooker. Put a cover on top of it and wait for around 5 hours.

Yes, you did not hear us wrong! It takes that much time for the Polish sausages to be well marinated in the slow cooker. But don’t worry because the taste will be amazing!

What to Serve With Polish Sausages?

Although kielbasa is fantastic to eat on its own, adding a few more side dishes will not do any harm.

  • Sauerkraut. This is fermented cabbage that gives out a sour flavor. It can go well with all types of Polish sausages.
  • Coleslaw. This is a traditional salad mixed of raw cabbage and vinegar (or mayonnaise.) A variation of this dish contains sliced boiled beef. Grilled and baked Polish sausages are the best when added a bit of coleslaw.

In Summary

Cooking Polish sausage is not an easy task, but you can master the art of kielbasa if you practice hard enough!

Do you think our article on how to cook Polish sausage has come into handy for you? If you do, please bookmark it for future use. Or you can share it with anyone interested in having a go at cooking kielbasa!

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