Fresh Polish Kielbasa
Prep 15 m
Ready in 35 m
Serves 2
One thing I love to do is source and support small independent local grocers and butchers. I do not like to play bumper cars in parking lots of big box grocery stores, shop with hundreds of people and stand in long lines to pay for pre-packaged foods. Lewandoski’s is one of my favorite small family-run businesses that I have gone to for years. It specializes in Polish food
s and fresh meats. They are a very small neighborhood store that still has hardwood floors, a small selection of stocked goods, a wonderful meat counter, and a friendly butcher. It seems the whole family is involved. It has an old- time feel and the people are always friendly and supply a local clientele. They have wonderful steaks, chops and in my opinion the best fresh Polish kielbasa. Unlike the store bought, packaged sausage/kielbasa, you will immediately notice the quality when cooking. It is very lean. Best of all the taste is amazing! It’s important to support these small grocers so we do not have to resort to cookie-cutter big box chain stores.
Ingredients
• 2 links fresh Polish Kielbasa (2 lbs)
• 16 oz. fresh sauerkraut
• 1 Tbs. brown sugar
Cooking Directions
1. In a frying pan add the kielbasa. I typically cook two links at a time. You may have to cut the links apart to fit them into the pan. The sausage has a tendency to coil up. Add enough water to cover about half the sausage. You can also add beer if you would like. Bring the water to a boil and par boil 5 minutes on each side. The sausage will turn a whitish color when done.
2. Simultaneously, heat the sauerkraut over medium heat in a small cooking pan. I always try to purchase fresh sauerkraut and add 1 Tbs. of brown sugar to sweeten it up a bit.
3. In a cast iron frying pan, or cast iron grill/griddle add the sausage to the pan/grill and cook until it turns brown. I used a cast iron grill/griddle which covers two burners and heated it before I added the sausage. It gets very hot and you will have to make sure to use your overhead ventilation. Flip the sausage with a pair of tongs and cook until done. In warmer weather I mostly cook the sausage on an outdoor BBQ grill.
4. Serve with sauerkraut, a couple slices of rye bread, and horseradish or a specialty mustard. (Several years ago we received a gift from believe it or not the National Mustard Museum it had a great variety of quality mustards if interested follow the link). To make it even better serve with a cold craft beer. Enjoy!
This large sandwich board sign was one of the original sidewalk signs in front of Lewandowski’s. It has since been replaced. I photographed this sign several years ago because I loved the typography.
