Easter is the usual time to prepare the old (Smerlinski-side) traditionally ethnic meat treat; Polish Sausage. While my wonderful father, Thomas Devereaux certainly has eaten his share of these delicious morsels in his time; it's definitely not his standard French Canadian/Irish heritage fare. My family has personally adopted this quirky little tradition of eating cold Polish on Easter morning, and has even prepared and schlepped the hallowed sausage on Spring-Break vacations to other parts of America. One particular Easter Sunday morning, the young Devereaux family could be seen sitting on a blanket next to the Jefferson Memorial in DC on an unusually blustery early spring day, gnoshing on little circlets of cool pork, and gobs of prepared horseradish. We've also eaten it in Tennesee, Arkansas, and somewhere in South Carolina in campgrounds over fires, and on my cousin Debra's kitchen stove. Basically, I'll take the blame cause I'm such a "sausage-hound" and I'll probably be next in line to receive my bypasses, however it's just so darn tasty!
Here's how to make it...simply:
Purchase FRESH Polish Sausage from a butcher, No prepackaged, mainstream frozen, and (God forbid) some kind of smoked atrocity...buy the freshly made (local) variety. The last stuff I had the fortune of purchasing came from RAY'S Butcher Shop in Greendale, WI. That was some damn-good sausage! As a matter of fact, it's featured in the images below...smile sausage.
Get your largest (non-stick) frying pan and put it on the stove and heat 'er up. Place the sausage into the pan. I use a bit of my favorite Smart Balance spread in there just to assist the non-stick-ability and the browning. Keep a medium heat going and turn the sausage over every so often with your (say it with me...) Wooden Tongs! Brown the links as much as possible, coating each side (yeah right Devereaux, the sausages are rounded...how do they have "sides?") with a line of "brown-ness." (...little...technical term there..ahhh...yee-up)
The next step is easy too...take the lid of your frying pan and put it upside-down under your faucet and run about a cup or two of water into it. Tip the lid into the frying pan and dump the water into it...watch the sizzle! COVER the sausage and simmer for 1/2 hour, making sure that the water has not all boiled out. You are basically trying to steam the little buggers at this point.
Here the pan with the lid on now...pretty exciting eh?
Remove the pan from the heat when the 1/2 hour has passed. Remove the sausages onto a plate with your WOOEN TONGS and place the plate into the fridge over night. Be sure to "taste" the sausage juuuust a bit before doing so, because it's so damn good, you'll want to. In the morning; plate up the sausage by cutting it in circles COLD and have plenty of horseradish available for twinning up the meat chunks.
NOTE: Polish can and does have a "pinkish" tinge to the inside...it's truly SAFE to eat and is truly "done" so just quit worrying about it OK!? You won't get trichinosis or any other weird thing...Eat it and enjoy...you'll thank me.
Bon Apetite!
