For anyone who loves good food, it can be a sad, sad day when the doctor looks you in the eye and tells you to strip the fat out of your diet. It's one of those "if you fail, you die" messages. Never pleasant. Best to keep on hand a copy of Don Mauer's A Guy's Guide to Great Eating, if only for moral support in times of dread. Mauer received just such a message. But rather than sulk, he tore into his favorite dishes and figured out how to yank out a lot of the fat without sacrificing big flavor
Kielbasa is a smoky Polish sausage. Since I originally came from the Chicago area, which has the largest Polish populations outside Karkow, it made perfect sense to create a lean Old World sausage. Getting the spice mixture just right was difficult. I tested and tasted many batches before I was satisfied. My favorite way to serve this Kielbasa is with steamed sauerkraut and boiled potatoes.
Makes 6 sausages, each 5 ounces before cooking
2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed of all visible fat
3 teaspoons kosher salt (or 1 1/2 teaspoon regular salt)
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke
1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground marjoram
1/4 teaspoon fresh-grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Cut the pork into 1-inch pieces. Place on a tray small enough to fit in the freezer and freeze for 15 minutes, or until firm. Add half the pork cubes to a food processor with the steel blade in place. Pulse until the meat is chopped into 1/8-inch pieces, about 15 one-second pulses. Transfer the pork to a large mixing bowl. Repeat with the remaining pork.
Add 2 tablespoons ice water and the remaining ingredients to the pork. With clean hands or wooden spoons, toss the pork and spices together until just combined; do not overmix. Place the sausage in a plastic bag, press out the air, seal and refrigerate for at least 24 hours or up to 2 days, to allow the flavors to blend.
With your hands, form the sausage into link shapes or patties and grill, broil or sauté in a small amount of olive oil. Serve.
Nutritional information per cooked sausage: 186 calories (29.9% from fat), 6.2 g fat (2.2 g saturated fat), 29.6 g protein, 1.0 g carbohydrate, 91 mg cholesterol, 597 mg sodium.
Cooking tip: Liquid Smoke can be found alongside the condiments in most supermarkets.
Salt sense: Omitting the salt reduces the sodium per sausage to 64 mg.
