I made what I call Kielbasa and have a few questions maybe someone could help me with. The meat was pork butt and fat, from pork belly.
I stuffed the meat into 40mm casings to the point of bursting. They looked wonderful. I tied them off at 12 inch intervals. I let rest over night in fridge. The next morning I preheat smoker to 120 degrees and place the Kielbasa inside for one hour before adding smoke. When the smoke was added I raised the temperature about 10 degrees. I raised the temperature 10 to 15 degrees every half hour or so till I got to 165 degrees.
After 9 hours the temperature didn’t even reach 150 degrees. The casings became very wrinkled and it appeared the fat was rendering, just a guess. I gave up and took them out of the smoker and put them into an oven set at 170 degrees. After several more hours it hit 153 degrees I was looking for 155 degrees but pulled them at the 153. The casings were extremely greasy and wrinkled. I put them into and ice bath for about 3/4 of an hour then into the refrigerator. The next morning they were firmer and the casings not so wrinkled but very greasy. Any comments would be appreciated.
My questions; is it normal to take so long to reach 153 degrees? Wrong fat, pork belly? Cooked to high temperatures? How can I get the casings tight on the meat and not greasy? Poach?