Three Men Making Kovbasa

rk2013 - note the sunflower plate and lovely
 furniture on the deck, the broom handle
in red to display the lovely rk homemade kovbasa

So I mentioned a while back that my husband was bound and determined to make his own Ukrainian sausages - kovbasa, for Easter.  I was very skeptical, because the idea of meat grinding, casings, random spices and tons of garlic, all combined with men drinking beer in my lovely clean kitchen, really didn't make me happy.  But then again, I can be surprised from time to time.

So he bought a smoker.  The box came into the house where he proudly picked up the instruction manual first - I was impressed.  Then he bought the meat grinder for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  And he read the instructions again, double impressed!  Then he found a video online and watched the expert about 3 times - again, triple impressed.  He went to the butcher and bought twelve pounds of pork shoulder which needed to be marinated overnight in salt, pepper, marjoram, garlic and other stuff.  He bought hog casings too.  Then it was time to invite the boys over - I got scared again.  But when he showed me the instruction video they were following, I almost believed again.

He insisted it was a "boys night" to make the kovbasa - you can see why I was beginning to worry.  Then he chose a night when I wasn't going to be home, and had to leave them unsupervised.  Leaving them to stuff meat through a grinder, and then into casings, but again, I can be surprised, it seems. Bob and Andrij, the boys,  arrived, drank beer, had an entertaining time.  I returned home to find the kitchen actually looked quite presentable.  And so did the kovbasa! They looked like the real thing to me!  All that remained was smoking, storing and tasting at Easter Breakfast. 

Well, Easter is over and though I had little confidence in his first kovbasa project, it was a success!  In fact, at the Easter breakfast table there were rave reviews for his home made, home smoked kovbasa.  Gotta get him to try it again!

Maybe you can try it too!  How to Make Homemade Sausage - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPQP4TC3E1w.