How to Grill Smoked Polish Kielbasa

Heating the Grill

Empty the ashes from last time if you're using a charcoal grill. You don't want the old ashes flying around in the air and sticking to your kielbasa. Wrap the old ashes in aluminum foil and place them in a non-combustible garbage bin.

Light your grill. Gas grills are relatively simple to turn on, just make sure the lid is open when you're lighting the grill. Don't light your charcoal grill using lighter fluid. This will make your food taste like chemicals and you will also be eating these same chemicals. Use a chimney starter instead to light your charcoal grill. Chimney starters are pretty cheap. You can find them online or in your local electrical store.

Let your grill heat up for 10-20 minutes. Gas grills will need at least 10 minutes to properly heat up. You should give your charcoal grill at least 20 minutes to heat up. Make sure you give your grill an adequate amount of time to heat up. If you don't, your kielbasa won't be as tasty.

Scrub the grill with a brass-wire brush. Once the grill has heated up, scrape the old gunk off the grate thoroughly using the brush. If it's been a while since you last used the grill, you'll need to be scrape extra hard to get rid of the gunk. When you use the grill for the last time before storing it away for the winter, leave the grease and gunk on it. This will stop the grate from rusting over the winter.

Oil the grate once it's clean. Dip a paper towel in oil. Use a pair of tongs to grab the paper towel and wipe it along the bars of the grate. Use an oil that has a high smoking temperature. Canola oil or Macadamia nut oil will do the job. Don't use too much oil, just a dip of the paper towel should do. If the oil drips into the grate you'll get a lot of smoke and your kielbasa will taste burnt. Now that your grill is hot and clean, you can cook your kielbasa.

Grilling the Kielbasa

Unwrap the sausages and place them vertically on the grill. You should avoid poking a hole in or puncturing the sausage. Use a pair of tongs to place the sausages on the grill. You should lay them vertically along the grate, spacing them evenly so they'll cook evenly. When you buy your smoked kielbasa, it's ready to use out of the packet. There's no extra prep work needed. Put all of your kielbasa on the grill at the same time to make it easier for you to know when they're all cooked. You can either close the lid or leave it up, it's up to you. Leaving it up is generally a good idea as it allows you to keep a close watch on the sausages.

Turn the kielbasa every 2-3 minutes as they cook. For the most even cook, use a pair of tongs to turn every sausage every 2-3 minutes. You don't want one side perfectly cooked and the other side as raw as when you took it out of the packet. Don't use a fork or any other object instead of tongs. Puncturing the kielbasa will release all the juice and flavor.

Cook the kielbasa for 5-10 minutes. It's difficult to give an exact time of how long it will take for the sausages to fully cook. Check them to see if they are finished after 5 minutes. If they aren't adequately cooked, keep checking them. Depending on your sausages, It might take a little longer than 10 minutes for them to cook. You'll have to use your best judgment rather than rely purely on time. .

Finishing and Serving the Kielbasa

Use a thermometer to ensure the kielbasa is hotter than 71 °C (160 °F) . Push the thermometer into the center of one of the sausages to find out how well cooked they are. Any temperature below 71 °C (160 °F) indicates that the sausages are not cooked yet. Any temperature above that measurement means that the kielbasa is properly cooked. You can take the kielbasa off the grill once they've reached a temperature higher than 71 °C (160 °F). You can always leave them on the grill for another couple of minutes if you prefer them a little on the burnt side. Do not take the kielbasa off the grill if they haven't reached 71 °C (160 °F). Below this temperature means they are not safe to eat.

Cut into a sausage if you don't have a meat thermometer. Make as small and as shallow a cut as you can into one of the sausages. A deep cut will let the juices and flavor flow out of the sausage. Slice into the center to allow you to best determine how well the kielbasa is cooked. If the sausage is white throughout on the inside, then it is cooked.

Serve the kielbasa. Now that the kielbasa is cooked, use a pair of tongs to remove the sausages from the grill and serve on a plate. You can serve kielbasa by itself, in a bun, or with onions and sauerkraut. It's up to you. Kielbasa is generally at its tastiest when hot or warm so eat it before it gets cold! You can store your leftover kielbasa in the your fridge for 3-4 days if you want to eat it again at another time. After 4 days, throw them in the garbage as they will no longer be fit for consumption.