Polska Kielbasa with Beer ‘n Onions

This is a recipe that I got from my mum. Kielbasa is a Polish sausage and had I bothered to look it up before making the dish, I definitely would not have chosen bratwurst as my substitute. However, now I know!

INGREDIENTS

*1/2 c honey mustard
*1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
*18 oz brown ale or beer
*2 kielbasa sausage (16 oz each) cut into 4” pieces
*2 onions, quartered

METHOD

Combine mustard and brown sugar in the crockpot.
Whisk in ale. Add sausage pieces. Top with onions.
Cover and cook on low 4-5 hours, stirring occasionally.
Makes 6-8 servings.

VERDICT

My first mistake in making this dish was to go with the boring sausage alternative of bratwurst. Being cooked all day in the slow cooker seemed to have sapped the bratwurst of any flavour that it had. My second mistake was not to halve the recipe, since I had much less than the called for amount of sausage (it was clearly one of those days!). This meant that I had to add quite a bit of flour to the sauce before serving to turn it into a gravy, which I am sure took away some of the flavour as well. However, saying all of that, this dish has potential. You can't fault it on how simple it is to make. Despite pouring beer all over the floor, I was still able to get it all ready in under ten minutes. The flavour, or what was left of it, was quite yummy and when served over potatoes it added an instantly 'winter food' quality to it that counts for extra points. So it is worth making again, this time with a different sausage.

Score: 73/100 (possibly higher with the called for sausage or at least a better alternative)