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Authentic Maxwell Street Polish Recipe Alternate Text Chicago, United States of America

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We strongly advise you to read the cooking tips before jumping to the recipe though

Introduction & history

To prepare the authentic Maxwell Street Polish sandwich, you will need to purchase the original Polish sausage called kiełbasa, a blend of ground pork and seasoning such as red paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. The ingredients and their ratios for the sausages used in Jim’s Original are a well-kept secret, and they are custom-made for this eatery. The preparation starts with grilling the sausages on an iron plate drizzled with oil. The next step is taking a warm, regular hot dog bun cut lengthwise, smearing it with mustard, and placing the sausage in the center. Fresh onions are cut into thin slices and grilled until caramelized, then added to the sandwich in abundant amounts. The final step is to add some pickled green sport peppers and serve the Maxwell Street Polish with a portion of French fries and some grape pop.

Cooking tips

  • sausages

    Grill the sausages on a hot iron plate or a lightly oiled pan. They must not be pierced with a fork to keep all the juices inside: to turn them over, use kitchen tongs instead. Some recipes suggest boiling the sausages briefly and drying them before placing them on a grill, which will decrease the time of preparation.
  • buns

    Regular hot dog buns made out of wheat flour have a sweetish taste which goes well with spicy main ingredients. Cut them lengthwise and keep warm before serving.
  • onions

    Cut the large yellow onions into extra-thin slices and caramelize them on a hot grill or the same pan you used to grill the sausage, which will add some extra taste. In order to avoid tearing while cutting the onions, place the onions in a freezer 15 minutes before preparation, use a very sharp knife, breathe through your mouth instead of your nose, and try chewing on a piece of bread.

Maxwell Street Polish Sausage Sandwiches

PREP 35min

COOK 15min

RESTING 5min

READY IN 55min

5.0

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This recipe relies on the very same ingredients used in Jim’s Original eatery. However, unlike the case with the original, the sausage and the onions are prepared in a pan instead of on a grill, and instead of an ordinary hot dog bun, the one with poppy seeds on top is suggested.

Ingredients

4 Servings

Maxwell Street Polish Sausage Sandwiches

1 tbsp vegetable oil

4 links Polish kielbasa (about 1 ½ lbs/675g), patted dry with a paper towel

1 large onion, thinly sliced

kosher salt

freshly ground pepper

4 poppy seed hot dog buns

yellow mustard, for topping

8 to 12 pickled sport peppers or other pickled peppers

Preparation

1

Maxwell Street Polish Sausage Sandwiches

Step 1/4

Preheat the oven to 200°F/93°C.

Step 2/4

In a skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat, and cook the kielbasa for about 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Place in an oven to keep warm.

Step 3/4

Add the onion to the skillet you used for preparing the kielbasa. Combine with the remaining oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cook on medium-low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the onion becomes soft and golden, set aside.

Step 4/4

To build the sandwich, place a sausage on a bun, add yellow mustard, and top with caramelized onion and 2-3 pickled peppers. Wrap the sandwich in deli paper, parchment paper, or foil and leave for 5 minutes to get steamed up.

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