Let's Talk BBQ
General => General Discussion & Topics => General Discussion => Topic started by: Lemonhead78 on May 12, 2018, 08:31:32 PM
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Sorry to be a Debbie downer but I just had to mention I don't like brats. Every couple years I'll give them a try and grill some up. The commercials on tv get me thinking about them lol. I'll stick to Italian sausage or hot dogs , even kielbasa. But brats . No thanks
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I don't think I have ever heard somebody say that...........and on a major forum................get a rope!!!
Nah, it's all good.....at least you give em try every once in a while........
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must be a seasoning used in brats. Italian sausage and kielbasa aren't too far off. we've made brats and sausage, seems like brats have nutmeg, marjoram and coriander, maybe it's those spices that you don't like.
In Cincinnati when we visit we get white brats at butcher shops, can't find them anywhere else. Nothing at all like Johnsonville or a traditional brat made from ground pork and/or veal. Your post has me thinking about a good brat.
https://www.thepauperedchef.com/article/the-bratwurst-mystery
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Mr. Lemonhead78,
Like yourself, I have never found a good over the counter Brat and I do like most all other sausage. However, I have come up with a recipe for the folks that have the equipment to make the sausage and I will share it with you. I call it "Old Dave's Mild Brats"
4 pounds ground pork butt
1 pound ground chuck roast or just ground beef
3 TBL salt
1 tsp mace
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 cup non-fat dry milk
1 cup wine or water
grind thru a 1/4 inch plate.
All the folks that I have shared this with do love it.
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Im guilty of only having johnsonville brats. That homemade recipe seems like it can change my mind. Thanks for posting. I think my main issue is I don't like the thickness of the brats. It has too much meat to bread ratio. If I make that posted recipe I'll make them half the thickness of the store bought ones.
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I’ll admit too now that lemon has...
I always figured it was that the only ones we really get are the Johnsonvilles or standard high production brands.
A while back Public’s had Boar’s Head brats on sale so I decided to give them a try. They were much better and very good in fact. Enough so that Kerry noticed and asked where I got them.
Dave’s recipe looks like something to try. He hasn’t steered us wrong yet. I see it has powdered milk.
Is the milk what makes white sausage white? We dont really have white sausages down here much.
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O.K......me too. to to start a movement, just to say I do not like Johnsonville Brats -AT ALL.....
In fact I think it was Terry that ruined me ...He brought some Conecuh sausage tot one of The Gatherings ...and I was hooked!
Lemon - I don't know where you live - but the Conecuh sausage is a smaller diameter, and more importantly is has O SO MUCH FLAVOR!!!
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O.K......me too. to to start a movement, just to say I do not like Johnsonville Brats -AT ALL.....
In fact I think it was Terry that ruined me ...He brought some Conecuh sausage tot one of The Gatherings ...and I was hooked!
Lemon - I don't know where you live - but the Conecuh sausage is a smaller diameter, and more importantly is has O SO MUCH FLAVOR!!!
Amen to the Conecuh sausage..can't get it in Ohio..but Terry has shared a couple of time..Thanks for the memories Terry .☆´¯`•.¸¸. ི♥ྀ.
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[USA] “Beer Brats”
7 lbs. pork butt (nearly frozen)
2 lbs. beef chuck (nearly frozen)
1 lb pork backfat (frozen solid)
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tblspn. very coarsely ground black pepper
1-3/4 cups soy protein concentrate
2 large eggs (cold)
1 cup heavy cream (cold)
1-1/2 tblspns. rubbed sage
½ tspn. ground nutmeg
½ tspn. dried thyme
½ tblspn. ginger
4 tblspns. kosher salt
3 tblspns. sugar
1 pint flat lager (not pilsner) beer
"Fresh"-Type Beer Brats
Cut the meat with fat into inch cubes then grind it through a 3/8” plate. Stir all the dry ingredients with the cream for even distribution in the meat. Whip the eggs and add them to the beer. Finally, blend all the ingredients together with the meat and mix the sausage until the actomyosin forms a “meat paste”. Place the meat into the freezer twenty minutes while you clean up your equipment. Finish by stuffing the sausage into 36 m.m. hog casings. This recipe is for "fresh" sausage and must be refrigerated and eaten within three days, or frozen. Remember the sausage maker’s first rule: If it can’t be cured – it can’t be smoked!
Cured-Cooked-Smoked Beer Brats
If you wish to cure and smoke the brats, simply add 2 level tspns. Prague Powder #1 to the liquid in the recipe for even distribution throughout the meat. Stuff the sausage into casings and hang them on smokesticks to dry half an hour. Preheat your smoker to 120˚F. (49˚C.) and then cook them slowly over a period of several hours, introducing thin smoke and raising the temperature only a couple of degrees every twenty minutes until the smokehouse temp reaches 165˚F. (74˚C.). When the internal meat temperature reaches 150˚F. (66˚C.), place the sausages in icewater until their temperature drops to room temperature. Refrigerate the brats and use them on the grill at your leisure.
Cooking Beer Brats On The Grill
Steam-cook the brats with beer until they are almost done, then finish them on a medium hot barbecue grill using lots of hickory smoke! Keep extra sausages hot in a pan of warm beer on the grill. Be careful not to burn the brats and for goodness sake - don’t stab them!
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I think my main issue is I don't like the thickness of the brats. It has too much meat to bread ratio.
Do you like the flavor of the Johnsonville or any other brat? If it's just the size, you can always cut them in half. I can eat Johnsonville brats, but they are certainly not my favorites. They're just what is readily available.
Conecuh sausage is made just down the road from where I live, about 20 miles. They are smaller and very good, but they are sausages not brats. I guess technically brats are sausage, but I'm not sure that sausage is brats.
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Ah, that Terry and his damn Conecuh sausage. Got me hooked at an Augusta gathering several years ago and the only place I can get it for a reasonable price is when I hit Costco in Mobile or Tallahassee. I ran out of last year's stash in March. Luckily I'll be in Mobile on my way back to New Orleans from Savannah on Tuesday and I've got a large empty space waiting in my suitcase.
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Ah, Luckily I'll be in Mobile on my way back to New Orleans from Savannah on Tuesday and I've got a large empty space waiting in my suitcase.
If your in Mobile drive about an hour North and visit the Conecuh Sausage factory in Evergreen Al. Nice gift shop with special gift packages of all things sausage as well as other smoked proteins.
https://www.conecuhsausage.com/default.aspx
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As a tailgater I am not crazy about some traditional tailgate food...If there is such a thing.LOL
But I do like sausage & brats & I like them thick on a Crusty NY hard roll. Put them on the grill & then in a beer bath with butter & onions...outstanding
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I am part German (1/4) part Irish (1/4) so that means I like a drink or two & also part Swiss (1/2) so that means I like a drink or two & not have to pay for it ??? ??? ??? ??? ;)
Anyway, I almost forgot (must be all that drinking) That we have a famous NY German meat house 1/2 an hour away. "King Karls"
or Karl Ehmers. My wife's grandma (German would cook us a meal or two with products from there.
https://karlehmer.com/
I am going to buy some brats from there for the holiday & report back. I will buy some from Johnsonville at Costco & do a comparison.
I think Karls ships products if anyone wants to try them.
But I must come clean they will both go in a bath at the end
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Ah, that Terry and his damn Conecuh sausage. Got me hooked at an Augusta gathering several years ago and the only place I can get it for a reasonable price is when I hit Costco in Mobile or Tallahassee. I ran out of last year's stash in March. Luckily I'll be in Mobile on my way back to New Orleans from Savannah on Tuesday and I've got a large empty space waiting in my suitcase.
Bob's right you can hit the Conecuh plant if you're coming down I-65. Exit 96 (Hwy 83) Evergreen, Alabama It is literally 2 minutes from the exit. Turn right by McDonalds and it's down the hill from there.
It's probably cheaper to buy at Costco, I know Sams Club is less. But hey you can see their store get a sample and a hat! Ask if you can drive around and see the chip pile...
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Ah, Luckily I'll be in Mobile on my way back to New Orleans from Savannah on Tuesday and I've got a large empty space waiting in my suitcase.
If your in Mobile drive about an hour North and visit the Conecuh Sausage factory in Evergreen Al. Nice gift shop with special gift packages of all things sausage as well as other smoked proteins.
https://www.conecuhsausage.com/default.aspx
Yes it is! And ...they will even sell you a Pelican brand cooler ( BETTER than Yeti...) - which will survive the rigors of air travel - and after it's use to transport that heavenly Conecuh to your Tiki Hut....it will provide you a location to keep your powder dry...... ;) 8) ;D
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So we made the stop, tasted the samples, bought the t-shirt. Then went to Costco to buy two 4-lb packages of Original. I'm set for a while (as long as I don't tell anyone I have Conecuh sausage in my freezer).
OBTW, had oysters at Wintzell's, dinner at Felix's Fish Camp. Both excellent.
Just got home - saw the plume from the volcano as we flew by the Big Island. I never could figure out why folks built homes in Pahoa but they probably can't figure out why I live on Oahu.
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I finally found some Conecuh Hickory Smoked Original in my supermarket and had to try it after all the good reviews. It was thinner than I like which others have said, and the flavor is very good. I thought that it was kinda spicy which is OK with me but not other family members. I would have expected this amount of heat in the Cajun type. Can I expect some heat in the original, or may I have gotten a mismarked package?
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Ka Honu
Sorry I missed you! Timing was not good ...
Sometimes the hickory gets a little spicy but it has a better flavor. The Cajun is my least favorite which is odd.
The original is less spicy but basically the difference is the hickory smoked just lost some weight
in the process.
We are very use to spicey down here along the coast and many times when people say
something is spicy I haven’t noticed. I have to be careful with shrimp and crawfish boils ...
The corn and mushrooms in the boil gets firery pretty quick in those boils.