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Before I moved to the United States, I thought hot dogs were the only kind of sausage around. Until I moved to Wisconsin, home of the World's Largest Brat Fest. My soon-to-be-in-laws have brats practically every week in the summer. Then I start to love sauerkraut, mustard of all kinds, and large soft pretzels. Eh, how did a girl grew in Hong Kong become a German?
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Since moving to Kentucky, we hardly have brats except on Super Bowl, today (Memorial Day), and a few must-grilled-out holidays. Johnsonville is my trusty go-to brand. Don't read the nutrition information and the ingredients on the back of the package. It's the taste that counts.
For one package of brats, I use one can of beer. Tonight, Milwaukee's Beast was all I got (remember those college days, anyone?). I would choose a better grade light beer or dark for an extra zing. I usually cut up an onion and add into the beer brat mixture, tonight I ran out of onion. To make things worse, my half jar of sauerkraut went bad. Who knew sauerkraut could go bad?
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Here's how beer brats work:
Bring beer (use enough beer to cover up brats), onion, and brats to simmer. Keep simmer for 10 minutes, meanwhile heat up the grill. Jake refuses to get me a grill, so I have been "grilling" brats on cast iron pan (mostly because we live on the third floor of an apartment building). Let brats sizzle until cooked at 160F inside.
There are many ways to make beer brats. Some grill first then simmer the brats in beer, or vise versa. I have seen people place a foil baking pan half filled with beer in the grill (if your grill is big enough). Once the brats are done on the grill, then transfer the brats into the beer pan.
This website is dedicated to bratwurst: http://www.bratwurstpages.com/brats.html
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Usually the brat will be covered with sauerkraut, but at least I got some good spicy brown mustard. Serve with any picnic sides of your choice. Tonight I had steamed corn on the cob and salad mix from my CSA box. Yummy!
Happy Memorial Day!
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We stopped at Brat Fest on our way back to Chicago yesterday! This is exactly how I make brats too...except I grill them on our electric indoor grill/griddle contraption. :)
ReplyDeleteWe love beer-soaked brats! We recently tried some bacon brats (bacon on the brat mixture) made locally and they were amazing! Yours look great!
ReplyDeleteBacon seems to make everything taste better. Which local place do you get the bacon brats from? I'd love to try some!
DeleteMy husband is from Wisconsin, and we do it a little differently. Simmer the brats in water until cooked through, grill until crispy, and then add them back to the cooking water along with a beer, onion and a little butter. Let simmer for a few minutes before eating. Any way they're made, though, in Wisconsin is good for me!
ReplyDeleteSeems like every family has their own secret brat recipe!
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