intro and question

[pajero64]

Hi, I am just about to embark on trying to make my favourite sausage which is the German Bratwurst, I have been reading quite a lot about it on this great forum and have bought a elctric mincer and a hand operated stuffer, I have read that the meat for the Bratwurst needs emulsifying but looking at the cost of these is quite high, I have seen this one on ebay and wondered if this would be capable of emulsifying the meat to make a decent Bratwurst any advice would be appreciated. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Waring-Bowl-cutte ... 1c13d887d1

[BriCan]

Hi, I am just about to embark on trying to make my favourite sausage which is the German Bratwurst, I have been reading quite a lot about it on this great forum and have bought a elctric mincer and a hand operated stuffer, I have read that the meat for the Bratwurst needs emulsifying

Welcome, any good German butcher will tell you that you do not need to emulsify most Bratwurst. It would help if you let us know which type you are looking to make.

[pajero64]

I spent several years in germany during the 60s and was stationed just outside Paderborn in Sennelager and after a night on the town we used to buy Bratwurst on the way back to barracks and they were smooth and firm and delicious but as the which type they were I have no idea, but I can still remember how they tasted.

[crustyo44]

Hi,
I have assisted a german Mate of mine making bratwurst many years ago.
He used to chop all the meat rather small, mix in the spices etc and left it in the fridge overnight, next morning he minced it trough a 5/16 plate, then through 1/8 ( 3mm) plate twice. The end result was very good, smooth and firm as you mentioned.
Mind you, he put them in fairly hot water for about 10 minutes, dried them and they were ready for the BBQ or frying pan. They froze very well in vacuum bags.
Sennelager is fairly high up in Germany, so I imagine not a lot of garlic was used as in the southern part.
Personally I prefer them with lots of garlic and hot pepper mix.
Regards,
Jan.
Brisbane.

[pajero64]

HI Crustyo44
Thanks for the reply I have downloaded several Bratwurst recipies to try ans several say to emulsify the meat so I will try both methods, I really wanted advice on the bowl cutter but no one has given their opinion as to whether it would be capable to emulsify

[the chorizo kid]

i'm confused about somthing. i have never seen a german brat recipe that calls for emulsification. are you describing somthing that has the texture of a bologna/hot dog/vienna sausage/weisswurst? those recipes i have seen, but they only call for a very fine grind x2. maybe i don't understand the term. emulsification to me is a very high speed blender/processsor that almost liquifies the meat mixture. if that is what you mean, again, i have never seen a german brat recipe that calls for that. i live in the land of german brats [not to mention that my cousin is a retired master butcher who owned a commercial sausage production shop/market near frankfurt] and 100% of what is called a german brat is simply ground meat. which recipe are you referring to?

[pajero64]

see what this says about fresh german bratwurst.



http://www.britishbarbecue.co.uk/

[pajero64]

And there is this one.

BRATWURST

This homemade bratwurst recipe is very close to what you would expect to get if you had a fresh bratwurst served to you in Germany.
At least that's what I've been told by a friend who actually has the experience to be able to accurately make the comment.
Bratwurst (and lots of other German sausage) is often made with emulsified meat. That can be hard to do in the home kitchen, but can be approximated by grinding the meat and spice mixture very finely in a food processor.
To emulsify the bratwurst, the meat is ground through the fine plate of a sausage grinder, mixed with the spices and other ingredients, and then run through the food processor in small batches (adding water as needed) until a paste-like consistency is accomplished.
This isn't difficult to do, but it can be time consuming if you are making more than about 5 lbs. of sausage.
I find I can get a very respectable product just by grinding the meat several times through the finest plate on my meat grinder.
The texture of your finished homemade bratwurst won't be the same as the ones you buy in the store, but the quality and taste will be far superior to anything you can get at the mega-mart.
Recipe
•4 lbs. 80% lean pork shoulder (Boston butt) •1 lb veal or beef
•2 tablespoons kosher salt
•1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
•2 teaspoons ground mace
•1 teaspoon ground ginger
•1 cup cold milk
•2 whole eggs, beaten
•1 cup non-fat dry milk powder (as a binder)
1.Trim the pork and beef, cut it all into 1 inch cubes, and grind it twice through the fine plate of your sausage grinder.
2.combine the spices in a 1 quart container and mix with the 1 cup of cold milk and the beaten eggs.
3.Pour the spice, milk, and egg combination into the ground meat and mix thoroughly for at least 2 minutes. use your hands for mixing to assure even distribution.
4.Add the milk powder to the mixture and combine it all thoroughly with your hands. At this point you can pass the finished sausage mixture once more through the meat grinder if you so choose

[Jogeephus]

I have a bowl cutter that is designed in a similar fashion. It will emulsify the meat but what you run into is since its not truly a bowl cutter you have to do small batches at a time. My favorite bratwurst is emulsied as well but I rarely use the bowl cutter cause I find it easier to grind once with a very course plate, mix seasonings and rechill, grind using the 1/8 plate, rechill then grind a third time with the 1/8 plate. Outcome is fantastic. Until I can save up and buy a real bowl cutter I'll probably continue to do it this way if for no other reason than for less cleanup at the end cause I see no difference in the final product.

[pajero64]

Hi Jogeephus

Many thanks for the reply but as I am aged and live alone I will only do small mixes and anything that makes life easier is for me, so maybe I will get one and give it a try. Thanks again

[Zulululu]

Hi Pajero,
I had a look at the machine that you are buying IMHO it looks quite a robust machine for what you want to use it for. The bowl cutter used for commercial sausage making looks quite different to that as the cutters are situated overhead, with a bowl that rotates under through the cutters. What you would need to do is stop the machine at intervals and scrape down the sides else you will end up with not having an even emulsion.
Let us know how it goes.

[NCPaul]

Be careful with your temperature; because the blade is so fast, the meat can heat up quickly. I use ice chips to keep everything cold. Welcome to the forum.

[crustyo44]

Hi Pajero,
Personally I wouldn't go to the expense of buying this machine, just for bratwurst. Just mince through the fine plate 2 or 3 times.
You will find that it will be perfect.
Just watch the meat-mix temperature.
Regards,
Jan.
Brisbane.

[the chorizo kid]

paperjo

i have no idea what kind of "bratwurst" you are trying to make. as i said, quite clearly, if it is vienna sausage/bologna type, you can emulsify or use a fine grinder twice. as for standard german brats [the other 99+%], there is no way on the face of this god's earth that it is emulsified, even if you have found one or two recipes that say so. perhaps we are talking about 2 different things.
for any german americans, a standard german brat [johnsonville/sheboygan type] is made with ground meat.
with all respect to your friend, my master butcher cousin agrees with me, and he lives in frankfurt [germany, not indiana].
what kind of german brat are you trying to make??? what is the name of it?? that might help to clarify things for me.
it's like pizza. we all know what pizza is, even if someone somewhere has come across a recipe for fish and mashed potato pizza. still, at the end of the day, a pizza is a pizza, and a german brat is a german brat.

[BriCan]

i have no idea what kind of "bratwurst" you are trying to make. as i said, quite clearly, if it is vienna sausage/bologna type, you can emulsify or use a fine grinder twice. as for standard german brats [the other 99+%], there is no way on the face of this god's earth that it is emulsified.

I just about fell off my chair reading that, it’s like being told you have to mix sausage mix for five plus minuets But in all honesty you are totally right, I was taught the German way by my friend who is in his eighty's and comes from the Black Forest region in Germany, then again it is up to the individual person on how they make the sausage even if some of us know different.

I cannot comment on the bowl cutter as the ones that I use has a capacity of 60kg, as NCPaul said temperature is the critical thing with high speed blades. The recommendation is to use ice and leave the water out.