Need a Good Bratwurst Recipe

[Oddley]

Spuddy I'm not one to tell you your business but, This aggressive and argumentative behaviour of Pokerpete is getting out of hand, he seems bound and determined to upset every thread he posts on. I'm afraid that shortly we will start to lose member's who won't put up with this behaviour, and who can blame them. I'm all for lively debate but not down and out personal insults.

I'm posting this on the forum so there is no accusation of going behind anybody's back.

[pokerpete]

Spuddy I'm not one to tell you your business but, This aggressive and argumentative behaviour of Pokerpete is getting out of hand, he seems bound and determined to upset every thread he posts on. I'm afraid that shortly we will start to lose member's who won't put up with this behaviour, and who can blame them. I'm all for lively debate but not down and out personal insults.

I'm posting this on the forum so there is no accusation of going behind anybody's back.

Here's a little story about bratwurst in America.
In the mid to late 1800's many German incomers settled in Wisconsin. Even today the descendents consider Wisconsin to be the bratwurst capital outside of Germany.
The original settlers made their bratwurst with veal, but veal was hard to come by on their smallholdings, and as they had more pigs than cattle they began to combine some pork meat in the sausage. So it became the norm.
No doubt in those days there weren't the dedicated herds of milkers as there are today.
Although veal is rarely seen in UK butchers, the bull calves off milkers, which to all intents and purposes, are surplus to requirements, were, until the outbreak of BSE always exported to our neighbours in Europe.
I believe that this ban has now been lifted, which should help our dairy farmers along a bit, and maybe the price of veal may fall slightly. It has always been a relatively expensive product.

[aris]

I've always found veal to be quite bland. I don't see what all the fuss is about.

[pokerpete]

I've always found veal to be quite bland. I don't see what all the fuss is about.

Maybe it is, and requires a few herbs as a flavour booster. The original question, I believe, asked for a Bratwurst recipe which had some authenticity. I don't care what other posters reckon is a Bratwurst, but I'm not having a beef and pork sausage masquerading as a Bratwurst.

[Reaper]

PokerPete, if you just checked on google, and there are over 3,000,000 sites for bratwurst, then all recipes are of doubtful pedigree and there must be 3,000,000 concoctions, Euro, American.... so what is your point??????

All people adapt to their conditions and use what they have to live.

The Germanic people did not use "Rusk" as you suggest, you like an British twist to your Brats, EH! As long as it is British to you it is fine????????? And a Wisconsin variation is unacceptable????

Mitch

[pokerpete]

PokerPete, if you just checked on google, and there are over 3,000,000 sites for bratwurst, then all recipes are of doubtful pedigree and there must be 3,000,000 concoctions, Euro, American.... so what is your point??????

All people adapt to their conditions and use what they have to live.

The Germanic people did not use "Rusk" as you suggest, you like an English twist to your Brats, EH! As long as it is English to you it is fine????????? And a Wisconsin variation is unacceptable????

Mitch

I'm all in favour of the Wisconsin concept.
I am aware that yeastless rusk wasn't invented at the time, and bread might have been used.
I did point this out in an earlier posting.
If the good Germans of Wisconsin brought their bratwurst recipes with them, and obviously have stuck with them for 150 years, then it's good enough for me. They seem to be as competetive as ever to maintain their standards.
BTW English sausages have no real historic background, and generally are rubbish, although in the last few years attempts have been made to improve them.

[Reaper]

All I want to do is to move to Wisconsin or Minnisota and have a concession stand on the ice selling beer, brats , coffee and hot chocolat to the fisherman in their shanties.

Mitch

[Ken D]

Wow....intersting thread. In another thread I'd located a Swiss site and asked questions about stuff.
The Swiss people embrace Italian, German, and French cultures, and as such, have developed cuisine on a tri-level.
That's the long way to say there are several brat recipes in German and French at the Swiss URL ... which are close enough to pure German origin to count. Take a peek.
Go to Bruhwurst (cooked sausage) and fill yer boots.....
At the top of each main page they show the various sausage types, which are numbered 5-9, with the first four being chemistry, equipment, methods, etc. etc. Bruwurst is page 7.
http://www.abzspiez.ch/html/qks/sw_bruehwurst.html

[othmar]

This may help a little to settle the confusion about bratwurst.

The Bratwurst is a very easy sausage to make and thus you can find a great variety of them as each region has adapted somewaht. Immigrants took their local recipes with them and then had to adapt them again because not all ingredients could be found.

There are basically two tipes of bratwurst. The fresh bratwurst and the cooked bratwurst. The cooked bratwurst tends to loose some flavor because of the cooking and then some more when it is grilled.

As to the argument that all sausage recipes are bland. Sausage recipes are a fine combination of meat, spices and seasoning that compliment each other. A good recipe lets you taste the meat and each spice in it. A bad sausage in where one taste overpowers all others, i.e. a chilly sausage where all you can taste is the chilly pepper.

Wine and other alcohol is used as a means to preserve the fresh sausage a bit from days before they had chemical preservatives. The alcohol will cook out completely when the sausage is grilled or cooked. Alcohol is only used in fresh bratwurst not in the pre cooked one.

Hope this helps a bit.

[othmar]

Wow....intersting thread. In another thread I'd located a Swiss site and asked questions about stuff.
The Swiss people embrace Italian, German, and French cultures, and as such, have developed cuisine on a tri-level.
That's the long way to say there are several brat recipes in German and French at the Swiss URL ... which are close enough to pure German origin to count. Take a peek.
Go to Bruhwurst (cooked sausage) and fill yer boots.....
At the top of each main page they show the various sausage types, which are numbered 5-9, with the first four being chemistry, equipment, methods, etc. etc. Bruwurst is page 7.
http://www.abzspiez.ch/html/qks/sw_bruehwurst.html

Thats a very good link you found. The website is that of the Swiss Master Butcher Guild. The Guild is the governing body for butcher education, training and meat/ meat product quality standarts. The guild gives the blessing to every recipe and with that they become legal standart.

[Ken D]

Acknowledged, Othmar..... thanks.....on another thread, and via e-mail, this is the site from which you kindly anwered the question all about R2, K2, VI, etc.
Best, KD.