replacing veal in a Bratwurst recipe

[Bobbo]

Hi All,

I'm trying to make a decent Bratwurst and almost all recipes call for a percentage of veal along with pork.

The trouble is veal is expensive and virtually impossible to find so I was wondering if i could replace it. I tried beef in one recipe but it made the sausage very dark and not that great so was wondering if I could use chicken? I know poultry meat is being used more and more in commercial sausage making.

Anyone got any ideas or know where I can get veal from?

[Nutczak]

Hi All,

I'm trying to make a decent Bratwurst and almost all recipes call for a percentage of veal along with pork.

The trouble is veal is expensive and virtually impossible to find so I was wondering if i could replace it. I tried beef in one recipe but it made the sausage very dark and not that great so was wondering if I could use chicken? I know poultry meat is being used more and more in commercial sausage making.

Anyone got any ideas or know where I can get veal from?

You can just do an all pork bratwurst by omitting the veal completly and make up the weight difference of the missing veal with pork.
If you really wanted to replace veal, a mild flavored poultry may work, but then you would be required to cook to a higher finish temperature to kill any salmonella that may be present in the poultry, and this may create a dry sausage.
I would just do a straight pork version and see how it works out for you.

[vagreys]

hmm...small end pork loin roast? It is more tender than the large end, but still leaner than shoulder. might work as an alternate for veal. They are about half the cost of veal, where I live. I don't know about across the puddle.

[Chuckwagon]

Hi Bobbo,
This is a great question I wish more people were concerned with because many cattle ranchers here are opposed to the raising and sale of real veal. Most folks don’t realize just what it is. Veal comes from calves that have been staked out with a three foot chain, to a protective pen the size of a large dog house - for only ninety days of life before they are slaughtered for their soft flesh which has received no exercise. My family has been cattle ranchers for generations, and never - ever - did we abuse or mistreat any animal whatsoever. There is just no reason for it. No one in our extended family eats veal (they know we’d hang them in the apricot tree out back). The same goes for "foi gras", as we protest the cruel treatment of ducks by stuffing them so full of corn (to make liver sausage) that they literally explode! We don’t point the finger at those who support the unethical treatment of animals - we just “give them the finger” whenever we can. Ours is not to judge. However, we can and do often tell uninformed folks about such treatment and ask them to join us in not supporting these unethical animal treatments by not purchasing their products.
If you want to come pretty close to the texture and taste of veal, soak pork in milk for a day and a half - or so they tell me - I wouldn’t know, because I’ve never tasted veal, and I’m 62 years old. Lots of folks I’ve talked to actually prefer milk-soaked pork to veal. Why not give it a try? Here is a “more than decent” bratwurst I think you’ll rave about if you stick to the recipe.

Bullshipper’s Bratwurst!

(2.3 kg) 5 lbs. pork butt (trimmed)
(1.8 kg) 4 lbs. pork lean pork butt
(.453. kg.) 1 lb. fat
(475 ml.) 1 pt. whole milk (cold)
(28 g ) 1 oz. kosher salt
(6 g.) 1 Tblspn. freshly ground black pepper
(3 g.) 1 Tblspn. powdered dextrose
(6 g.) 2 tspns. finely-minced parsley
(3 g.) 1 tspn. ground mace
(3 g.) 1 tspn. ground coriander
(3 g.) 1 tspn. ground ginger
(3 g.) 1 tspn. nutmeg
32-35 m.m. hog casings

Freeze the fat then cut the lean pork butt into large dice and soak the chunks in whole milk for 24 hours. Drain and mince the pork using a 0.9 c.m. plate (3/8”). Grind (mince) the trimmed pork butt and the frozen fat using the same plate and mix it well with the milk-treated pork. Place the meat mixture into the refrigerator half an hour while you get the casings ready. Weigh the seasonings and mix them with the milk. Finally, pour the seasoning mixture over the meat mixture and develop the myosin by mixing the sausage well. Fill, each brat with at least 120 grams of sausage (4 ounces) to make fat links about 10 cm. (4”) long. Refrigerate 12 hours to allow the flavors to develop. Steam cook the brats with beer and finish them on the BBQ grill with some hickory smoke.

My best wishes, Chuckwagon

[Bobbo]

Thanks Chuckwagon,

I'll give these a go, although I have two other recipes to try first. What is the difference between the two cuts of pork you mention?

Both look like trimmed pork butt.

I reckon the same sausage could be made with untrimmed pork butt with the fat still on rather than adding lean meat and fat seperately. What do you think?

Interesting to see coriander in there.

[Chuckwagon]

What is the difference between the two cuts of pork you mention? Both look like trimmed pork butt.

The 4 lbs. of lean pork is cut into chunks and marinated in milk 24 hours to simulate the texture of veal. It is then minced with the 5 lbs of trimmed pork butt and made into sausage. By "trimmed" pork butt, I meant that the fat is removed and frozen. It is added back into the sausage when it is mixed. All in all, tasty stuff.
Best wishes, Chuckwagon

[captain wassname]

Hi I am with CW on the veal Ive stopped eating it since I discovered how it was reared. I have been experimenting with low fat sausages and have used 50% turkey breast with no problems.
Iwould say that once the seasoning is added you would be pushed to tell.
Incidenally how were you going to cook them

Jim

[wheels]

British Rose Veal is now produced in a 'humane' way, and has had the OK of the RSPCA:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/food_matters/veal.shtml

It's still bloomin' expensive though!

Phil

[captain wassname]

turkey is cheaper and chicken which i reckon would work as well,is cheaper.So it depends upon your budget

Jim

[SausagePhill]

yep, rose veal lives for 8 months on its mothers milk. Good stuff, far better than just shooting male dairy calves within the first few days which is what the modern economic climate forces on farmers...

although expensive i'm growing to like it - we're using veal trim from boccadon farm near looe, i find it allows me to use less rusk.
There is still a massive public ignorance about it though...

[Ianinfrance]

Hi,

Thanks to those who mentioned "rose" (french for pink" veal. I live in an area famous for it's "veau sous la mère" (veal raised on its mother's milk") and those babies are often treated better than the farmer's babies!

So, Chuckwagon, it's not ALL bad. In Europe, the production of "caged" white veal is going to become illegal, either at the beginning or the end of 2010, I can't remember which. Can't be too soon for me.

Can I point out - in passing - that industrial chicken production is vastly more inhumane than "merely" staking a calf out with a short chain. So substituting poultry from industrially raised chickens for humane reasons is a bit like garotting someone because you don't want to slit their throat.

Personally, I won't touch either though it's hard to be squeeky clean when buying take away food, where price is often the cheif criterion of choice.

[Richierich]

I can highly recommend chuckwagons Oktoberfest Bratwurst recipe, all pork, great flavour and had good responses from my Swiss WIfe and a mate who grew up in Germany.

I enquired about veal recently in Oxford and was quoted £23/kg, although my local butcher reckons he could get hold of some neck for a lot less, not sure of the texture/taste for bratties.

The "humane" stuff is welcome, just needs to be cheaper, love the stuff, and must confess to having a liking for foie gras.

[saucisson]

I spotted someone on line selling Rose veal brisket for £5.50 a kilo and mince for £4.99 for 500g (but currently buy one get one free), they're in Shropshire though... Shipping is £8.99

Dave