A bratwurst is a sausage but sausage isn’t necessarily a bratwurst. The words aren’t synonyms. Sausage is a general term. It is ground meat, spices, and flavorings stuffed in a casing. A bratwurst is a German sausage. Brat, in German, means finely ground meat. Wurst is the German word for sausage. Bratwurst are fairly unique among others sausages because they use fillers. Most German recipes use cream and eggs.
Growing up in northern Iowa, my first introduction to the bratwurst was the Wisconsin variety. I remember visiting some of my parent’s friends who lived on a farm in central Wisconsin. I don’t recall the vacations to be overly exciting, but I do remember the wonderful sausages, simmered in beer and finished on a charcoal grill–hot and crispy and juicy. A few years back, we visited Germany and, of course, ate bratwurst. I remember a having a one on a busy street in Berlin on rye bun with spicy mustard. Most were baked. Some were boiled. They were a lot spicier than the Wisconsin variety. Not hot spicy. Just a lot of spices.
My recipe combines the flavor of the German bratwurst we ate in Germany and is cooked Wisconsin style like I ate as a child.
Meat
8 pounds Pork (Butt)
2 pounds Beef (Chuck Roast)
Filler
4 Eggs
2 cups Cream
20 grams Wet Spicy Mustard
Spices
10 grams Black Pepper
10 grams White Pepper
5 grams Cayenne Pepper
10 grams Paprika
10 grams Nutmeg
10 grams Dry Mustard
10 grams Coriander
5 grams Sage
50 grams Salt
20 grams Sugar
17 grams Onion Powder
10 grams Ginger
10 grams Caraway
Sausage Instructions
Cut the meat into small cubes.
Mix the cubed meat and spices.
Run meat and spices through meat grinder twice.
Add filler to the spiced meat and mix thoroughly by hand until sticky.
Stuff in casings.
After the sausages have cured for a day, they are ready to cook.
Cooking Instructions
Dump four or so bottles of beer into a large pot. Mix in a quartered onion, two whole cloves of garlic, and one two inch piece of fresh ginger peeled and chopped. Bring to a boil. Add the bratwurst and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Remove pot from heat and let the bratwurst soak in the hot beer for another 30 minutes. Remove the bratwurst from the beer and coat with olive oil. Grill the bratwurst for four or five minutes per side over medium heat. Remove bratwurst from the grill and eat.
The Verdict
This one is about perfect. I rank it as the second best sausage I have ever made behind the Atlanta inspired Little Five Points BBQ Sausage. I wanted to use veal instead of beef as that is more typical in Germany. But I live in Nebraska. My usual sources didn’t have any veal, so I substituted beef. I was worried the sausage wouldn’t have enough fat but it was fine. I had the pepper just right. If you like your bratwurst with more heat, you could use 15 to 20 grams of cayenne instead of 5. Adding the wet and dry mustard was a good addition. Bratwurst and spicy mustard are a perfect combination. Adding a little mustard to the interior of the sausage was a good call. I probably got a little too clever on some of the spices. When I do this one again I will take out the nutmeg and coriander. The bratwurst bordered on tasting like a holiday sausage. I found some old German recipes that included them, but there were just a few too many flavors in there for an everyday sausage.
A Special Thank You
Thank you to my intern for the day, Parker Lewis. He is going to be a 7th grade student in Elkhorn. Making sausage is not a one person job and his extra hands were almost as much of a blessing as his enthusiasm to learn the art of sausage making. If anybody wants to make sausage with me–just let me know.
