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They now have Bolillos and Teleras at Cub on Elston (I have no idea if they are good, or how they compare to ones from Mexican bakeries)

Also, they had Supervalu (?) brats. I got a package, and will see how they are (again, not an expert in brats, I just know that they have to be better than the ones from the Jennie-o Turkey Store)

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Good news: I've just heard back from Usinger's, and they have a couple of places in the KC metro where I can get various of their sausages. I'm especially interested in the cooked veal + pork bratwurst, and the bockwurst, both of which are available at a new high end place about 10 mins from campus.

Also, they say that Sam's Club has their uncooked brat. I'm not a member, but I know someone who is. Wonder if it's under Usinger's label?

Geo

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Sooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!

Can you share where they are in KC?

AD--

Most assurredly. Cosentino's in Brookside evidently has the bockwurst now for sure, and possibly the cooked brats. Dillon's in Olathe (which *might* include other Dillon's, since I think Olathe is a kind of a depot) has the cooked brats and maybe fresh brats. And Werner's Speciality Meats, on Johnson Drive in Mission, has some Usinger's stuff, altho' their rep didn't tell me which. [I should mention that Werner, a certified Metzger, makes some nice sausages on his own, and each Saturday morning sells them from a smoker-grill alongside the store. His stuff is first-rate, well worth seeking out. I didn't realize he had any Usinger stuff...]

I'm a happy guy now, needless to say. : )

Geo

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Sooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!

I'm resurrecting this thread because a) I made brats for lunch today and 2) this is one of my all-time favorite LTH threads - entertaining, informative, funny, wide-ranging. Too bad Kit hasn't been around. Anyway, here are some home-made brats cooked as recommended by Kit, served on a fresh-baked bun with Austrian-style potato salad and Mexican grilled corn, the latter two recipes from the latest Cook's Illustrated.

Bill--

What did you think of the Austrian potato salad? I made it, and pretty well liked it, but I'm not sure I'd make it again. Your brats look great! As soon as the weather cools down a bit, I'll be making some here.

Geo

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Sooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!

Geo,

I really liked the potato salad, but did not follow the directions exactly. Instead of cornichones, I used dill pickles spiked with jalapeños. And instead of Dijon mustard, I used a spicy/sweet mustard. So not exactly Austrian, but really tasty with the Brats and corn. Also, the cooking times and liquid amounts needed to be adjusted due to the altitude.

Bill/SFNM

Hola Bill,
Greetings from Deep Lurk and the cold North woods. It will hunting season soon and hope to have venison brats on opening day. Janel no longer thinks they are cute having eaten a lot of our plantings over the winter. There are so many of those long legged rats that i will be shooting only does.

Bruce Cook mades that corn when he was here. I normally just use Plugras butter, lime, ancho powder and salt. Local corn isn't in yet. Crops are way behind here.

Kit

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duck fat rules

Kit!!!!!! Mi compadre!!!!!!

Do deer have enough fat for sausage or do you have to add?

So great to see you back around here!! I hope you stick around.

Bill/SFNM

Bill - I'm a central Illinois deer hunter and can tell you that, while midwestern deer do have some fat in their body cavity, none of the fat is marbled into the meat and I find the fat tastes really bad. Even on my local deer, which are corn-fed most if not all of their diet, the fat does not taste good and I trim it off steaks and roasts before cooking. I would be surprised if you would find much fat at all inside a western whitetail or mule deer. The Colorado elk I harvested in 2007 did have a small amount of internal fat around the organs and along the spine, but not much.

I have gravitated to butchering my deer into only the primal cuts, e.g. steaks, roasts and chops, and I grind only about 20 pounds with my Kitchenaid for use in chili, soups, etc. However, in past years, I've had some bratwurst made and the packers always added pork fat into the bratwurst mixture. Venison does make a good brat when combined with pork fat and the requisite spices. I suppose you could make an ultra-lean bratwurst using venison, but in my mind much of the beauty of a good brat is in the fat and the juice it makes when it cooks.

Hope this helps.

Davooda

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I use 30% pork shoulder and ,on the advise of my fabulous butcher, beef suet. The man is a genius.

How are things in NM? We are planning to start construction on a carriage house that will have a screened in room with a cooking fire place.

Kit

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duck fat rules

Bill and All,

I decided that I needed to re-do this whole thread, since my memory of it was that it was a hoot. Man, that's an understatement. This thread HOOTS!

But there's one problemo: some of the pix have tunnelled into the æther, lost in the vacuum. In particular, I missed re-seeing the results when Bill finally shamed us all with his beautiful presentation of the pre-cooked brats.

Any chance of getting any of those pix back?

Geo

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Sooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!

They're back, but exposure to the vacuum seems to have taken its toll.

I've been making a lot of bratwursts this summer and have settled on a cook routine.

Simmer brats gently in a skillet with a can of Miller Lite for anywhere from 20 to (oops) 100 mins. If desired, add sliced onion to the top of the sausages after 20 mins. Retain the beer. I often add 1 or 2 smashed garlic cloves, too. I haven't found turning them necessary during simmering.
Then, I brown over lump on the cooler edges of my 19" kettle. Don't cook too long.
After they get the grill treatment, I return them to the beer until ready to serve, at least 15 minutes. Serve from the beer, warming as needed.

By the way, Fresh Farms has the best brats I've ever had. Look for the 'Johnsonville-style' next to the outlandishly large polish. Lately, I've seen beef italian sausage that I want to try but haven't yet.

I like smoking them:



or grilling them raw, and basting with a mix of butter, beer, and garlic powder.

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Before Cotton was King: http://www.grubseeker.blogspot.com

Not to derail Brat Talk, but I've been buying Fresh Farm's hot Italian sausage lately and it's become among my favorite versions sold in Town (haven't tried the beef version yet, though). I stuffed some of the Melrose peppers from our garden with cheese and a sausage/onion/serrano mix and they are on the smoker right now along with some baby backs. I now return you to Brat Talk.

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Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

LTH,

A sunny Sunday Wisconsin morning and luck smiled upon me.



These fellows from the Fond du Lac Amateur Radio Club know their way around a brat.



Brat was terrific, nice snap, juicy, merest hint of nutmeg/clove I wonder if Hoff's ships.




Their have 'em ready, move 'em out method is boil to 170 internal, grill for "browning" hold in roasters for service.



Enjoy,
Gary

Brat Fry (Weekends only)
US 41 at Highway 67 (Lomira/Campbellsport)
Exit #85

Hoff's Quality Meats and Sausage
Brosvilille, Wi
920-583-3734

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Low & Slow

Nice looking brats, Gary. You made my mouth water already this morning: pretty hard to get anything but Johnsonville here in KC. (Except the odd time when Usinger's shows up at McGonigle's Mkt.)

Geo

PS. Did the hams let you play with their gear?

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Sooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!

We used to spend a weekend every year donating our time at Riversplash in Milwaukee to grill Usingers brats in their parking lot. One of the biggest battles I ever saw was the third street association board of directors fight over whether the kraut should be served hot or cold and whether it should have caraway or not. (in the end, to compromise, it was served both ways) Also, one of the few times I have seriously seen my husband taken to task, was when Debra Usinger caught him seasoning her brats with our cajun seasoning!

Tried something new this weekend and it turned out good, so I thought I would share.

I love a brat with French's mustard, grilled onions and a slice of sweet gherkin for a little crunch. What, I thought, if I tried to make a brat topping from all three?

Sliced one large Vidalia onion into thin rings, into frying pan w/drizzle of hot EVOO...when they began to caramelize, I hit with a liberal squeeze of French's yellow mustard across the top of the onions and mixed with wooden spoon. Still on heat, add about 2 TBSP sweet gherkin juice from the jar and immediately cover tightly. Turn off heat. A few minutes later remove lid, stir the softened onions and apply liberally to brat in a bun fresh from the grill. Delicious!

Davooda

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Life is a garden, Dude - DIG IT!
-- anonymous Colorado snowboarder whizzing past me March 2010

From Viking Cruises, a discussion on German Bratwurst

http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/video/german-bratwurst/index.aspx

There is a small gallery of food topics:

http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/videos/#gallery_vtFood

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"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
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hey davooda, your concoction of grilled onion, mustard and relish is similar to In-n-Out Burger's "animal style" burger preparation...tasty!

What is the plural of bratwurst? I'm not kidding. Please advise. I find both -wurst and -wursts online.

Thanks!

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Late-Nite Eats Database

I think the plural is "brats".

In German it would be Bratwürste. In English I think it is bratwursts.

Pie Lady--


I think the situation is unsettled in English. But a careful saying [I mean, say it out loud to yourself, which is the test that your actual linguist (and I, as a professor who teaches philosophy of language) would use] gives one this:

"I put one bratwurst on the grill."

"I put several bratwurst on the grill."


I think that's perfectly ok. (The oddity of this most likely stems from the fact that "bratwurst" is an import from another language.)

Geo

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Sooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!

Yeah, I'm going back-and-forth on this one. I was going to say that I would use the plural in your second example, and, certainly, it would not be considered "incorrect" by any style book or grammar pedant, as "bratwurst" isn't a mass or collective noun.

Or is it? I started to think about it. I have heard constructions like "Is the bratwurst on the grill" used in a collective sense. I think the more prescriptive types might have an issue with it, but, in my experience, the word is used in both countable and non-countable senses. That said, with the modifier "several," in your example, my natural inclination would be to use the noun with the standard plural marker, i.e. "bratwursts," just like I wouldn't say "I put several meat* on the grill."

On the third hand, I can see "bratwurst" being internalized as an irregular plural by some speakers, which I think would be the correct analysis if speakers do find constructions like "I put several bratwurst on the grill" to be grammatical.

"They served burgers, bratwurst and hot dogs."
vs
"They served burgers, bratwursts and hot dogs."

The first one for sure.


Although, steak and steaks are kind of the same thing.
"Look at all this steak. There must be twenty."
vs
"Look at all these steaks. There must be twenty."

Both of these seem about the same to me.

According to Joe the Sausage King, the proper way to cook sausages is simmer in 155 - 160 degree water (or beer if you must), for 20 minutes, then finish on the grill for 10 minutes or so.

In Wisconsin, singular is 'Brat' and plural is 'Brats'.-Dick

Well, that is one way to dodge the question. "Brat" vs "brats" has no controversy. It's kind of interesting to see that in the expanded form, "bratwurst" seems to be acceptable to many English speakers as a plural, whereas "brat" wouldn't be.