Patience part of recipe for better brats
Wally Tenhoopen knows a thing or two about bratwurst.
As owner of Thuringer Meats in Arlington Heights, Tenhoopen has been making and selling brats and other sausages at his butcher shop for more than 40 years.
When cooks see hot coals they have a tendency to throw the brats on the grill, letting the sausages sizzle and char and burst. And that definitely is not the way to cook them, he says.
"If the heat is too high the casings will burst on you and you lose all the juices," he says. "Then they will shrivel and get dry."
Pricking them pre-grill to pre-empt bursting? Not the answer, either.
Tenhoopen says there are two schools of thought for perfect brats: simmer before the grill, or simmer after the grill. Note the word simmer, not boil. Boiling the brat can cause the casings to burst as well.
Simmer the brat in beer or water or your liquid of choice. The benefit of beer, besides imparting flavor, is that it softens natural casings. Again, don't think you have to pierce the brat to allow the simmering liquid to seep in. Tenhooten ensures us the casing (natural or not) is thin enough for the liquid to permeate.
The down side: a strong beer can mask a brat's traditional nutmeg and marjoram notes, he says.
After a 20-minute or so simmer, place the brats on a medium-low to medium-hot grill and turn the sausages often. These are not thick steaks that you can come back to in 10 minutes and flip.
If you haven't simmered the brats first, the folks at Johnsonville, one of the leading commercial sausage makers, says they'll take about 30 minutes to cook though.
Use tongs to turn brats and other sausages; forks can pierce the casings and we've already covered the consequences of that mistake.
When the sausages are nicely browned, either serve them immediately or transfer them to a pan of beer and onions. This is a handy way to keep them hot and plump, especially if you're cooking a lot of brats.
On the condiment side, mustard, onions (raw or grilled) and sauerkraut are the most common, though Tenhoopen says he routinely sees people dress a brat as they would a hot dog, ketchup and all.
Barbecue master Chris Lilly tops his with chow-chow, a pickled vegetable relish more popular in Southern states than here in the Midwest. The folks at Bratwurstpages.com, a site that celebrates Wisconsin foods, suggest a savory tomato-based simmer sauce that doubles as a sandwich dressing.
While bratwursts have been around for centuries (culinary historians trace their roots to Thuringia in 1404) the sausage hasn't remained stagnant. Companies offer a variety of brats incorporating cheeses and even those made with turkey instead of traditional pork.
Some have even changed the shape. Both Thuringer and Johnsonville offer bratwurst patties. Yep, bratwurst meat sans casing flattened so it fits onto a hamburger bun.
While most brats are sold fresh, Tenhoopen sells the patties frozen. "They go on the grill frozen and in 6 minutes a side they're ready," he says.
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<h1>Recipes</h1>
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<li><a href="/story/?id=383051" class="mediaItem">Brat Hot Tub</a></li>
<li><a href="/story/?id=383049" class="mediaItem">Grilled Bratwurst with Chow-Chow</a></li>
<li><a href="/story/?id=383048" class="mediaItem">Savory Beer Sauce for Bratwurst</a></li>
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