The other day I bought a pack of Beer Brats. I didn’t have access to a grill (and I didn’t know the recipes) so I just slow browned them in a skillet and served them in hot-dog buns.
They were Great!
So… I read up on the recipes (and how I did it all wrong). I bought another pack (same brand). This time I put a can of Bud in a pot with sliced onions and garlic, brought it to a slow boil, added a brat for 5-6 minutes, then took it out with tongs, browned it on all sides in a skillet, and served it in a hot-dog bun with some of the onions. It was completely tasteless and bland.
First off, I’ll never waste a brat by cooking it that way again.
Second, why was it so much better plain? (no condiments; just a brat & a bun)
Third, what did I do wrong? ( aka dazzle me with your brats-pertise and recipes)
The beer bath is for typically a lot longer than 5-6 minutes. Any time I’ve done a batch for a group they usually sit in the simmer a good 30 minutes, at least.
I usually double-grill the brats as well. Get them nicely browned, dump in the bath, back on the grill for finish when served. I think you didn’t get the flavor you wanted because you basically just boiled the brat rather than grill it.
Where are the peppers? I always like peppers with the onions myself.
Keep in mind that I’m a Californian doing this at a campground, not some weird Northern ice troll cooking in the snow before a feetball match.
For, say, five brats (a normal pack of raw brats), I cut a white onion into wedges, throw that and one lagerish beer (Bud, Modelo, Corona, etc) with the brats, top off with tap water so the brats/onions are well covered, then simmer the whole mess for at least 30 minutes. Do NOT let it get to a boil or the casings will burst.
After that, remove the brats from the beer-water and grill until seared. Serve on toasted buns with rinsed sauerkraut and your preferred mustard.
The beer & onions lend a sweet flavor to brats done this way, and at least for me they taste much better than a plain, grilled brat.
The beer is a holding pattern, 45 minutes or so average. Dumping some of The sauerkraut in the beer, then draining well before dressing increases the beeriness of the brat. Brats from a good butcher are the biggest step to improvement.
Honestly, I’ve never seen the appeal of it. The only reason to do so is to cook a large quantity and have a holding area for them while you wait to serve. And, yes, I’ve had them in Wisconsin, I’ve had them at tailgates, I’ve had them held for an hour. The longer they’re held, the shittier they are to me. All that brat flavor just goes into the braising liquid. You’re just basically making beer brat soup.
Every brat I’ve ever had always tastes better just freshly grilled, none of this beer nonsense going on. Otherwise, it just dilutes the flavor, just like when you cook a broth or a stock how the meat loses its flavor and it all goes int the liquid.
Ok… so it’s less boiling the brats & more long-term marinating at the lowest heat setting? Ignore where it says 'the cheaper the beer, the better"? Peppers make the dish as well as onions.
The recipe did say that after you brown them to put them back into the boiled beer onion (pepper) solution until just before serving (and I did that). Also, I admit my outside grill is not reliable… so I cook indoors. Browning in a skillet? No one said to do that (but it kept the juices in nicely and gosh darn was it flavorful!).
I do have a circular pan with an insert rack that I could use to brown it in an oven. God I hate cleaning that thing… but it’s next up at bat.
.
Truth be told, I want to get my skills ‘down’ so that the next time I visit my brother, I can cook brats with confidence and put out a big tray of them for the guys while we’re watching the game & smoking cigars. I mean, I’ve done the Youtube ‘baconbomb’ (it’s very good) and chicken kabobs with peanut sauce (also very good) in the past & it’s getting so as when I visit that the guys expect me to pull a rabbit out of a hat. I’m just hoping this can be the next rabbit.
PS- Guldens brown, I get. How the heck do you make sauerkraut?
< looks up recipe >
Sauerkraut is okay for Clevelanders and other folks whose taste buds have been destroyed by overindulgence in Polska kielbasa. For the best double-brat experience, put two on a bakery roll with brown mustard, sliced sweet onion, and garlic dill pickle sliced lengthwise into thin strips.
This is the way it’s done in Sheboygan, the Bratwurst Capital of America.
My fave place in Sheboygan also bisects the sausage lengthwise before grilling, which gives the meat a hamburger-ish shape and makes a less sloppy sandwich…the brats are less likely to slide out and onto your lap.
Sauerkraut recipe: Go to the store and buy a jar or plastic bag of sauerkraut. Heat it up. (NO cans! Canned sauerkraut tastes like the can!). If you have a good German or East European deli or meat store nearby, you can buy it straight from the barrel.
GOOD sauerkraut, however: Fry a couple pieces of bacon in the pot. Remove and reserve. Sauté a sliced onion in the bacon fat. Add kraut and cheap beer to just cover. Add a tsp or two of caraway seed, a bay leaf, a tblsp of brown sugar (optional. I never do), and a small potato, grated (thickener). Add reserved bacon, crumbled. Simmer for hours and hours and hours, making sure it doesn’t get too dry. It’s fine after an hour or so, but the longer it sits the better it gets.
Cheap beer is fine, and I’ve never used peppers (honestly beer-soaked bell peppers sound gross to me), and I don’t think you get any benefit after 30 minutes simmering (not marinating, ew). You just want a very very slight boil in one corner of the pan; back it off the burner sideways a bit to heat one side if you can.
You can totally sear in a pan. Grab a cast iron, throw in oil until smoking, sear away. Use tongs to roll the sausages as best you can to sear as much of it as you can, but brats tend to end up curved so you’ll get basically a good sear on each side.
I’ve used my creme brulee torch to sear brats, which works pretty well but the casings tend to ablate under the heat.
I never have, I just buy a jar. For national brands, Nathan’s is pretty good. Basically you must absolutely rinse the kraut to get the brine off (would you drink pickle juice? Well, I wouldn’t at least.). You can nuke it a little to raise the temperature, but cold kraut is fine on a nice hot brat.
My, my, lookit all the CALIFORNIANS in this thread. I’d sooner trust a down-east Yankee on how to make jambalaya as a California on sausages. (Joke, sorry, but cold kraut out of a jar on hot sausage makes my bones quiver)
I agree on peppers, though. Sautéed red/green peppers with onions (and a dash of oregano) on an Italian sausage sandwich are a mighty fine thing, but they have no place on bratwurst.
I grew up near Chicago, an area rich with German blood, as am I and my surname (seven letters with a single vowel, fer chrissakes). And cold (rinsed, dammit!) kraut warms up just fine on a freshly seared brat.
First off… may I please take a moment to thank every single person who posted? You didn’t have to and it was All helpful. So… Thank You!
Next, the kraut I’m going to do as a side dish in a bowl with its own spoon. People are going to put on what they like (America… go figure).
The same with the onions/peppers. It’s a personal taste thing. I will make sure that the darkest brown mustard that guldens makes is on the table… but the tray is just going to have brats in split rolls plain.
My brother does have a grill so 1/2 to 3/4 of the brats will get grilled… but I’m still going to put a few pan seared ones out there and give people a choice.
I will say this: brats are filling. Its one-and-done for me… but when they taste great the hardest part is not nodding off afterward. Of course this is just the beginning or football season… so, what’s after this for the following month? Cuban sandwiches?
I know… I know… one thing at a time…
I’d love a Cuban sammich thread. There’s a place near me that does them right with good pork loin and spicy pickles. Wow, I don’t think I could ever replicate that at home.
Heh, a Texan’s (hey, we had our share of German immigrants) take on it:
Soak them in beer for awhile if you want them sweet. Get a malty beer, Negro Modelo or Shiner Bock work better than light lagers.
Grill them, and grill the peppers and onions in foil with a bit of beer in them. I prefer an outside grill, but doing the equivalent in the house is fine. Put it on a good roll, and top with spicy brown mustard.
But then again, I’ll put grilled jalapenos on them, so take that for what it’s worth.