Bratwurst

Rev 1.00 last revised:  24-May-09

Eating a freshly prepared bratwurst is the German answer to, "What are we going to do for the holiday?"  Any occasion will do for a reason to prepare and eat these tasty treats.  You can buy them fresh at a variety of outlets all around the world.  Or, you can make your own Bratwurst.  In either case, prepare and enjoy them as discussed below.

First, a couple of tips.  While how one cooks 'Brats' is open to a wide variety of interpretation, how you eat it isn't.  There are only a few hard and fast rules that must be kept in mind if you're not to offend true bratwurst fans:  First; 'brats' ARE NEVER FRIED!  Second; one never serves or eats a brat on an insipid hot dog bun!  Finally; NEVER use "yellow mustard" on a brat!

Aside from those erstwhile cautions, how you eat it is pretty much up to you.  The most common way of eating them is to fold a slice of a rustic, sourdough farmers bread like my provender around your brat.  Slather on some brown mustard, pile on some caramelized onions, sauerkraut or sweet & sour red-cabbage, and you're good to go!

As a classic food that's been around for many hundreds of years, it's the actual taste of the brat that should be at the center or your experience.  Brats, beer, German potato salad, and perhaps a green or cabbage salad on the side is all that's needed.  Dress it up with a bit of hot, stone-ground mustard, and you're all set to enjoy something wonderful.  The recipe below serves 3-5.

Ingredients:

Instructions:

Melt the butter and add the sliced onions.  Over medium heat, sauté the onions until they're soft and translucent and barely browned in places.

Add the bratwurst and add enough of the beer to nearly cover them.  Simmer for about 15 minutes.   Keep the liquid simmering, and remove the bratwurst to a grill on medium heat.  Grill the bratwurst for about 15 more minutes, making sure to turn the bratwurst to keep them from burning.  Continue sautéing the onions and beer to reduce the liquid.

When well browned and done on the grill, return the bratwurst to the onion and beer pan.  You can eat them immediately or keep them warm for quite some time.  To eat, put the bratwurst on your bread slice and top with onions from the cooking liquid.

You can eat this simple bratwurst recipe as is or add favorite condiments or other toppings.  I recommend spicy brown mustard and hot sauerkraut.  That's it!

Enjoy!