Nurnberger style Bratwurst

I am enjoying the process of making sausages. This one is a Nurnberger style bratwurst. It was a little tough to find a recipe. Some called for caraway but checking with a German colleague disabused me of that notion, they all called for beef, veal specifically, but I couldn't find any so I used chuck roast (I had some left over from the Kielbasa adventure). the primary seasoning is marjoram.

Nurnberger bratwurst is a name protected under EU law, and the exact recipe is a closely held secret by the sausage makers in Nurnberg. It is a smaller sausage, thinner than the common bratwurst you get in the States, so it calls for lamb casings rather than hog casings.

Ingredients:
2.5 lbs pork shoulder
1.5 lbs veal ( lean)
1 lb back fat
8 tsp salt
2 tsp ground white pepper
¾ tsp mace
½ tsp nutmeg
4 tsp marjoram

Here are the spices.

Grind meat through small plate.
Mix thoroughly with spices, grind again.

At this point make a small patty and fry it up to check seasonings. I thought it was rather salty but, decided to forge ahead anyway.

Stuff into small casings, tying off at 4" or so. I'm not the best at this so some are bigger than others. Ah well, the perils of homemade.




















Into a big pan with some water to poach. I want them cooked so all they need is a little time in the pan or grill.

When all is said and done, I have nice batch of sausages!

The ones in the foreground may have had a blowout or are too stubby to package. They were sacrificed to the taste test. I grilled them and they are unlike any sausage I've had, mild, beefy, a hint of nutmeg. In other words, pretty subtle. But good! And they did not taste oversalted so I was happy about that.

I vacuum sealed the rest, and popped them in the freezer. We'll see if they pass muster with a few of my German colleagues.

Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!


12/21/2010 Update
Per my German colleague who requested them,  they are a little salty - but clearly quite edible - she ate 6 of them! Also the flavor profile is correct. The grind was too fine - nect time I grind once, mix  spices and stuff.

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
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Cold smoked sausages

With the smoke shack built and tested it is time to do a little more. I have a chunk of cured pork belly, and the ingredients for bratwurst and kielbasa. I'm using recipes from Bruce Aidells' Complete Sausage Book.

Here are the two plates of spices measured out, one for each type of wurst. For the kielbasa:

and the bratwurst.

The mixes are similar with the kielbasa calling for much  more garlic, and the bratwurst needing mace and ground mustard seed. Since they are both going into the smoker, I used the salt I smoked in the test run for extra smokey flavor

The pink is the curing salt. 6.25% sodium nitrite. It is required because the sausages will be air dried and cold smoked and it inhibits bacteria growth, particularly that responsible for botulism (Clostridium botulinum). In very high doses it is toxic, so it is dyed pink to prevent mistaking it for sugar or salt. If you're interested, we can discuss nitrites and nitrates further.

The basic sausage making is described in this old post. The process is the same here.

Cut up the meat,

Spice and grind,  chill and stuff into casings. It sounds so easy, but it took about 4 hours as I clean and disinfect all equipment between grinding and stuffing. And this of course was two batches. In the end we have 4 big kielbasas.





















Before they go into the smoker, the instructions indicate to hang the sausages in front of a fan overnight.

Ready for the smoker, also have the cured and pepper pork belly.

Into the smoker.

Smoke for 12 hours. It was very cold so I did use a small propane heater to keep the smoke box above freezing. I also switched from wood chips, to chunks, they burned longer.

 All ready to poach and eat and enjoy! 

Until next tinme Eat Well & Keep Digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
Garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
Cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Brats, and not the kind you want to send home to their parents

Today was a family party, six of the ten kids gathered at my brothers house. I said I'd make brats. The procedure and recipe was the same as  before:

http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/2010/06/get-yer-fresh-bratwurst-here.html

 I made five lbs of brats. I'm getting better at making them. A lovely coil for the first bit.

 After poaching in beer for 20 minutes, then cooled there are twenty-two bratwurst ready to go meet my family (plus eight for the freezer).

A panful of porky goodness!

Anyone hungry? OK, so I got carried away with the mustard.

It has been a long and busy day. I hope you all had a great weekend.

Eat well and keep digging!

The Gastronomic Gardener
My garden blog http://amidwestgarden.blogspot.com/
My cooking blog http://ihopeyouarehungry.blogspot.com/
Twitter - www.twitter.com/DavidPOffutt
http://www.facebook.com/TheGastronomicGardener

Get Yer Fresh Bratwurst Here!

Finally got around to making some fresh sausage. Bratwurst to be more specific.

I've been wanting to learn/teach myself how to do this for a long time, and have done the reading, the research - bought some equipment to start out.

We start with a pork shoulder - also called pork butt - and we slice it into strips for easy feeding into the grinder.

It's 2.5 lbs shoulder and  .5 lb pork fat. Weighed out and into big ziplocs to chill.

  

Meanwhile measure and grind the fresh spices. They include nutmeg, mace, garlic, sugar, salt, black pepper, mustard seed, and  sage. There are two plates of spices as there are two batches.

 

Put meat strips and spices in a bowl, mix together then grind on 1/4" plate. The Kitchen Aid worked pretty well for this, put the ground sausage back in the bag and back onto the fridge to chill.

 

 

At this point a taste test is required, so make a small patty and fry it up - pretty darn good!

 

Next, soak some hog casings in water for at least 30 minutes to wash the salt off. I wasn't sure what to expect but they did not have an off smell and they were slimy like mucus. Weird but not completely gross.

 

Next assemble the stuffer. This did not work nearly as well as grinding, feeding was a bit of a hassle - I will look into a better stuffer for the future.

I did have some issues with the casing tearing - yes, I did lube the horn but it still tore some.  Not a big deal, just tied them off the best I could with string. The casing did have the variability one might expect from a natural product.

Here is the first result. I will poach them in beer and finish them on the grill.

Into the hot tub for you brats!

 

The second batch turned out much better, probably combination of  a better casing, colder ground meat (the second batch chilled overnight) and experience.

 

Ok, everybody swim in circles!

 

Well my fault I stepped away while they were poaching and some split. Darn. I think they will still be delicious.

They were and are.

 

Eat Well!

Excitement!

Oh Boy!

My order just arrived!

KitchenAid Sausage Stuffer Kit, KitchenAid Food Tray Attachment,
Natural Hog Casings, and Bruce Aidells's Complete Sausage Book, Can fresh bratwurst be far away?   I need to get that pork shoulder out of the freezer!

Stay tuned.