I guess it is that time of the year again for many to be picking up a pack
or two of the ol'Johnsonville Brats. For me here, just outside Sheboygan
Wisconsin, it is always the season to cook brats no matter how cold it is
outside. I have seen a post or two that mention brats so I will go over the
CORRECT procedure again.

I will start off with a few terms

fryer - the thing you cook brats on, usually a Weber Kettle with charcoal
brat fry - an event, often held at the local tavern, where brats and beer
are fryed, sold and eaten with beer and good spicy mustard
fry up some brats - cook brats on a fryer

Forget all that you think you know about fried food, like french fries,
brats have nothing to do with deep fat frying. That is just the way it done
in Sheboygan, and for that matter Johnsonville, Wisconsin.

To start the cooking process first you start up your fryer, I use lump
charcoal in a chimney starter, you want a nice "mature" medium heat fire.
If the fire is too hot the brats will split and burn before they are done.
Once the fire is started take the brats out of the package and put them in a
bowl or pot, if you like beer cover them with beer else you can use water
and set them on the counter until the fire is ready. NEVER, I mean NEVER
par-boil a bratwurst before it meets the fire! This is probably the most
important thing I can tell you. Once your coals are ready spread them out
evenly in the kettle and put on the cooking grate cover and let the grate
heat up for a few minutes. Then it is time to start arrange the sausages in
rows perpendicular to the grates on the fryer and cover. This is where
experience is key, every few minutes lift the lid and turn the brats,
flare-ups can occur and can be doused with water or beer, when I fry I have
a bottle of beer that I drink out of and also use to douse flames just cover
the mouth with your thumb and give the bottle a little shake...instant spray
bottle. continue frying and turning until the sausages are firm to the
touch and I nice dark golden brown, never black! When the brats are done,
put them in a pot with some beer and set on the stove to keep warm. Serve
on a Sheboygan-style hardroll with a good spicy course ground mustard and
sliced onions!

Bill Rehm wrote:

Once the fire is started take the brats out of the package and put them in a
bowl or pot, if you like beer cover them with beer else you can use water
and set them on the counter until the fire is ready.

When the brats are done,
put them in a pot with some beer and set on the stove to keep warm.

So, what's the point of the "beer bath" at the beginning and the end?
How much liquid would a sausage absorb? And why not just eat 'em off
the grill, uh, "fryer" instead of putting them in beer again?

wrote:
Bill Rehm wrote:

Once the fire is started take the brats out of the package and put them in a
bowl or pot, if you like beer cover them with beer else you can use water
and set them on the counter until the fire is ready.

When the brats are done,
put them in a pot with some beer and set on the stove to keep warm.

So, what's the point of the "beer bath" at the beginning and the end?
How much liquid would a sausage absorb? And why not just eat 'em off
the grill, uh, "fryer" instead of putting them in beer again?

Alcohol abuse?

BOB

So, what's the point of the "beer bath" at the beginning and the end?
How much liquid would a sausage absorb? And why not just eat 'em off
the grill, uh, "fryer" instead of putting them in beer again?


You don't want it to absorb much liquid at all, it is just a short
"marinade" and the early liquid dripping helps cool the fire a little bit,
it is not very important to do this I will grant you.

However, at least in my case I don't start the charcoal unless I'm frying up
3 or more pounds of brats and since my wife hates brats I have to cook
hamburgers as well. The post-fry beer bath is more a method of keeping them
hot/warm until everyone is ready to eat.

Alcohol abuse?

BOB

Absolutly not, I use something from Miller, Bud, or Coors. That is not
really beer anyway!

and
sliced onions!



soak the onions in the beer bath..............
soak the onions in the beer bath..............

via my wife from rheinlander, wi

joe
petersburg, ak

sure the weather sucks
what's your point?

Wrong!

From my Wisconsin relatives and I have allooooooootttttt of them ;-)

1) Start Grill
2) Slow Boil brats is best beer around, add 1 onion to the boil. I demand
homebrew myself!
3) When fire is ready brats will be ready too.
4) Use a low-med heat on the brats letting them take in as much of the smoke
they can.
5) Put back in beer for trip inside the house or the picnic table.


__Stephen

"Bill Rehm" wrote in message
...
I guess it is that time of the year again for many to be picking up a pack
or two of the ol'Johnsonville Brats. For me here, just outside Sheboygan
Wisconsin, it is always the season to cook brats no matter how cold it is
outside. I have seen a post or two that mention brats so I will go over
the
CORRECT procedure again.

I will start off with a few terms

fryer - the thing you cook brats on, usually a Weber Kettle with charcoal
brat fry - an event, often held at the local tavern, where brats and beer
are fryed, sold and eaten with beer and good spicy mustard
fry up some brats - cook brats on a fryer

Forget all that you think you know about fried food, like french fries,
brats have nothing to do with deep fat frying. That is just the way it
done
in Sheboygan, and for that matter Johnsonville, Wisconsin.

To start the cooking process first you start up your fryer, I use lump
charcoal in a chimney starter, you want a nice "mature" medium heat fire.
If the fire is too hot the brats will split and burn before they are done.
Once the fire is started take the brats out of the package and put them in
a
bowl or pot, if you like beer cover them with beer else you can use water
and set them on the counter until the fire is ready. NEVER, I mean NEVER
par-boil a bratwurst before it meets the fire! This is probably the most
important thing I can tell you. Once your coals are ready spread them out
evenly in the kettle and put on the cooking grate cover and let the grate
heat up for a few minutes. Then it is time to start arrange the sausages
in
rows perpendicular to the grates on the fryer and cover. This is where
experience is key, every few minutes lift the lid and turn the brats,
flare-ups can occur and can be doused with water or beer, when I fry I
have
a bottle of beer that I drink out of and also use to douse flames just
cover
the mouth with your thumb and give the bottle a little shake...instant
spray
bottle. continue frying and turning until the sausages are firm to the
touch and I nice dark golden brown, never black! When the brats are done,
put them in a pot with some beer and set on the stove to keep warm. Serve
on a Sheboygan-style hardroll with a good spicy course ground mustard and
sliced onions!

Stephen Russell wrote:
Wrong!


So is it northerners that boil them in beer or catholics? It does seem to be
quasi religious, I imagine going into a tavern and getting beat up if you
say you like it the wrong way to hear you guys go on. Funnier than hell,
keep it up!


--

"
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Russell"
Newsgroups: alt.food.barbecue
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 1:53 PM
Subject: Brats!


Wrong!

From my Wisconsin relatives and I have allooooooootttttt of them ;-)

1) Start Grill
2) Slow Boil brats is best beer around, add 1 onion to the boil. I demand
homebrew myself!
3) When fire is ready brats will be ready too.
4) Use a low-med heat on the brats letting them take in as much of the
smoke
they can.
5) Put back in beer for trip inside the house or the picnic table.


thats about the same way we do them in Wood County Wis too.. We use more
oinions(garlic too)--I refer it to poaching the brats--the water doen't
bubble just soak in hot beer--then grill etc---should have a good crusty
Sheyboagan hard roll to soak up all those good juices

Buzz-----in Nekoosa


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free 'cause AVG and Buzz say so!!!
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.699 / Virus Database: 456 - Release Date: 6/4/2004

"Duwop" wrote in message
...
Stephen Russell wrote:
Wrong!


So is it northerners that boil them in beer or catholics? It does seem to
be
quasi religious, I imagine going into a tavern and getting beat up if you
say you like it the wrong way to hear you guys go on. Funnier than hell,
keep it up!

LOL!

I married into a large Catholic family!

"Bill Rehm" must be the Company Grill Master!

I will say it again, NEVER! Never! boil brats in beer before they hit the
fryer. Only fools and amatures make a good bratwurst "hotdog" style.

So Stephen, are your relatives from Milwaukee, they don't know how to cook
brat down there to save their lives!

"Stephen Russell" wrote in
message ...
Wrong!

From my Wisconsin relatives and I have allooooooootttttt of them ;-)

1) Start Grill
2) Slow Boil brats is best beer around, add 1 onion to the boil. I demand
homebrew myself!
3) When fire is ready brats will be ready too.
4) Use a low-med heat on the brats letting them take in as much of the
smoke
they can.
5) Put back in beer for trip inside the house or the picnic table.


__Stephen

"Bill Rehm" wrote in message
...
I guess it is that time of the year again for many to be picking up a
pack
or two of the ol'Johnsonville Brats. For me here, just outside
Sheboygan
Wisconsin, it is always the season to cook brats no matter how cold it
is
outside. I have seen a post or two that mention brats so I will go over
the
CORRECT procedure again.

I will start off with a few terms

fryer - the thing you cook brats on, usually a Weber Kettle with
charcoal
brat fry - an event, often held at the local tavern, where brats and
beer
are fryed, sold and eaten with beer and good spicy mustard
fry up some brats - cook brats on a fryer

Forget all that you think you know about fried food, like french fries,
brats have nothing to do with deep fat frying. That is just the way it
done
in Sheboygan, and for that matter Johnsonville, Wisconsin.

To start the cooking process first you start up your fryer, I use lump
charcoal in a chimney starter, you want a nice "mature" medium heat
fire.
If the fire is too hot the brats will split and burn before they are
done.
Once the fire is started take the brats out of the package and put them
in
a
bowl or pot, if you like beer cover them with beer else you can use
water
and set them on the counter until the fire is ready. NEVER, I mean
NEVER
par-boil a bratwurst before it meets the fire! This is probably the
most
important thing I can tell you. Once your coals are ready spread them
out
evenly in the kettle and put on the cooking grate cover and let the
grate
heat up for a few minutes. Then it is time to start arrange the
sausages
in
rows perpendicular to the grates on the fryer and cover. This is where
experience is key, every few minutes lift the lid and turn the brats,
flare-ups can occur and can be doused with water or beer, when I fry I
have
a bottle of beer that I drink out of and also use to douse flames just
cover
the mouth with your thumb and give the bottle a little shake...instant
spray
bottle. continue frying and turning until the sausages are firm to the
touch and I nice dark golden brown, never black! When the brats are
done,
put them in a pot with some beer and set on the stove to keep warm.
Serve
on a Sheboygan-style hardroll with a good spicy course ground mustard
and
sliced onions!

I not a member of the Company at all, actually I prefer Miesfeld's brats
over Johnsonville. If you go back a few years in the area, Poth Meat Market
had the best brats in town!


"Spud" wrote in message
. com...

"Bill Rehm" must be the Company Grill Master!

quasi religious?

Very much so! If my church started par-boiling brats for the summer
festival, I would have to convert to some other religion! My experience is,
at least in S.E. Wisconsin, there is a line at about Port Washington, North
of that line...no boil, South of the line they boil the crap out of the poor
brat before they hit the fryer.

I would have to say that we here in the Sheboygan area take our bratwurst
seriously, very seriously. I am also the President of the local Homebrew
club (The Sheboygan Sudzzers) we have discussed this very topic at length
and we all agree, leave the par-boiling to the armatures. As part of the
Club's annual Oktoberfest celebration we have our own bratwurst recipe with
Rhinelander Bock and tripple garlic. Damn good sausage, but the wife stays
away from me for a few days after that brat fry.

Boil if you must, but please in the name of all things good, no yellow
mustard!

Bill Rehm wrote:
quasi religious?

I would have to say that we here in the Sheboygan area take our
bratwurst seriously, very seriously. I am also the President of the
local Homebrew club (The Sheboygan Sudzzers) we have discussed this
very topic at length and we all agree, leave the par-boiling to the
armatures.

Well shitfire, if you're against parboilin, you got to be right!

Any of your boys brew a good imperial stout? Drink of the gods that is, a
good home brewed imperial, I've too damn seldom had the pleasure. I still
dream about the last batch I had the luck to help finish.

--