chicken brats in sheep casings

[junkcollector]

Did up another of brats last nite. My 4yo is still limited with a very small mouth, so I stuffed this into sheep casings. Hog casings stuffed are almost as big as her mouth, then add a bun n kraut and its impossible for her to eat. Used small grind plate on the KA grinder, ground once. Used poli's nurnberg brats recipe but cut back on the white pepper and caraway, was simply too heavy last time we made em. Used some chicken breast tenders cause that's all that was thawed out. Definitely need to use thighs next time. Much better results. Even after adding close to 1/4 cup of olive oil, being breast meat, the pan test did tend to get dry after it sat a while. The links are no way near as bad to dry out. Here's some Qview. Sorry, no completed fried up links, they disappeared too quickly.

all ground up ready for seasoning

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• junkcollector
• Feb 17, 2013

in stuffer ready to get busy.

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• junkcollector
• Feb 17, 2013

getting linked up

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• junkcollector
• Feb 17, 2013

one batch of poached links drying after getting the cool down. used high

sided electric skillet rather than break out the turkey roaster didn't

bother to prick air bubbles, didn't want to loose the olive oil i had to

add for lack of fat. wanted to keep it inside.

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• junkcollector
• Feb 17, 2013

 

[boykjo]

 

[roller]

Nice !

 

[woodcutter]

Very nice! Never tried it but it sounds delicious.

 

[driedstick]

Looks Good.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Yup it do look good.

 

[junkcollector]

thanks for the compliments. they do taste good and look beautiful after getting fried up in a cast iron skillet. problem is, its still breast meat. it is juicy when first cooked, but ya BETTER eat it then and there. it drys out pretty quickly. If i use breast meat again, going to add some SPC or PM to help hold juice. 

 

[danbono]

Quote:

thanks for the compliments. they do taste good and look beautiful after getting fried up in a cast iron skillet. problem is, its still breast meat. it is juicy when first cooked, but ya BETTER eat it then and there. it drys out pretty quickly. If i use breast meat again, going to add some SPC or PM to help hold juice.

Hi What does SPC & PM mean?  Also how did you poach your bratwurst. My pork sausage/bratwurst came out on the dry side.

I was thinking of using NFDM,Fat Replacer or Soy concentrate next time, to make it juicier.

Thanks Dan

 

[junkcollector]

Dan,

SPC= soy protein concentrate

PM= shortened for nfdm

After stuffing them, I did poach them in a electric skillet about 8-10 at a time. Had nothing better to do and the turkey roaster is such a pain to warsh, I just used the skillet. Worked like a charm since these are in sheep casings. Finished cleaning up the kitchen while they poached. Once fried up in a skillet, they aren't bad, but if they sit in the skillet for a bit, they will dry out pretty quick. My preference is DEFINITELY to use thighs, they work out much nicer. Any hog brats, or sheep brats I have made in the past using thighs turn out VERY juicy when using chicken thighs. If i do em again using breast meat of any kind, I'll experiment with the spc or nfdm. 

 

[wes w]

JC, did you add any seasoning to the brats?    I have 1 friend who doesn't eat pork or beef.  I've thought about trying the chicken brat for her.    Thanks

 

[junkcollector]

wes,

I season em just as i used to for pork brats. I personally don't notice a difference in taste of chicken vs pork vs beef. I'm sure others do though. 

This batch was kindly a mess seasoning wise. Some idiot began at 10:30 at night on this batch!

 I was using a recipe for a kilo of meat, not paying attention or remembering that I had almost 5.5 lbs, so I ended up kindly shy on spices in this batch. Luckly I had a few seasoning kits with a bit left over in them, so I just kept adding seasoning left overs till they tasted good. Carelessness on my part, however, in the end, their very tasty. 

If you did some for your friend, i do strongly recomend using chicken thighs, don't trim skin or fat bits, open packs, season and grind. They are much better than the breast meat. Even when using thighs, I do add a few tbs of olive oil to it.

 

[wes w]

Thanks JC.   I've never used the metric measurements before until I started doing sausage.    I have to keep focused when weighing out my spices.    I'm not a big breast (chicken that is) man anyway.   Love the legs and thighs.   This goes on my to do list.   Thanks for the info.  

 

[junkcollector]

no problem man. glad i could help.