Fresh Bratwurst

[Steve H]

Yesterday morning I ground up the pork, beef, and salt pork (couldn't find any fat back locally). Added the spices. Did the test patty, tasted great. This morning I stuffed them in natural casings. Only burst two of them. So I had to do them over. I believe I have one a bit overstuffed. But that won't stop me from eating it!

 

[Braz]

Looks good. I need to make some brats soon. We had to resort to store-bought brats last night.

 

[SmokinAl]

Your brats look real good. If you haven't already done so, then you need to prick a pin hole in those air pockets in the sausage to let the air out. If you do it before you link them it makes linking much easier.
Al

 

[tallbm]

Hi there and welcome!

Good looking brats!

I have found with my fresh sausages that I stuff them a little squishy rather than tightly.
This basically eliminates blowout and most importantly, the sausages don't split or explode when cooked. They have a little room to expand since they were stuffed a little squishy and they always come out plump and perfect :)

Let us know how they cook up :)

 

[Steve H]

Thanks for the tips. I did prick them to get the air pockets out before I put the ones I wasn't eating right away in the freezer. Can't wait to cook these tomorrow!

 

[myownidaho]

Good looking sausage!

 

[Rings Я Us]

Have to let us in on the recipe or ingredients.. looks great!

 

[SmokyMose]

It looks like your "overstuffed" one is perfect. The rest are understuffed, but they will still be tasty.

 

[Steve H]

The ingredients were pretty straight forward:

• 3lbs pork
• 2lbs lean beef
• 2 eggs
• 1cup beer
• 1 and 1⁄2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1⁄2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1tablespoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon sage
• 5 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons onion powder

The pork seemed too lean to me. I believe the butcher got a bit carried away with trimming the meat. And since I couldn't find any fat back. I used a 1/4 pound salt pork. And reduced the salt added to 2 and a half teaspoons. Then I mixed the dry spices to the beer. Put the meat through a 1/4" grinder plate. Mixed it all together and let it sit for 24 hours.
Then stuffed and let it bloom for 24 hours. Set some aside for tonight! And vacuum packed the rest. The test patty was awesome, can't wait to have the real deal! We will have these as Currywurst. With pommes frites (french fries) that will be made from fresh potatoes.

 

[Steve H]

The finished results. They were great!

 

[geo315]

Yesterday morning I ground up the pork, beef, and salt pork (couldn't find any fat back locally). Added the spices. Did the test patty, tasted great. This morning I stuffed them in natural casings. Only burst two of them. So I had to do them over. I believe I have one a bit overstuffed. But that won't stop me from eating it!

View attachment 354911

Looks real good.

 

[indaswamp]

Good looking sausage. As far as stuffing, you want the casing full, but not stuffed tight. you need room to twist the links. The links will be full after twisting. It takes a little practice getting a feel for how full to stuff the casing.

 

[jimmyinsd]

not that it is right or there is only 1 way, I typically stuff the entire casing then perforate it with the sausage prick, and then the compression action to make the links usually forces all the air out of the pin holes as I twist them. I agree with leaving them slightly less than full and using the linking process as well to firm them up.

good looking sausage!