German Brat recipe help please

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shellbellc

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
Jun 7, 2006
1,757
19
Valley Forge, PA
I work with a German lady and she goes to Germany every year, she states that the brats are so much better over there. They are longer and skinnier than over here and she said they have a different flavor. She also said that the best brat over there is a Thuringer brat. I would like to impress her with some home made American brats that compare with her native brats, I think with the smoking I'll be able to do that, but I'm wondering about an authentic recipe...anyone have a true German recipe? Thuringer recipe?
 
Askand you shall receive!
Thuringer
To make 10 lbs
6 Tbs salt
2tsp instacure #1
4Tbs powered dextrose
1Tbs ground black pepper
1tsp ground ginger
1Tbs whole or cracked pepper
1 & 1/2 cups fermento (Soy protein???)
4 lbs lean pork trimmings or skinned fatted shoulders
2 lbs pork butts
2lbs fresh pork hearts
2lbs pork fat

Grinding

grind the pork and pork hearts through a 3/16 grinder plate
cut the pork fat into 1&1/2 inch pieces
put all the meats and ingredients into the mixer and mix well
Put meat intocuring tubs and pack tight to eliminate air pockets

Put into cooler at 38 to 40 deg farenheit for 3-4 days
The thuringer is cured when the meat has a nice red colour to it
After curing remove and grind through a 1/8 or 3/16 " plate.ing

Stuffing

stuff into single wall beef middles2-3/4"x30" long or 3-1/2"x24" fibrous casings.

Smoking and cooking


Hang thuringer on smoke sticks and hang at room temp 65-70 farenheit for 10-12 hours or until thoughly dry.
When the temp is lower than 65 increase hang time to 24 hours.
Put thuringer into 100-110 deg smoker and immediately apply heavy smudge and smoke for 8-10 hours at this temp.
raise temp to 145deg and smoke until internal temp is 138deg.
Allow to cool at room temp and place in a cooler overnight.

It is very important tosmoke at a low temp, max temp should not exceed 110deg F

NOTE#
by cooler They mean a meat cooler with proper cooling capabilities.
I have a recipe for 25lbs if you need it.
Recipe is from

Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing
By Rytek Kutas

Hope this helps........my arms are numb......two finger typing LOL
 
Debi is right, this books recipe has what we Americans would typically consider a classic german bratwurst. Its the recipe i use, but i omit the veal because its so friggen expensive around here. I usually use about 4lbs pork butt or country style ribs and another pound of pork fat. I like to have the ratio about 40% pork to fat.

It's funny though because my wife and i have some older german friends who, when asked about bratwurst also say thuringer is thier favorite.
 
I never use veal either for the same reason I use what's on sale! Turkey makes a good substitute in some recipes but I bump up any garlic or onion when I use it because it's so mild flavored.
 
Ask and you shall receive!
Thuringer
To make 10 lbs
6 Tbs salt
2tsp instacure #1
4Tbs powered dextrose
1Tbs ground black pepper
1tsp ground ginger
1Tbs whole or cracked pepper
1 & 1/2 cups fermento (Soy protein???)
4 lbs lean pork trimmings or skinned fatted shoulders
2 lbs pork butts
2lbs fresh pork hearts
2lbs pork fat

Grinding

grind the pork and pork hearts through a 3/16 grinder plate
cut the pork fat into 1&1/2 inch pieces
put all the meats and ingredients into the mixer and mix well
Put meat intocuring tubs and pack tight to eliminate air pockets

Put into cooler at 38 to 40 deg farenheit for 3-4 days
The thuringer is cured when the meat has a nice red colour to it
After curing remove and grind through a 1/8 or 3/16 " plate.ing

Stuffing

stuff into single wall beef middles2-3/4"x30" long or 3-1/2"x24" fibrous casings.

Smoking and cooking


Hang thuringer on smoke sticks and hang at room temp 65-70 farenheit for 10-12 hours or until thoughly dry.
When the temp is lower than 65 increase hang time to 24 hours.
Put thuringer into 100-110 deg smoker and immediately apply heavy smudge and smoke for 8-10 hours at this temp.
raise temp to 145deg and smoke until internal temp is 138deg.
Allow to cool at room temp and place in a cooler overnight.

It is very important tosmoke at a low temp, max temp should not exceed 110deg F

NOTE#
by cooler They mean a meat cooler with proper cooling capabilities.
I have a recipe for 25lbs if you need it.
Recipe is from

Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing
By Rytek Kutas

Hope this helps........my arms are numb......two finger typing LOL
Ok guys, I'm pulling this one out of the vault to ask a question.

Has anyone used the recipe?     I'm pretty sure I can get the ingredients, but before I go to the trouble of finding pork hearts, I'd like to just how good it is.

Thanks in advance

Wes
 
Can't help ya on this one Wes - never saw that recipe till now. Maybe someone will chime in that has actually made it 
th_dunno-1%5B1%5D.gif
 
Without beating around the bush and being totally honest, that's a Rytek recipe, and as nice of a guy as he was and as much as he did for sausage making, his German sausage recipes generally suck!!!

Classic Thuringer is made from pork and beef, and like most all German sausage recipes, it's not complicated, it's seasoned with the obvious salt and pepper as well as marjoram, caraway and garlic, usually.
It's either made fresh or semi-dry cured.


~Martin
 
Can't help ya on this one Wes - never saw that recipe till now. Maybe someone will chime in that has actually made it 
th_dunno-1%5B1%5D.gif
Thanks Jeremy.   Guys at work loved the polish sausages.  I'm just trying to find a brat recipe that will knock there socks off as well.
Without beating around the bush and being totally honest, that's a Rytek recipe, and as nice of a guy as he was and as much as he did for sausage making, his German sausage recipes generally suck!!!

Classic Thuringer is made from pork and beef, and like most all German sausage recipes, it's not complicated, it's seasoned with the obvious salt and pepper as well as marjoram, caraway and garlic, usually.
It's either made fresh or semi-dry cured.


~Martin
Thanks Martin.  I ask a honest question, I expect an honest answer.  I don't have any books to go by.   The people that have helped me here are way better then any book IMO.  You can't ask a book a question.   You guys are the experts.  I'm just learning.  I don't know what works and what doesn't, that why I ask.   I've been through the archives 10 pages back looking for that perfect seasoned brat.
 
Thanks Jeremy.   Guys at work loved the polish sausages.  I'm just trying to find a brat recipe that will knock there socks off as well.

Thanks Martin.  I ask a honest question, I expect an honest answer.  I don't have any books to go by.   The people that have helped me here are way better then any book IMO.  You can't ask a book a question.   You guys are the experts.  I'm just learning.  I don't know what works and what doesn't, that why I ask.   I've been through the archives 10 pages back looking for that perfect seasoned brat.
wes,

everybody is going to have their own preference on the perfect brat recipe. testing is most likely how you will find yours. heres ya a link to poli's site. there are german sausage recipes up top in fresh section, then mid way down in cooked/smoked section you'll find a thuringer recipe along with several others.

http://lpoli.50webs.com/Sausage recipes.htm
 
Thanks JC,

I'm new to sausages.  I guess I'm just in to big of a hurry to find that perfect one.  Thanks for the link.  

Wes
 
Wes, 

Try this Brat recipe, she will like it I assure you.
MeatsGr/Kg
Pork Shoulder1000
Salt15
Sugar1.75
Coarse Black Pepper2.25
Nutmeg1.5
Ground Caraway1.5
Ground Mustard 0.75
Beer (German Better)75
 
Thanks  Shannon,

I did your kielbasa recipe last week,  It was awesome!   Thanks for sharing that.

I will be trying this one as well.   Thanks for you help!

Wes
 
The simplest recipes are usually the best.  Usually good recipe will have meat, salt, pepper, and 2 or 3 other spices.  Milk powder, soy protein, MSG, were probably not used to make these traditional sausages.
 
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Wes, 

Try this Brat recipe, she will like it I assure you.
MeatsGr/Kg
Pork Shoulder1000
Salt15
Sugar1.75
Coarse Black Pepper2.25
Nutmeg1.5
Ground Caraway1.5
Ground Mustard 0.75
Beer (German Better)75
Thanks guys.  I have a question.  How does your recipe work?  I know silly question.  With the kielbasa recipe Smoking B had converted it to oz.    I need to learn how to us your type of recipe, I see it a lot and don't have a clue how to use it.

I "assume"  the pork is 100% and everything under it is a percent?    Thanks for your time and help

Wes
 
That is a good way to think of it.  With gram weight instead of volumes, everything is easily expressed as a percentage of the meat weight.  So my recipe above could be
MeatsPercentage
Pork Shoulder100%
Salt1.50%
Sugar0.175%
Coarse Black Pepper0.225%
Nutmeg0.15%
Ground Caraway0.15%
Ground Mustard 0.075%
Beer (German Better)7.50%
 
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