Johnsonville Wisconsin brat clone

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Dave in AZ

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Oct 2, 2022
272
273
Phx, AZ
There is a thread on this recipe here. Been posted here about 6 times, I converted all the odd batch size and units, they are all same recipe. Might be from diggingdogfarm originally.


Anyways, made some tonight again but with a bit of mace, 0.3g per kg meat. Also used 15% brisket fat in addition to the 16% pork fat. Nice flavor, loved them.


Made 2kg tonight. Just a few result notes for process help.
1. Used same recipe, but was 0.6g shy for nutmeg, so added 0.6g mace instead.
2. Pork butt was 6mm grind, with maybe 20% fat. 1560g total so 312g fat. I wanted to try very fatty brats, so I added 300g prime brisket fat. I didnt have preground pork fat, and wanted to see how beef fat changed brats. With 10% water it was 1980g, or 31% fat.
3. Extra 4.5mm brisket fat mixed in at end to prevent smearing. Mix temperature below 35f. Light to Medium protein extraction, I like some sausage bite to my brats.
4. I used 1.5% SureGel which is 33% phosphates, 33% milk proteins, 33% gelatin. I wanted the fat well bound.
5. Per all manufacturers, 30 to 32mm hog casings should be 2.5ft per lb meat. I had 4.36 lb, so should be about 11ft casing. I used 12ft on tube. However, it only took 8.5ft. I thought it wasn't overstuffed, was able to pinch easy and just let it run off tube. But they do look pretty fat at 6" here. I got these casings from LE M I think, bought from Amazon and had 1 "tube" left. Anyways, maybe they were 32-34mm? With a normal stuff it was 2ft casing per lb sausage.
6. Poached in SV at 164f for 40 min.
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Really good!
I think I like this better than top recipe… mace and nutmeg are simar, bit I do like this wee touch of mace. Also, the more solid sausage texture from well mixed 6mm grind resulted in what I remember from Germany. It seems from many posts that folks in US are more used now to a very loose texture with particle definition, if that’s what you like then just mix less and do an 8 or 10mm grind.
However, my wife and kids all said, “Make THAT your new standard brat!” So it must be good!


Other meat is a pork tenderloin I cured corned for 30 days with tarragon and garlic. Was going to dry as salumi, but ended up freezing. SV at 138 for an hour, pan seared, cream deglaze gravy. Mashed potatoes and sauerkraut.
 
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4. I used 1.5% SureGel which is 33% phosphates, 33% milk proteins, 33% gelatin. I wanted the fat well bound.
Interesting...
I now rehydrate the milk powder with water and mix it really good with an blender and whisk attachment. I add the phosphates to the water first though and dissolve. After mixing, it is a very thick viscous gel....and it gives me the best bind I have ever seen!
 
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Interesting...
I now rehydrate the milk powder with water and mix it really good with an blender and whisk attachment. I add the phosphates to the water first though and dissolve. After mixing, it is a very thick viscous gel....and it gives me the best bind I have ever seen!
That sounds a lot better than what I'm seeing with this. SureGel is an Excalibur product that Walton's sells, you see the components. So the 1.5% of it mixed with 10% water i.e. 30g and about 200g water, there was little or no viscosity.

If I added my own stuff, it would be STPP and NFDM. So I figured suregel is an easy way, and I had a bag. I do think the STPP helps brats, myself.
 
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Those look a LOT better than Johnsonville brats! That plated shot could be me at my house with the double protein, jaeger sauce, tater n kraut, and hefe. Good idea to bump the fat on this one I think. Not sure if everyone or just me but the text under the picture does not display well. I highlighted it to read it.
 
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Looks excellent to me! That's the second thing you've posted lately that I intend to try making.

A question on the texture. As you noted the typical American bratwurst seems to be a fairly coarse grind. It reminds me more of an Italian sausage with different seasonings than what I always thought of as a bratwurst. The ones we got for lunch at the German delis up here always had a very fine textured sausage, quite similar to a weisswurst.
I saw in the Marianski book "1001 greatest sausage recipies" the German bratwurst on pg 33 calls for a 3mm plate. I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on trying that much finer plate after your results with a 6mm? Your results actually look fairly close to what I am remembering from what I can see in the picture. I may just have to try both ways...
 
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saw in the Marianski book "1001 greatest sausage recipies" the German bratwurst on pg 33 calls for a 3mm plate. I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on trying that much finer plate after your results with a 6mm? Your results actually look fairly close to what I am remembering from what I can see in the picture.
Like you, I recall most bratwurst in Germany being finer grind and more bound, than current US sausages. However, I do think I like the 6mm grind.
I made 3? Or more of the Marianski brats. Bratwurst with milk and egg was very similar to Weisswurst... and I didn't love the flavor or texture on either! Which were 3mm or less. Despite thinking I wanted them, from old memories! They were just a bit bland, and too fluffy. Anyways, in his new book he lists a lot more recipes like brats by region. And I think that much of the regional difference was just the grind texture and maybe spice emphasis.

Give it a try and see how you like. I'm a fan of Correct Naming, so I really should find the German version that has 6mm grind too! For now, I'm just calling them Johnsonville clone.
 
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Not sure if everyone or just me but the text under the picture does not display well. I highlighted it to read it.
Yeah, don't know why it did that, some copy paste thing, I copied my post at meatgistics. It wouldn't let me increase font, but I did boldface it now ;)
 
The ones we got for lunch at the German delis up here always had a very fine textured sausage,
Good lookin sausage Dave . I don't do all the percentages , but looks like you have it figured out . Some of the great brat threads on here are by Chefwillie . Shooter Ricks brats is another popular one as is NEPA's brat thread . All great formulas .
The ones we got for lunch at the German delis up here always had a very fine textured sausage,
If you can buy Dietz and Watson products in your area , try the bratwurst and the white bratwurst . Good stuff .
 
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I suppose it would be easy enough to split a batch in half and try two different grind sizes and see which turns out better. A double grind through a 5-6mm plate like some English sausages would be another thought
 
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There is a thread on this recipe here. Been posted here about 6 times, I converted all the odd batch size and units, they are all same recipe. Might be from diggingdogfarm originally.


Anyways, made some tonight again but with a bit of mace, 0.3g per kg meat. Also used 15% brisket fat in addition to the 16% pork fat. Nice flavor, loved them.


Made 2kg tonight. Just a few result notes for process help.
1. Used same recipe, but was 0.6g shy for nutmeg, so added 0.6g mace instead.
2. Pork butt was 6mm grind, with maybe 20% fat. 1560g total so 312g fat. I wanted to try very fatty brats, so I added 300g prime brisket fat. I didnt have preground pork fat, and wanted to see how beef fat changed brats. With 10% water it was 1980g, or 31% fat.
3. Extra 4.5mm brisket fat mixed in at end to prevent smearing. Mix temperature below 35f. Light to Medium protein extraction, I like some sausage bite to my brats.
4. I used 1.5% SureGel which is 33% phosphates, 33% milk proteins, 33% gelatin. I wanted the fat well bound.
5. Per all manufacturers, 30 to 32mm hog casings should be 2.5ft per lb meat. I had 4.36 lb, so should be about 11ft casing. I used 12ft on tube. However, it only took 8.5ft. I thought it wasn't overstuffed, was able to pinch easy and just let it run off tube. But they do look pretty fat at 6" here. I got these casings from LE M I think, bought from Amazon and had 1 "tube" left. Anyways, maybe they were 32-34mm? With a normal stuff it was 2ft casing per lb sausage.
6. Poached in SV at 164f for 40 min.
View attachment 653791

View attachment 653792View attachment 653793View attachment 653794View attachment 653795View attachment 653796

Really good!
I think I like this better than top recipe… mace and nutmeg are simar, bit I do like this wee touch of mace. Also, the more solid sausage texture from well mixed 6mm grind resulted in what I remember from Germany. It seems from many posts that folks in US are more used now to a very loose texture with particle definition, if that’s what you like then just mix less and do an 8 or 10mm grind.
However, my wife and kids all said, “Make THAT your new standard brat!” So it must be good!

Other meat is a pork tenderloin I cured corned for 30 days with tarragon and garlic. Was going to dry as salumi, but ended up freezing. SV at 138 for an hour, pan seared, cream deglaze gravy. Mashed potatoes and sauerkraut.

Really nice looking bratwurst and the Franziskaner Weissbier puts it right over the top. One of my favs.

Nicely done.

JC :emoji_cat:
 
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