Question about making brats.

[SmokinEdge]

question as I have not ground or stuffed anything yet. Do you twist the individual sausage as you stuff? or after you stuff the entire load?

As Doug said, stuff the sausage in a rope, full but not to firm, then twist and or tie.

 

[DougE]

I run it all out in a coil , then twist after I'm done . Every other link . So twist one , skip 2 and twist 3 and so on .

You can do it link by link twisting each link in the opposite direction so that the one you just twisted doesn't come undone, but it's a lot easier to do like chop said and skip every other one and twist all in the same direction.

 

[Bigtank]

I have ordered hard to find spices from Great American Spice Co. Not the cheapest but I feel there quality and selection is very good.

 

[indaswamp]

Walmart in my town has mace....FWIW...

 

[Fueling Around]

I run out a coil until about 6" of casing is on the tube then a half crank back on the stuffer and stop.
Tying takes longer but makes better sausage for my taste. I prefer the casing stretched for the snap bite.

Nutmeg is “fruitier “ and mace is more spicy. Nutmeg is the nut ground, mace is the shell ground.

I found the opposite. Mace is subtle fruity, and nutmeg is stronger.
Ground spices lose their unique flavors very quickly.
I grind mace or rasp whole nutmeg as needed.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I run out a coil until about 6" of casing is on the tube then a half crank back on the stuffer and stop.
Tying takes longer but makes better sausage for my taste. I prefer the casing stretched for the snap bite.

I found the opposite. Mace is subtle fruity, and nutmeg is stronger.
Ground spices lose their unique flavors very quickly.
I grind mace or rasp whole nutmeg as needed.

That is interesting. The flavor perception.

 

[Fueling Around]

Buddy of mine has a meat shop and makes a lot of sausage products.
He despises mace for the licorice flavors?
I don't like licorice, but don't get it off mace or nutmeg.
Go figure?

 

[DougE]

I don't like licorice, but don't get it off mace or nutmeg.
Go figure?

May be like why I can't do cilantro. Most I know love the stuff, but it tastes soapy to me.

 

[JC in GB]

One comes from the covering of the fruit (mace) the other is the fruit itself (nutmeg). I often sub in nutmeg for mace since it's easier to find, and, well. cheaper.

Right you are. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[JC in GB]

Thank you JC.

I made up 4# of your recipe. I added mace, and ginger, and beer. They smell fantastic. Hog casings.

View attachment 652667
For those struggling, see those strings? That’s protein extracted, stop mixing here.

View attachment 652668
All stuffed and tied.

They look awesome! How did the taste turn out?

 

[kuroki]

At the risk of asking a stupid question.... When tieing links, are you twisting first and using the twine to keep it from unraveling, or squeezing it down with the twine itself?

 

[Fueling Around]

At the risk of asking a stupid question.... When tieing links, are you twisting first and using the twine to keep it from unraveling, or squeezing it down with the twine itself?

No such thing as a stupid question.
I don't twist before tying. I pinch the tie point and wrap the twine around and carefully cinch it. Avoid too much sawing with the twine or it will cut through the casing.

 

[kuroki]

Thanks, makes perfect sense to me. Do you tie rather than twist universally or is it only for specific types of sausage?

 

[SmokinEdge]

They look awesome! How did the taste turn out?

For mixing and stuffing then grilling in the same day, they were very good. I’m sure even better in a couple of days. Add some sage in the mix and would be killer breakfast sausage, thanks for posting that recipe JC.

At the risk of asking a stupid question.... When tieing links, are you twisting first and using the twine to keep it from unraveling, or squeezing it down with the twine itself?

Twisting then tying. I do that around the holidays because people I share with like the defined links. Rest of the time I usually make hoops or “rings” or I just take the rope(s) and drape them in loop fashion over the dowels in the smokehouse then cut to length after smoking.

And with smaller diameter sausage I sometimes braid them English style.

 

[zwiller]

clifish We've all been there. 2 zone cooking and cook mostly on indirect and finish on direct. Unlike burgers/steaks move them every few minutes especially at the end. I aim for a full length browning on each side instead of the classic black stripe hot dog sears.

For my sausages I generally try and go the gourmet route/fresh ground and get the best I can but this has worked against me with mace. BIG differences between ground mace and fresh ground mace "blades". Blades are POTENT on par with like say clove. Pretty much every time I've used it I used too much. Nearly impossible to weigh stuff that small but did just get a new scale so we'll see. Mace blades have a very different spice profile than nutmeg to me. Has a fruity/floral/coriander/pepper thing. I can see someone getting a licorice vibe from it. At first I thought it would be magic but it has worked against me because it sticks out BIG TIME when using too much. In general I feel mace is fruity and nutmeg is spicy but you can tell they're related if that makes any sense.

 

[clifish]

clifish We've all been there. 2 zone cooking and cook mostly on indirect and finish on direct. Unlike burgers/steaks move them every few minutes especially at the end. I aim for a full length browning on each side instead of the classic black stripe hot dog sears.

For my sausages I generally try and go the gourmet route/fresh ground and get the best I can but this has worked against me with mace. BIG differences between ground mace and fresh ground mace "blades". Blades are POTENT on par with like say clove. Pretty much every time I've used it I used too much. Nearly impossible to weigh stuff that small but did just get a new scale so we'll see. Mace blades have a very different spice profile than nutmeg to me. Has a fruity/floral/coriander/pepper thing. I can see someone getting a licorice vibe from it. At first I thought it would be magic but it has worked against me because it sticks out BIG TIME when using too much. In general I feel mace is fruity and nutmeg is spicy but you can tell they're related if that makes any sense.

Thanks Sam, from what I have been reading I will omit mace, anything with a licorice vibe will not sit well in my pallet (think Sambuca, Jagermeister).

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Thanks Sam, from what I have been reading I will omit mace, anything with a licorice vibe will not sit well in my pallet (think Sambuca, Jagermeister).

If adding mace makes my sausage taste anything like Jagermeister, I'm out. Helped a buddy pound a bottle of that stuff in college. I can't even look at a bottle of it without dry heaving.

 

[doongie]

While I am not a sausage maker, I am from Wisconsin, and have been eating bratwurst since the 70’s. I think it’s important to note, bratwurst is not a very specific definition, it is sort of like the term “sausage” in that it can include a wide variety of styles. In Germany I ran into brats that were long and narrow like a snack stick almost, some were reddish, some were gray, it was all over the map And seemed to be regional.

In WI there are two predominant characteristics of bratwurst, they are fairly course ground and quite fatty. They are known to get very plump when cooked, and on the grill they hiss and spit like a cat, fat spewing out in little fountains causing flare ups and generally making a mess. It can be difficult to grill them without them splitting wide open. They should have a nice snap when broken or bitten. When cooked, aside from any char marks they are generally grayish in color. There is a distinct seasoning component to almost all brats, while I recognize it, I don’t know what it is. Beyond these things there is a wide variety of brats available.

As I’ve lived and travelled in different regions of the US, it can be difficult to find brats outside the upper midwest. Johnsonville makes a pretty middle of the road example of a WI brat and are pretty widely available.

This place is known regionally for their creative flavors, but most known for their original flavor.

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[Dave in AZ]

Interesting thread with a lot of good points. I read that USFDA link posted above, and was surprised to notice that Italian sausage is limited to just 3% water. I see the 35% fat limit mentioned here and there, but hadn't seen the low water limit.

It's funny mace is more expensive, it used to be the Poor Man's Nutmeg--used by common folk who couldn't afford the more expensive actual nutmeg and its delicate flavor.

About mace... I think several folks above may have gotten the wrong impression, mace doesn't taste like licorice to almost anyone who tries it, not even close. Anise and fennel, yeah... but mace is mostly nutmeg profile with a spicy floral less delicate. Don't let one anecdote about a guy who doesn't like licorice make you think mace tastes that way, and convince you not to use! Think sharp peppery nutmeg instead. But like zwiller said above, it can be strong and easily overpowers, especially if fresh! If you overdo it, it will be strongly noted. Use less than most any other spice, half gram per kg meat or .05% only.

Mace is a fantastic flavor, and is the subtle key ingredient in a lot of things like balogna to make it "perfect". I recently tried replacing 15% of the nutmeg with mace, in a Johnsonville brat clone, and really liked the results better than without the mace. Here's my writeup on that if details desired.

Johnsonville Wisconsin brat clone

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. https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/wisconsin-bratwurst-recipe.316607/#post-2365717 Anyways, made some...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[DougE]

Here is my general recipe for Nuremberg style bratwurst. German style brats use thinner casings than most American bratwurst but casing size isn't that crucial. Use the size you like best. I prefer the thinner sheep casings.

These are my favorite bratwurst.

1.5 kg pork shoulder
500 g pork belly
39.0 g Salt
6.0 g Black Pepper
2.0 g White Pepper
2.5 g Marjoram
1.5 g Cayenne
1.0 g Nutmeg

Sheep or hog casings

Enjoy.

JC

I just did a small batch for the first run. The test fry was delicious so I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into one of these.