What is a Bratwurst?

One of the most asked questions I receive is “What is your favorite product?”

My standard response is how can I have a favorite; that’s like asking a parent who is your favorite child?

I will say one of my most often enjoyed product that we make is our “Traditional bratwurst” We make many different flavors and have well over 100 flavors that have been made over the years, but I seem to gravitate towards the original, our traditional. 

What is a “Bratwurst”?

Bratwurst is derived from the Old High German Brätwurst, brät-, finely chopped meat, and Wurst, sausage.  In modern German it is often associated with the verb braten, meaning to pan fry or roast.

There is no one standard recipe. Bratwurst can vary from region to region and town to town based on what ingredients are readily available and what the local population favors for flavor, as well as how coarse or fine a texture. Pork is the most common meat used, but beef and veal along with poultry can be used as well. Sausage diameter and type can also vary. They can be as small as a Nürnberger, about the size of what we would consider a breakfast link, typically stuffed in a sheep casing (24/26mm), to the more commonly found stuffed into a hog casing (32-36mm). Casings can be natural, from sheep or hog, or from edible collagen.

At RJ’s most all of our bratwurst starts with the heritage breed Compart Duroc hogs. We have selected Compart Duroc based on our high standards of quality, flavor and consistency. Our goal is to have the same quality flavor and tenderness every time you purchase meat at our store.  Compart Duroc hogs are raised on small farms where family members are involved in day-to-day care of their stock. This attention to the daily care and feed of the animals has a direct correlation to the quality of the meat.

Compart Duroc pork is just the beginning, the foundation of our bratwurst. The Compart family provides the highest quality animal, and we take great care in the crafting of our products to further enhance the quality of the pork with our knife skills; all of our meats are hand trimmed and visually inspected. Decades of sausage making skills are put to the test annually at sausage competitions here in Wisconsin and nationally. We take great pride in the sausages we produce and are eager to compete against some of the best craft butchers across the nation at these events. As a result RJ’s has been honored to win hundreds of awards for the quality, craftsmanship and flavor of our brats and sausages. Our proprietary blend of fresh, quality seasonings that complement the flavor of the meat, not hide or cover up the meat, add the finishing touch to our sausage.

How do you cook a great brat? As my mentor Jim taught me – apply heat. Just what type of heat and how much heat to apply is the real trick. Too much heat and the bratwurst may explode or the casing may shrink causing the sausage to be tightly compacted inside the shrunken casing and causing it to bulge out the ends of the casing. Many in Wisconsin like to “boil in beer” prior to grilling bratwurst. Personally I am not a fan of this method for a few reasons.

Boiling will probably result in a shrunken casing and tough brat as explained above. If you must give your brat the “hot tub” treatment before grilling, just simmer it. Don’t bring the liquid to a boil. Simmer is good, about 165F-175F. Think about this, when making a soup stock meat and bones are boiled, this releases flavor into the water making the stock. Why would you want to release all that great flavor into a liquid you are going to throw out?

Simmering is a great idea if you are going to be cooking for a crowd. By simmering you can pre cook the brat so that you only need to sear it on the grill and simmering will reduce flare up on the grill as well. If you don’t want to go through the hassle and worry about simmering and the time it takes RJ’s does offer a traditional flavor bratwurst that has already been fully cooked so all you have to do is sear it on your grill. Appropriately named “Sear N Serve” Bratwurst. Many groups and restaurants use our Sear N Serve Bratwurst.

My personal favorite way is to grill a raw bratwurst over indirect heat on a charcoal grill or low heat on a gas or pellet grill. A little trick I do to prevent the brat from bursting on the grill (because we pack so much flavor into our brats) is to prick the casing a couple of times creating little pinholes for the steam to escape.

However you choose to cook your brat I hope you enjoy it with great friends!