(Family Features) – Summer grilling season is saved! Barbecuers longing for the golden brown juiciness of a perfectly prepared bratwurst can now be happy campers. Why? Bratwurst Boot Camp is here to show grillmeisters the easy way to grilling a brat to its full-flavored, delicious perfection.
Backyard barbecuers recognize brats’ unexpectedly flavorful taste compared to hot dogs and other less-flavorful options. When it comes to grilling, however, they need a few pointers before they graduate from Brat Boot Camp.
So, how do you grill a perfect brat? The perfect brat is cooked low and slow. That means low to moderate heat, for approximately 20 to 25 minutes, turning about every five minutes with long-handled barbecue tongs.
Once you’ve mastered the brat-grilling technique, you’re on to trying these tasty wursts in a variety of ways, from sandwiches to casseroles to dinnertime entrees.
“Unlike a hot dog, you don’t have to dress-up a brat because the great taste is all on the inside,” said Mike Zeller, Corporate Developmental Chef at Johnsonville Sausage. “I get asked a lot, ‘What are the best condiments to put on a brat?’ I always say, ‘the best thing to put on a brat, is your teeth.'”
For more information and hundreds of recipes, please visit www.johnsonville.com.
Brat Boot Camp 101
- What is a brat?
- Where did brats come from?
- What city is the unofficial brat capital of the United States?
- How do you know when you’ve mastered the art of grilling brats?
- What’s another word for bratwurst?
Answers:
- A brat is a mildly seasoned, coarse-ground pork sausage.
- Brats made their way to Midwestern America by German and Austrian immigrants hundreds of years ago. The tradition spread, particularly in Wisconsin by a local Austrian butcher named Ralph F. Stayer. His 100-year-old recipe was a hit and became the foundation for the number one bratwurst in America, Johnsonville Brats, started in Johnsonville, Wis.
- Sheboygan, Wis., is the unofficial brat capital.
- You’ve followed these six steps:
- Avoid high flames that cause injury to sausage (and your neighbors!)
- Use a clean grill to help reduce flare up (and impresses your friends and family)
- Knowing it’s OK to pre-cook, especially if this consists of a beer and onion bath
- Cooking your brats slowly, on a low heat for 20 to 25 minutes
- You’ve turned the brats once every five minutes or so (but only using tongs … NEVER a fork!)
- Realize when your brats are done cooking, because that golden-brown perfection is hard to taste if your brats are charred to a crisp. Remember, burning is not grilling!
- Whether you call it a bratwurst, a brat, a wurst or a sausage, it all means the same thing: great taste!
Suggested Recipes from Johnsonville: Spicy Cracked Black Pepper Brats, Traditional Sheboygan Double Brat, and Mac & Brats
SOURCE: Johnsonville © 2012 All rights reserved.
