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July 11, 2011
Bratwurst Shipped In From Wisconsin

A friend of mine is from Wisconsin and whenever he has us over for a cookout everyone raves about his bratwurst. For the longest time I thought that this guy was the absolute king of the grill. He was firing off perfectly cooked, juicy, flavorful brats with ease. I thought perhaps there is something in a Wisconsinite's blood that makes them nail it. I started asking some questions and I learned all of his secrets. It turns out it all depends on the source of the bratwurst. He told me to order the brats from Usingers In Wisconsin. Take a look at this. These brats are in a different league compared to anything you can find in your grocery store.

bratwurst from usingers in wisconsin

What you need:
Usingers Bratwurst (see link below)
Sauerkraut
Budweiser
Onions and Garlic (quartered onion and whole crushed garlic heads are fine)

The secret to nailing this is to order the cooked coarse ground bratwurst from Usingers in Wisconsin. Wait a minute. Cooked bratwurst? Yes. This is part of what makes this so amazing. First the flavor is outstanding. Second, you don't have to worry about undercooking the brats. This is perfect if you aren't comfortable with grilling for a large crowd. All you need is a simple medium heat and let the brats sit on the grill until they are beautifully browned. The plan of attack is to simmer the brats in Budweiser, along with some garlic and onions, for about an hour and then grill the brats.

sausages from Usingers in Wisconsin

My brat cookout was actually my daughters 2nd birthday party. We had about 30 people over so I ordered 45 brats. That is a lot of bratwurst so I had to use my huge stock pot to simmer the brats. When simmering the brats keep the heat on low. There is no need to boil. Just add enough heat to help the beer and onion flavors penetrate the meat.

bratwurst from wisconsin and sausages

I prepared a two zone heat. The direct medium heat was on the right side of the grill and an indirect area was on the left. I like having the indirect area as a place to keep some of the bratwursts which have browned faster than the others. While the coal was starting to ash over I drained the liquid from a bag of sauerkraut, dumped the sauerkraut into an aluminum tin and filled it up with Budweiser. I sat the tin directly over the hot coals until it started boiling. Once it was boiling I moved the tin to the indirect side of the grill and put the brats over the medium heat (I was able to hold my hand over the grate for about 3-4 seconds.)

brats over direct heat

The grill was really rolling out some smoke! It smelled fantastic!

bratwurst on a weber kettle

usingers sausages in wisconsin

Wow do these brats look amazing or what?! Caution: There are some hotdogs in the photo below. I wasn't thinking straight when I snapped that photo. I should have put the hotdogs on the bottom! Some of the kids sadly didn't want brats. Oh did they miss out.

a pile of brats from Usingers

Choosing a roll for the brats can be a huge undertaking because rolls can be so hit or miss. I tend to prefer the simple hot dog roll. Sub or hoagie rolls have too much bread, in my opinion.

usingers brats with kraut and mustard

I like mustard on top of my sauerkraut. These brats are absolutely amazing.

usingers

The next morning I cut up some leftover bratwurst and mixed it with my eggs. Oh man!

usingers

Not only do I love grilling but I really enjoy baking cakes. Since this bratwurst party was for my daughters 2nd birthday party I figured I should also share a photo of the Brobee birthday cake I made for her. Brobee is a character on the Yo Gabba Gabba TV show on Nick Jr. I made a four layer yellow butter cake frosted with a Swiss meringue buttercream. I shaved the top layers of the cake to create a rounded look. We topped "Brobee" with strawberries.

usingers