Have Oktoberfest Any Time of Year: Homemade Bratwurst Recipe

Why wait until Oktoberfest for bratwurst?

Bratwurst Recipe:

-2.27 Kilograms pork butt (5 pounds)
-43 grams salt
-15 grams black pepper
-Dash of cardamom
-Dash of mace
-5 grams ground sage
-15 grams sugar
-7.5 grams coriander, ground
-7.5 grams paprika
-115 grams ice water

Process:

Cut pork into strips that are small enough to fit into the opening to your meat grinder. If using your food processor to grind, cut the pork into cubes instead of strips.

Weigh your meat. Now calculate a conversion factor to adjust the recipe to make it work with the amount of meat you have. The formula is New divided by Old. The weight of your pork is the “New” number and the 2.27 kilo (5#) from the original recipe is the “Old” number. For example: When I weighed my pork, I ended up with 1.7 kilos. So I take 1.7 and divide it by 2.27 which gives me: .75055188, which I round to .75. That is my “conversion factor”. So now I just go down the list of ingredients, multiply those weights by .75, and I end up with a recipe converted to my exact weight of meat. Just round accordingly when you end up with long digits.

Use the meat grinder attachment or dedicated meat grinder to process the pork. I find that the coarse grind plate attachment for my stand mixer creates a fine enough grind for my taste, so that is what I use. However if the most coarse plate you have seems too chunky, consider using a plate with finer holes. (If using a food processor, pulse the cubes of pork in small batches, making sure not to over-process or the meat will become pasty.

Now that the meat is all ground, incorporate the salt/sugar/spices that you calculated and weighed out. I have a stand mixer so I put the meat in the bowl, add the spices, and run the mixer with the paddle attachment. After running on medium speed for about 5 minutes, slowly drizzle in your ice water until it is completely incorporated. (If you don’t have a stand mixer and need to mix the spices in by hand, work the meat and spices vigorously with your hands for 10 minutes, then add in the water. It is a messy job but it will also work).

For the casings: Soak hog casings in clean, cold water for 15 minutes. Then attach one end of the casing to the faucet of your clean sink and run the water on cold for 1-2 minutes to make sure the casing is completely flushed.

Pull out your sausage stuffer, or stuffing attachment for your stand mixer. (Fair warning, I found that my stand mixer attachment worked very poorly for me…so much so that I bought a manual sausage crank. Just be aware that if you are experiencing issues with the meat moving through the attachment, it might not be your fault). Wet the spout of your sausage stuffer with a little water and feed/slide the length of casing onto it. Run or crank the meat just until you see it reach the end of the spout and kill the power/stop cranking. Tie a simple not in the casing at the end of the spout.

A.) If using a stand mixer attachment, you SHOULD be able to run the machine and feed the seasoned meat into the opening which will move it out of the spout and into your casing. Pinch the casing slightly near the spout of the stuffer to regulate the speed with which meat flows into the casing and thus, regulates the fill of your sausage.

B.) If using a manual sausage machine, load your canister with the seasoned meat. Use the crank to press the meat out of the spout and into the casing. Pinch the casing slightly near the spout of the stuffer to regulate the speed with which the casing comes off and thus, regulates the fill of your sausage.

(Filling is the trickiest part in my mind. You want to aim for a fill that is not too loose, yet not too tight. If the casing is barely filled out by the meat and it looks flat, it is probably too loose. If the sausage seems so stuffed that it has absolutely no give, like it would bounce if it was dropped, it is probably too tight. Luckily you can adjust after you have stuffed. If it’s too loose, simply press the meat from the open end of the casing towards the tied end until it becomes more compact. If it’s too tight, squeeze a bit of the meat out of the open end of the casing. This will give you some wiggle room. Now you can gently press the meat from the overly stuffed sections into the empty casing. Work along the length until the tightness has evened out.)

Once you have a filled length of sausage, you can divide it into links. Press your finger into the sausage at the desired length, and then twist the sausage 5-6 times. Repeat this process along the length of the sausage until it has all been divided into links.

Now your sausage is ready to grill, fry, or boil!

00:00 - Crack Open a Cold One
01:20 - Chopping, Grinding and Seasoning
07:10 - Cracking the Casing
12:23 - A Great Plate of Sausage

And be sure to check out Editor Brian's movie Youtube channel, The Sarris Wheel, where he's gabbing about Alfred Hitchcock and Wes Anderson:    / @thesarriswheel