I Like My Prospects

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 19:44

Last nights historic Giants victory led to us hosting quite the unforseen dinner party. The game started and I realized there were eleven of us in the family room, eyes glued to the big-screen. My wife was opening bottles of wine for the women and there was a free-for-all going on at my liquor cabinet. I got a bunch of packs of Hungarian sausage thawing in my sink and boiled up some beer and onions, then fired up the weber. By the time the smoke cleared and my wife had finished handing out the last care package of sausage I didn't have one pork link left in either of the garage freezers, no Hungarian, no Italian. I noticed she didn't give away any of the chicken-Italian she loves so much, even tho there's 40 lbs of it in there, and she was kind enough to hide the Kolbasz, Canadian bacon, and smoked chickens that I'd spent so much time and energy on lately. The Mrs takes off to visit her old buddy in Florida for five days Friday, and it's just me and my FIL with the 60" Sony, the Giants in he series, and plenty of football to fill in the rest of the time. Maybe a nice rack of 6-hour pork ribs on the Pro 100 early Friday while I'm turning a whole pork butt into fresh sausage. Life is good, real good! RAY

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 20:54

That rocks.

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 05:54

Ahhhh yes! It's always good to have plenty of great sausages on hand for an emergency get together. Wow, those Giants are on fire! Keep up the good work Ray.
Have you ever made "Brats" with egg and milk? Grilled up in smoke, they are pretty hard to beat. Prepare them as "type 2" sausage (cured, prep-cooked, smoked) and keep some frozen for quick thawing and grilling. What a treat.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 19:52

Chuckwagon wrote:Ahhhh yes! It's always good to have plenty of great sausages on hand for an emergency get together. Wow, those Giants are on fire! Keep up the good work Ray.
Have you ever made "Brats" with egg and milk? Grilled up in smoke, they are pretty hard to beat. Prepare them as "type 2" sausage (cured, prep-cooked, smoked) and keep some frozen for quick thawing and grilling. What a treat.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Less than six hours till game-time and we're already on pins and needles! Detroit has a lot going on and won't just be rolling over, this series will be had fought.

I had brats once maybe 25 years ago at a tail-gate party, that's where I found out about giving sausage a bath in boiled beer and onions, then putting them on the grill. I just loves that flavor, tho I always seem prone to making Hungarian or Italian sausage. Might have to give brats a shot! RAY

crustyo44 · Post by **crustyo44** » Wed Oct 24, 2012 20:00

Hi Ray,
BRATWURST done first in boiled beer and onions. Man you've got me interested, can you let us know the procedure ? if you don't mind.
I will be making Nuremberg bratwurst a la Snagman shortly and this boiled beer and onions got me interested.
Regards,
Jan.

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Thu Oct 25, 2012 00:16

Wull, uhhh pilgrims... try this recipe when you get some time. I think you'll like it.

"Chuckwagon`s Beer Brats"

7 lbs. pork butt (nearly frozen)
2 lbs. beef chuck (nearly frozen)
1 lb pork backfat (frozen solid)
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tblspn. freshly-ground, coarse black pepper
1-3/4 cups soy protein concentrate
2 large eggs (cold)
1 cup heavy cream (cold)
1-1/2 tblspns. rubbed sage
1/2 tspn. ground nutmeg
1/2 tspn. dried thyme
1/2 tblspn. ginger
4 tblspns. kosher salt
3 tblspns. sugar
1 pint flat lager (not pilsner) beer

"Fresh"-Type Beer Brats

Cut the meat with fat into inch cubes then grind it through a 3/8" plate. Stir all the dry ingredients with the cream for even distribution in the meat. Whip the eggs and add them to the beer. Finally, blend all the ingredients together with the meat and mix the sausage until the actomyosin forms a "meat paste". Place the meat into the freezer twenty minutes while you clean up your equipment. Finish by stuffing the sausage into 36 m.m. hog casings. This recipe is for "fresh" sausage and must be refrigerated and eaten within three days, or frozen. Remember the sausage maker`s first rule: If it can`t be cured - it can`t be smoked!

Cured-Cooked-Smoked Beer Brats

If you wish to cure and smoke the brats, simply add 2 level tspns. Prague Powder #1 to the liquid in the recipe for even distribution throughout the meat. Stuff the sausage into casings and hang them on smokesticks to dry half an hour. Preheat your smoker to 120°;F. (49°;C.) and then cook them slowly over a period of several hours, introducing thin smoke and raising the temperature only a couple of degrees every twenty minutes until the smokehouse temp reaches 165°;F. (74°;C.). When the internal meat temperature reaches 150°;F. (66°;C.), place the sausages in icewater until their temperature drops to room temperature. Refrigerate the brats and use them on the grill at your leisure.

Cooking Beer Brats On The Grill

Steam-cook the brats with beer until they are almost done, then finish them on a medium hot barbecue grill using lots of hickory smoke! Keep extra sausages hot in a pan of warm beer on the grill. Be careful not to burn the brats and for goodness sake - don`t stab them!

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Thu Oct 25, 2012 19:29

crustyo44 wrote:Hi Ray,
BRATWURST done first in boiled beer and onions. Man you've got me interested, can you let us know the procedure ? if you don't mind.
I will be making Nuremberg bratwurst a la Snagman shortly and this boiled beer and onions got me interested.
Regards,
Jan.

Hi Jan, been doing this a long time, love the flavor it imparts. I boil up a few cheap beers in a pot with a sliced onion. Once the beer and onions come to a boil I throw in the sausage, usually fresh Italian or Hungarian for me, cover the pot, and turn off the heat, and just let them sit for ten minutes, then grill the sausage as you normally would. For a little different wrinkle occasionally I'll drain the onions and sautee them in some butter while the sausage is over the coals. French roll lightly toasted over the coals then slathered with mustard, beer-boiled, grilled sausage covered with sauteed onions, ice cold bottle of beer. Man is that livin'! I'm going to the store in a bit shopping for a pork butt to process into sausage tomorrow, leaning towards a spicy fresh Italian. With my wife leaving town for five days in the morning once I get the kitchen set-up to process sausage I just might leave it like that for a couple of days and do another batch, maybe some Hungarian, maybe some Brats. Oooo, maybe a pork-pineapple sausage! Now I realize that combo would make a better fresh sausage than smoked, I might do some experimenting. RAY

crustyo44 · Post by **crustyo44** » Thu Oct 25, 2012 21:01

Ray,
We are in the same at the moment, my wife and her tribe are flying to Adelaide for a short holiday and visit rellies.
I am staying home to do some hobby distilling so I can give some distillate away as presents shortly, yeast does not wait, 3 guesses what comes first.
We have pork backlegs on special here, $ 2.99 kilo. and chickens as well. I am in heaven.
I am wondering what to make, it won't be hard though.
Thanks to you and CW for the recipe.
Best Regards,
Jan.

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Thu Oct 25, 2012 22:56

Hey Jan, we are in the same boat, just going down different rivers! My wife told me, " I know you're going to be bad, because you always are, but at least you're bad at home. Here's two $100 bills, get what you want to have a little fun, and don't cut yourself". Not my way to pass on a opportunity!

I'll debone that little pork butt before doing any uncorking, the stitches have been out of my thumb for only four days now. In the morning I'll process it into 15 lbs. of spicy fresh Italian sausage, rub up a rack of pork ribs and throw 'em on the Pro 100. While the cats away..................

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Thu Oct 25, 2012 23:39

HorseRaySaw,
You wrote:

My wife told me, " I know you're going to be bad, because you always are, but at least you're bad at home. Here's two $100 bills, get what you want to have a little fun, and don't cut yourself".

Geeeze! Where do I find a wife like that?

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 00:16

Geeeze! Where do I find a wife like that?

You don't find wives, they find you! Just wrapped up pounding out 15 pounds of Italian sausage. I took your advise and am letting then spend a hour in the freezer before shrink-wrapping, I'm halfway done and like the presentaion a lot more, thanks for another great tip CW. RAY

PS: My exuberance over our game two victory caused a lack of sharpness this morning. That can happen.