Tailgating—Bratwurst

Football and Fall go hand-in-hand. Ring in your pre-game grilling or tailgating with our delicious Brat recipes, cooking tips and techniques, and fun facts.

A Bratwurst is traditionally a ground pork and veal sausage. The word is German for 'finely chopped meat' and 'sausage'. Brats are best cooked by grilling, pan frying, or poaching. The brat is thought to originate in the German region of Thuringia, where it was called the "Thuringer Rostbratwurst." It is commonly eaten with sauerkraut and mustard on a hard roll served with beer. Brats are common in states in the US with a large German and Northern European citizenry, such as Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Missouri.

Grilling Tips

~Using a charcoal grill, light charcoal and let briquettes burn until covered in whitish gray ash~
~Poach brats in beer or cider before grilling~
~Don't poke holes in the brat's skin while grilling; the brat will dry out~

Fun Facts

~The World's Largest Brat Festival is held over the Memorial Day Weekend in Madison, Wisconsin~
~The number of brats consumed at the 2006 festival, laid end to end, extend 176 miles~
~Sheboygan, Wisconsin, AND Bacyrus, Ohio, both claim to be "the Bratwurst Capital of the World"~
~Johnsonville Foods, the country's largest producer of brats, is located in Sheboygan Falls~
~Tailgating dates back to the very first college football game between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869, when fans traveled to the game by carriage~
~The term barbecue probably comes from the Haitian word for grill—barbacoa.  There may also be a link with the French barbaque, which originates from the Romanian word berbec, meaning roasted mutton.  Another possible connection is to the French "de la barbe a la queue," which means "from the beard to the tail."~

Nutrition

~1 serving equals 197 calories, 17g fat, 51mg cholesterol, 1g carbs, and 8g protein~
~Brats are a good source of B12 and iron~
~Brats contain 571mg of sodium~
~1 16 oz. beer contains 210 calories and no fat~
~Nitrates, commonly used as a preservative in bratwurst and other sausages, can cause headaches~
~Sauerkraut, fermented cabbage and a common accompaniment to Bratwurst, is an excellent source of vitamin C~

Recipes

Beer Poached Brats