Beer-Braised Bratwursts with Onion Recipe
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Grilled brats are great on their own, but if you don’t have a grill, or you want to make some football or baseball food ahead of time, these braised sausages are the answer. Brown the bratwursts in butter, remove them from the pan, add the onions and crushed mustard seeds to the meaty butter, and slow-cook until softened and sweet. Nestle the brats in the onions, add the beer, and cook until the flavors mingle into a savory, onion-y sauce. Serve on hoagie rolls slathered with sweet-hot mustard.
What to buy: We prefer Newcastle Brown Ale in this recipe, though any good-quality brown ale will do.
Game plan: The brats and onions can be made a day ahead through step 3, then rewarmed when ready to serve.
This recipe was featured as part of our Tailgating Recipes photo gallery.
- 2 teaspoons black or brown mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
- 12 uncooked bratwursts
- 3 medium white or yellow onions, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rings
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) brown ale, such as Newcastle
- 12 hoagie rolls, toasted
- Sweet Hot Mustard, for serving
- Place the mustard seeds and caraway seeds in a small resealable plastic bag and crush them with a meat mallet or rolling pin.
- Melt the butter in a Dutch oven or a large, wide, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat until foaming. Add 6 of the bratwursts and cook, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes total. Remove to a plate and repeat with the remaining 6 bratwursts.
- Reduce the heat to low, add the crushed seed mixture, onions, and brown sugar, and season generously with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened and are beginning to brown, about 40 minutes. Add the reserved bratwursts and any accumulated juices, nestling the brats in the onions. Pour in the beer and braise the bratwursts, turning once, until they are completely cooked through, about 30 minutes.
- Place a bratwurst in each bun and serve with the onions and mustard on the side.
couldn't get anymore Packers type food than a brat. I love it.
i really like worlds best recipe i really thank you !!!!!! good night
Peachysis, cooking with beer isn't always like cooking with wine: you know the adage never cook with a wine you wouldn't drink. When it comes to braising brats cheaper is better. Old Milwaukee, Old Brownpants, whatever's on sale is what you want for brats. Save the good stuff for you.
Peachysis, I would say it was the beer. In some early tests we also had some bitterness caused from a darker beer that when reduced became bitter. For next time as a save, you could add a few pinches of brown sugar to see if that mellows out the bitter.
I made this last night and it smelled great. But the onions and beer got really bitter (generally I like bitter but this was too much). Did I over cook it? Cook it at too hot a temp? Or maybe it was the beer I used? I used Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale which didn't taste bitter out of the bottle but maybe the bitterness got concentrated from simmering. Any ideas?
Never hurts to lighlty toast the mustard & carraway seeds (and add corriander seed, why not?) then crush in mortar & pestle.
Hey All, I'm from Milwaukee which is where the inspiration for this recipe comes from. No doubt a Usinger's sausage would be ideal, but not always the most convenient to get your hands on here in SF. As far as beer is concerned, well, I say to each his own. If you like Miller or Franziskaner (yummy) have at it. Plus everyone knows the sauerkraut is a given, so pile it on! Think of this recipe as beer brats 101 for all who reside outside of the cheese curtain, then throw in as much butter, onions, beer, mustard, etc as you want. Ein mehr Bier!
Amy Wisniewski
Haolebaby,
Franziskaner is good! hmmm
Franziskaner makes a Hefe-Weisse Dunkel (Dark) http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/...
New Castle?! That's blasphemy. Franziskaner, please!!!
You guys are killing me. Dam I'm Hungry! Lol!!
I had to giggle -- all the comments so far from Cali and not one from behind the Cheese Curtain.
Personally, I can't stand Newcastle, so that is sort of a non-starter for me. Actually any good lager will probably work better -- I live 5 minutes from the brewery, so it's High Life or MGD. Keep the expensive stuff on ice (my preference is a New Glarus Spotted Cow, but I digress).
Definitely need to increase the butter to one stick.
Mustard -- personal preference is Koops Horseradish or Dusseldorf -style Mustard. Just so you all know, Mt. Horeb, WI (a little west of Madison) is home to the Mustard Museum, which has a collection of over 5,000 different prepared mustards.
Sauerkraut -- huge omission. Personally, I like the sweet Bavarian style with caraway.
Surprised there was no discussion about which brats to get. Outside of Wisconsin, most of what you seem to find are veal brats, which are basically overgrown versions of Bavarian weisswurst. These are usually sold pre-cooked. It is a very fine-grained sausage with a gray complexion.
In Wisconsin, brats more often will be a coarse ground sausage, closely resembling an Italian sausage, but seasoned differently. They are almost always sold fresh and uncooked. The big names in brats are Usingers, Klements (sponsors of the Miller Park sausage races) and Johnsonville. Some of the best are sold by ma and pa shops -- Karls Country market in Germantown comes to mind.
These directions should specify that the heat be turned to medium, or the mixture at least brought to a boil, after the brats and beer are added. Thirty minutes of low heat after a dozen room temperature sausages and twelve ounces of beer are added will result in brats that are browned on the outside and bright pink in the middle.
I would also double the quantity of butter specified. One eighth of a stick is a bit skimpy for the surface area and amount of encased meat being browned.
I'm glad to finally see a recipe for the correct way to prepare brats! So many people want to boil them first in the beer (and mustard & caraway) before grilling or braising.
I think i will immediately go to the store and go back home to make these.