Good Eats! What would you airmail to a fellow cubie?

[Maxwelhse]

Maybe this is a good place to share recipes too? I'll start...

Brats!!!

Ingredients:

-Brats of your choice (I usually buy a 16 pack of original Johnsonville's at Sams. They come frozen and it makes absolutely no difference)

-8 to 10 Cheap beers (Miller High Life Lite is usually my go to... The entire cook time on these is about 8-10 hours, so you'll need a 30 pack)

-Onion Powder (maybe 1/2 TBS or to taste)

-Garlic Powder (same)

-1 beef bullion cube

-BALLPARK BRAND BUNS. They're dirt cheap and the best I've found.



Method:

-Poke holes in all the Brats with a fork (yes, against all of those Johnsonville ads you've read). I usually do 3 pokes a side

-Mix Brats, dry ingredients, and beer in a large pot or crock pot until Brats are covered

-Bring to low simmer for 8-10 hours, adding beer as it cooks. DO NOT BOIL. You're looking for no more than 160F here since the proteins bind at 140F. Slow and low...

-Remove Brats from mixture when you're happy with the tenderness. This part just takes some time to get the hang of since they're in cases. Too much and they fall apart, too little and they're not tender enough. You don't want to start doing this until about 6 hours, but poke them with a fork somewhat deeply and see if they sort of "sag" on the fork. That's what you're looking for. They will look 100% gray and gross when you pull them out. That's ok. We'll fix that.

-Place on HOT grill. They're already hot and fully cooked, so all we want to do here is firm up the cases, dry them out a touch, and add some grill flavor. You obviously don't want to burn them before the cases tighten, so know what HOT means on your grill and not ON FIRE.

-Place in mouth, without or without buns or additives.

They come out super tender, super moist, taste nicely of beer without being over powering (meaning they actually have a beer flavor unlike the store bought "beer flavored" stuff), have a nice crisp snap to the case, and aren't at all greasy. Not only are these delicious, and voted by 3 independent people that have tried them as "they best they've ever had" (yeah, I know, but they really did say that), they're flat out the only ones my Dad can eat because they're just too greasy for him otherwise. A good friend of mine ate *10* of these through one night of beer drinking. He is NOT a big guy or heavy eater either. I need to make 32 of them the next time Fred comes to town.