Really, I do.
Spending my college years in Madison, WI was the best decision I ever made. I learned so much about life in college, and a lot of those lessons came from the wonderful midwestern friends I made. If Wisconsin didn't have such harsh winters I'd probably still live there. Seriously though, the winters sucked. Try walking to class in a foot of snow and with a -15 windchill. Of all the years I spent there, we only had 1 snow day. Yes, one. And that was only because we got close to two feet of snow in less than 24hrs. We all went crazy that night, building giant snowballs to block all the roads leading up to campus, building army of snowmen to deter the snow plows from coming thru, and best of all, building giant snow penises in front of the Dean's office. Yup. That's my school. And those nights were always followed by the campus wide snowball fight and food tray sledding.
Going to such an amazing university as the University of Wisconsin-Madison had its many perks. One of those perks was football season and tailgating. That's where I learned all about Miller Lite, cheese curds and beer brats. I blame the curds, brats and beer for the "freshman 15 (more like 22)"(I obviously did not drink 'till I was 21 mom).
So for this post, I am going to share my version of beer brats.. because I could never recreate the deliciousness from the annual Wisconsin Brat Fest while living in DC.
I don't eat pork very often, so I sometimes substitute pork brats with chicken sausages from Whole Foods. The sausages are delicious grilled, but they can't compare to the original beer brats. You can choose whichever type of sausage you want. If you live in Wisconsin, you will have many delicious options to choose from. If you're like me and are stuck in DC, I recommend the Johnsonville brand of brats. You can find them at most grocery stores.
Buy how ever many sausages you will need along with some cheap beer. I usually use Miller Lite. Boil the beer in a big pot, poke the sausages with a fork, and place them in the pot to boil. Let them cook in the pot for a few minutes until ready. I sometimes turn down the heat to slow cook the brats in beer for extra flavor.
Once they are cooked, remove from the pot and bring them over to the grill to grill the outside of the brat. Some people choose not to cook the brats all the way in the pot of beer so as to not overcook them on the grill, but you're only toasting the outside of the brat for some of that grill/charcoal flavor. Once you have the outside golden, take them off the grill and let them cool a bit.
And start piling on the toppings!
An original brat will have some saurkraut and mustard on there and a nice glass of cold beer. I like to eat mine the Venezuelan way.. I top my brats with brown mustard, onions, parmesan cheese, a little bit of ketchup, and some potato chips or those little french fry type chips. I also spread a little mayo on the bun. And of course, I like having it with a beer too. I try to drink a little fancier beer with my meals now-a-days, well.. sometimes, so I normally drink some Goose Island, Sprecker's or Leinekugel's (summer shandy is my favorite).
For the home made french fries, I slice 5 russet potatoes (for 6 people) length wise into thin strips. I toss them in olive oil and place them on a lightly oiled pan and drizzle some truffle oil (you can find truffle oil at Whole Foods, World Market and even TJ Maxx). Pop it in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 min. Take them out, flip them, and pop them in for another 30 min. Some ovens may cook them faster or longer than that, that's how long they take to cook in my oven. Once they are done, I toss them in this truffle salt I found in the bulk section at Whole Foods. You only need to use a little bit, so don't worry about having to buy a big bulk of it.
Pretty easy, huh?
I am serving my 4th of July brats and fries on these cute baskets I just bought at Sur la Table for a $1.56 each. Wal Mart sells a pack of 4 for $5. The liner paper is also from Sur la Table, and that was on sale for $4.50 for a pack of 25. Cute and not too expensive, right? That's my kind of party for sure.
Happy 4th of July (week) everyone! I hope ya'll get some great weather for fireworks watching! I know I'll be watching fireworks over the Washington Monument this year. It is nice to live in DC sometimes =).
No comments:
Post a Comment