A while ago I was emailed a question: "Why are German bratwurst so special?"
Well Dave (from Didcot), now come on, the words bratwurst and special don't immediately in my mind especially go together. I can't say I even remember the last time I had one as part of a meal or even a take-away. Yes Ok I know they're popular in Germany and the US...but here in the UK? Not sure...
What is a BRATWURST then?
Basically , a sausage made from pork, in a natural (or synthetic...horrid things) case or skin, that's grilled or pan fried. So what's different about these than our British banger or chipolata?
There's quite a few varieties and shapes and sizes of bratwurst available in Germany which individual regions claim as their own. Coburg have their "Coburger Bratwurst" made from veal or beef, with only salt , pepper, nutmeg and lemon zest added. Traditionally cooked over pine cones or so they say. Whereas the Swabian region has it's spicy "Rote Wurst" made from finely ground pork and bacon. They cut an X in to the ends when grilling or frying. The ends open during cooking, with the rest remaining as is, thus giving it a shape all of it's own. The Wurzburger bratwurst is a variance on the spicy Thuringer but theirs with white wine added.
Ooo I'm getting interested in "brats" the more I research....
The makings are evidently more often than not minced very finely we're told using a "bowl-cutter" (sometimes known as a "bowl chopper") to almost emulsify the meat. Passing the mix through a very fine mincing plate a couple or even three times gets close to it but to make them accurately, a bowl-cutter is what's needed. The mix is then loaded in to preferably natural skins.
The "brats" would be normally steamed (or pan simmered in water) to cook them and then chilled ready for use. Frying them off in a hot pan or under/over a grill to give them colour before serving. Some recommend spraying them with water or beer whilst they're grilling to keep the skins cool. Cooking them by grilling or pan frying, without pre-cooking is a skill, as burning the outside and the inside remaining under cooked or raw is very likely. Not good.
OK, so I arranged some un-cooked brats from our local sausage specialist (The Churchgate Sausage Company of Sheering, Essex). Yes they're not German produce but these will do to get started with an opinion on bratwurst. As it happens, we liked the "Churchgate Bratwurst" from Herr Drage...mind you I suppose we should have eaten them rather than with mash and onions, but in a bread roll with some German mustard perhaps. Hey ho, next time. The texture of the meat was fine/smooth and the taste was definitely different to a British sausage. More like a frankfurter (or dare I say a "saveloy"). Don't get us wrong, there was nothing wrong with the "foreign" sausage, but then again we like what we like and no doubt other nationalities like what they like!
I've read that in Nuremburg alone the estimate is around 1 billion brats being produced a year! Now add the rest of Germany's production and you've got a serious amount of sausages being consumed! It appears to be around 60 lbs of sausage consumed per person per year in Germany...and they have around 81 million citizens! This compared with the UK's 63 million people and 7 lbs of sausage per person per year! Good heavens!
I've also read that VW factory in Wolfsburg have their own butchery department within the factory complex that produces LOADS of sausage for the staff meals and supplies some very local supermarkets. Whether they only produce their very popular "currywurst" or do in fact produce bratwurst as well, I may need to arrange a visit to find out!
Audi in Bavaria, also have their own butchery department...pork/veal/milk weiswurst over there....
Now back to the initial question...I still can't see why German Bratwurst would be so special. I prefer the Great British Banger personally, but then that's me! However I'm sure there's people out there who would disagree...each to their own of course!
So perhaps the question should have been "Why are German Bratwurst so popular"!
Answer: They taste good and 81 million Germans will no doubt be the first to say so....
BTW: Did you know that sausage production in Germany, Austria and northern France was effectively halted for a time during WW1 (with sausage eating banned) by the German authorities. It appears that animals intestines used as sausage skins became so sought after during this time with them being used in Zeppelins to hold the hydrogen gas.
See our reviews and other articles at www.sausagereview.co.uk
Chipolatas anyone? Have you noticed that producers are regularly making and selling good quality smaller versions of their main stream sausages as chipolatas?
Now there was a time that chipolatas were seen as "kids food", but I have been surprised at the number of adults who we have spoken to recently about our sausage reviews who actually enjoy and would recommend chipolatas as an everyday sausage to eat. OK not "everyday" as we all know the health warnings and implications about consumption of fatty foods.
Photo of the excellent Churchgate Sausage Co - Pork Chipolata (Review)
However good quality chipolatas do come in at roughly about half the calories, fat and carbs of their bigger brothers from what we can see on the labelling, so 2 on a plate with your choice of mash, onions and gravy for example, in your mind, this may still be a completely satisfying meal. Perhaps?
It seems to be the practice though to produce the chipolatas with their mix minced (ground) a bit finer so it will go easier in to the smaller diameter cases/skins, but essentially it's the virtually the same recipe that's being used. OK some producers will do a slightly different mix for their chipolatas but please stay with me on this on the principle. Yes we know sadly that you can get budget and value chipolatas out their from cheap shops and supermarkets that are horrible "fat sticks" which contain the absolute minimum percentages of meat plus heaven knows what else as fillers. I'm really referring to choosing "quality produced" chipolatas here.
We are essentially talking of the psychological impact of the way you present food. I am convinced that we have been conditioned that anything less than 2 sausages on a plate (with whatever you fancy...OK fellas I don't mean 2 more sausages!) is the minimum to make a good meal.
I tried this recently with the family evening meal. Sausage, mash and onion gravy all round using 2 very good quality chipolatas instead of 2 full porkers each. No complaints. In fact one of the ladies said she preferred the choice of chipolatas and would happily have those again. OK a salad might have been dramatically less calories rather than mash and onions, and certainly the balsamic vinegar laced gravy, but it's the principle of effectively reducing portion size and still enjoying your food I'm banging on about.
OK yes I know, you could just dish up some of those "low fat" full size sausages I wrote about previously, but really this isn't what I see as the way forward.
Adjusting to a smaller portion size though is probably going to be hard going I agree, but let's not kid ourselves too much that just dishing up less and serving such on smaller plates is going to fix everything.
Try the chipolatas in place of the full size porkers next family meal time and see the reaction...if it works...way forward.
See our reviews and other articles at www.sausagereview.co.uk
Low fat sausages? It's not the sort I would immediately think of buying, however it looks like there's members of the Weight Watchers community out there counting their calories that do and probably will be quick to quote their "pro points" of the ones they say they prefer.
Now call me cynical but how can a low fat sausage be anything like a "proper sausage"?
A properly made, shall we call it a traditional sausage, will have around say 20% fat in the mix. If you go less than this, the result when cooked we're told can be a rather dry and the taste and feel just isn't right. So if you take out some of the fat, what can you put in to the sausage to still keep it moist and not affect the taste?
Producers it seems have access to alternatives (or fillers) to make lower fat content sausages where a proportion of the added fat in the mix is replaced with the likes of SOYA PROTEIN, "FAT REPLACER", GELATIN (or AGAR AGAR), NON FAT DRY MILK POWDER, POTATO STARCH and TAPIOCA FLOUR to name just a few. These fillers absorb and bind with water to bulk and keep moisture within. OK I get that but it's the "fat replacer" that I have been told of as it sounds rather "industrial", that I wanted to know more about...
From some research I find that there's a dietary fibre (Inulin) developed originally in Belgium that's extracted from certain plants, that when mixed with water, results in a creamy emulsion/ paste that can be added to the sausage mix to replace some of the fat. This fat replacer holds moisture and because of it's neutral flavour gives the sausage when cooked little or no perceivable reduction in taste and the "mouth feel" is more consistent with a full fat sausage.
In speaking to a local producer I asked whether he would consider low fat production and his view was that it wouldn't make business sense for him to produce as the demand was very low. He also added that if people really watching their weight wanted to reduce calorie intake then perhaps they shouldn't eat sausages at all? Or at least, instead of a portion of 2, make it 1 thus seeing a reduction of 50% but still enjoy their meal perhaps?
I can see where he's coming from but what are Low Fat Sausages like?
Recently we sampled some Powters (Newmarket) - Low Fat sausages and surprisingly they taste very good. They had a nice "herby" and spiced flavour, and certainly a very good medium texture with a slight crumble as you bite in to them. The skins browned well. So certainly a sausage that seem to work as a sausage should. From the ingredients on the packet, there's no mention of a specific fat replacer so I expect that the mix is bulked with extra rusk which is probably why the texture is crumblier no doubt.
I wasn't convinced entirely though that these would replace "proper sausages"...
So, armed with some low fats and some standard Powters, I cooked up a sausage and mash for the troops to see what the results of a full comparison would bring.
The low fats were spotted immediately. The texture gave them away.
Quite crumbly compared with standard ones the troops reported. I agree but at the end of the day, low fat Powters from what we've found are at least as close you are probably able to get to a proper sausage whilst still giving some reduction in fat content.
Weight Watchers: 2pp for 1, 5pp for 2 and 7pp for 3 - well, what ever that means?.......
See our full review and others at www.sausagereview.co.uk
Well, what is the size of a standard British sausage? It's a good question and given from what we've sampled and reviewed over the last near 12 months there doesn't seem to be much of a consistent sizing across any producers. Now good casings (hog and the smaller sheep) are available in some standardisation for example, 22-24mm diameter for chipolatas, 29-31mm for medium sausages, and 32-35mm for thick sausages. Alternative cases in other material do go as small as 19mm diameter. Whereas some cases can go to 60mm or larger for salami production for example.
We're told that sausages used to be produced in "4, 8, 16 & 32 to the pound" giving some consistency in sizes, however in production now just how much mixture gets in to the case and how long it is between twists appears to be ultimately down to the individual sausage maker as you may expect.
A search on the internet won't find too much on this either, so let's look at our own sampling data and what we've found. For the larger pork sausages, lengths do vary between 95mm to a whopping 130mm, mind you, Cumberland lengths can go to 580mm!
The point here too is that you can under fill a large case and produce a cooked sausage of much smaller diameter. It's a bit "baggy" but the casing will tighten and shrink down some on cooking. Alternatively over stuffing will produce a much larger cooked sausage, but the risk of splits and bursting are more likely.
Chipolatas that we've seen and tried vary widely too. You would think that these would be shorter than the porkers but they do vary from 85mm to a long 140mm. Cocktail sausages would be much shorter again you would expect, but yes, it's down to the producer. Additionally with hand production we've noticed that there is sometimes a real variance between linked sausages in the same string, whereas with machine twisted production they do maintain more of a consistency.
The producers we've spoken to about this don't seem to see a problem with it as the size of what they produce they say is just as important as the quality of meat and the flavour the customer enjoys. It's almost part of the marketing and creating some identity from what we can see.
Take Oxhey Lane Farm Shop in Pinner, John Wiggett is proud to produce his sausages BIG, and says he well known for this and even produces much larger jumbo versions of his best sellers for some of his regular customers.
It's the same with Durrants Farm (Margaretting), Emily Stockwell is also known locally for producing what is practically a "quarter pounder" individual cumberland sausage!
So being different is what it's all about then.
Standard sizing is really not necessary.
Vive la difference!
See our full review and others at www.sausagereview.co.uk
Sweetlands of Dunmow produce small batches of their flitch sausage around the time of the "Dunmow Flitch Trials" in July / August, and also at other times to be honest, which celebrates an ancient ceremony to award a flitch of bacon to married couples from anywhere in the world, if they can satisfy the Judge and Jury of 6 maidens and 6 bachelors that in 'twelvemonth and a day', they have 'not wisht themselves unmarried again'.
See http://www.dunmowflitchtrials.co.uk/
We've raved about Sweetlands Flitch sausages and quite rightly so we believe. 70% pork meat (also some added fat we were informed) plus bacon, tomato and basil. A very good looking raw sausage I have to say. Lovely skins and all tied properly. Presentation matters.
Well, what a sausage! An extremely course / crumbly texture with a medium bite and a succulent melt in the mouth experience. The seasoning is just enough and the taste well, as far as I'm concerned, superb.
There's a slight salty initial taste from the bacon, then the sweetness from the tomato comes through with the basil. A good combination that works really well.
The skins cook up nice and make every mouthful a pleasure. We did however have a few split skins, but that may have been as I had the heat up a little too high initially under the pan. These aren't best grilled, so stick to sizzling them in a pan or oven baking.
A "stonkingly" good sausage.....and is our Top Sausage 2012.
See our full review and others at www.sausagereview.co.uk
Most supermarkets sell retail packaged uncooked "small sausages", you know the rather pale pink, smooth, industrially produced looking sort, all regimentally aligned in their filmed packaging and all absolutely identical, which do seem to be very popular with children of all ages, and are no doubt a regular staple at your "little ones" birthday parties. However recently I've noticed specifically higher quality "cocktail sausages" appearing on the shelves alongside the more mainstream examples of sausage delight, but they seem to be just a smaller version of a chipolata, but are they?
It seems that a true "cocktail sausage" is something you can serve at a "party" or "soiree" either loose on a serving plate as finger food or with a cocktail stick stuck in each to help you pick them up and dip them. You would eat these as you would with other delicacies, crudities and canapés, so a small sausage is ideal as it will be easy to eat in one or two bites, with or without a plate.
There appears there are quite a few variations to the theme such as pork, chicken, beef, and no doubt other meats and combinations if you can persuade your local butcher to run you up something different. I've seen smoked salmon ones too, although I'm not sure about those personally! There's even Kosher and Halal versions available from the right supplier!
Sauces to accompany these can be quite aromatic and thick such as sticky barbeque, chilli ketchup, honey mustard or sweet & sour! The sauces can be intense and strongly flavoured as your guests would perhaps just eat a couple along with the other fare.
We bought a pack of "cocktails" to try and as we are looking for a comparison, a pack of the same producers chipolatas went in to the basket too. As the cocktail sausages lacked a specific meat percentage content on the label, we decided on a taste and texture comparison.
Well we'll cut to the chase then. In a blind tasting of these, I doubt whether you would taste any difference, so there you go! The casings seem the same dimensionally and quality-wise, so why the extra cost for "cocktail sausages" above regular chipolatas? Surely the extra twists on a chipolata sausage run for a producer can't amount to nearly an extra £2 / Kg?
I like a challenge, so within less than 5 minutes we've made some "cocktail sausages" out of the chipolatas we bought earlier! With each chipolata, give each a bit of a squeeze a third of the way along it's length, four twists, move on to the next third and so on. Cut them carefully apart and in the pan they go!
When cooking I half expected the little darlings to burst as the casings were pretty tight, but all was OK and I'll openly admit given the results from our test and the cost per kilo difference, we'll no doubt be buying chipolatas again to make our own "cocktail sausages" in the future...
See our full review and others at www.sausagereview.co.uk
We've been under pressure recently from a journalist friend and colleague to justify why we have been only sampling pork sausage!
He says that there's some really good, well made sausages out there in lamb, chicken and beef varieties...well bowing to his persistence on this we decided to go for it and buy in some "beef & cracked black pepper" just to get us started...
Hmm? Yes they're OK I suppose but frankly taste and texture-wise I might as well have eaten a reasonable quality "beefburger"!
Now don't get me wrong a very well made sausage, and they cooked up very well and retained a good succulence, however you cannot escape the fact that probably in a blind tasting you wouldn't be able to "taste the difference" between these and a beefburger, even though these were actually Sainsbury's "Taste the Difference" sausages!
We will try some more varieties I'm sure just as our friend and colleague suggests, but I remain sceptical about any sausage "other than pork"....
See our full review and others at www.sausagereview.co.uk
There's quite a few varieties and shapes and sizes of bratwurst available in Germany which individual regions claim as their own. Coburg have their "Coburger Bratwurst" made from veal or beef, with only salt , pepper, nutmeg and lemon zest added. Traditionally cooked over pine cones or so they say. Whereas the Swabian region has it's spicy "Rote Wurst" made from finely ground pork and bacon. They cut an X in to the ends when grilling or frying. The ends open during cooking, with the rest remaining as is, thus giving it a shape all of it's own. The Wurzburger bratwurst is a variance on the spicy Thuringer but theirs with white wine added. 
