Bratwurst Sausage Recipe

This is a step-by-step old fashion German Sausage recipe for a traditional bratwurst seasoned with marjoram, ginger, pepper, mace and coriander.

I’ve been a professional sausage maker since I started my first Gourmet Meats business 10 years ago. I’ve hand twisted over 100,000 lbs of sausage and created more than 100 sausage recipes. Some recipes came easy, on the first try. Others, like this one, took several attempts to fine tune the spices and end up with the perfect sausage.

What is a bratwurst?

A bratwurst simply means “finely ground” + “sausage” in German. When working on this recipe I researched a lot of different bratwursrt recipes from Charcuterie: Sausages, Pates and Accompaniments by German Master Chef Fritz Sonnenschmidt.

Every region in Germany has there own traditional Bratwurst varieties. Most are made with pork, some use veal, some use beef, some use a lot of fat or pork belly. Some are a coarser grind, some are a finer grind. Yet for Americans, there is something specific that comes to mind when we think of a “Brat”. It’s mild… It tastes good with sauerkraut, mustard, and beer… Figuring out what that something was exactly so I could develop a recipe that was both authentic and recognizable to my American customers as a “brat” was my challenge with this sausage. After playing around with many different bratwurst recipes, I developed this one which I have been using now for about 8 years.

Making Sausage At Home

If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that I am not a fan of doing dishes or having a bunch of gadgets and equipment. Well, with sausage-making there is no getting around dishes and equipment.

I haven’t made sausage at home in a long time because my kitchen is tiny and I have little kids and a general lack of free time for ambitious kitchen projects, but also because I make 300 lbs of sausage on a near weekly basis in a commercial kitchen (where I have a dishwasher) so there really isn’t any need.

If you are just getting started with this, or only make small batches of sausages a couple of times a year, you can use a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer with the Meat Grinder and Sausage Stuffer attachment. This is good for 2-5 lb batches max! If making a 5 lb batch you’ll either need to hand mix it or mix it in 2 batches. If you try to grind or mix more than 5 lbs you’ll burn out the engine. I’ve been there, done that.

Personally, I think if you are going to make sausage, you should make at least 10 lbs to make it worth the effort and I have included equipment down below the recipe that I recommend for the hobby sausage maker.

In addition to the special equipment, you’ll also need to special order sausage casings and have ample space in your refrigerator or freezer to cool down your equipment and meat before grinding and mixing.

Bratwurst Sausage Recipe

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• Author: Kara Taylor – Home Cooks Guide
• Prep Time: 2 hours
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
• Yield: 5 lbs 1x
• Category: Meat
• Method: Mixing
• Cuisine: German
• Diet: Gluten Free

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Description

This is a traditional mild bratwurst seasoned with pepper, mace, ginger, coriander, and marjoram.  

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Ingredients

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5 lbs meat (pork or pork mix, 25% fat)

35 g salt

1.24 g sugar

1.25 g ground white pepper

3.75 g ground black pepper

1.4 g mace

1.25 g ground ginger

1.25 g ground coriander

4.5 g marjoram

1 T cold white vinegar

1/2 c cold water

Sausage Casings

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Instructions

Soak Casings in warm water for a minimum of 30 minutes or up to 12 hours.  Change the water a couple of times.  Store the casings in the water as you work.

Cut meat mixture in chunks smaller enough to fit through your grinder.  The meat mixture should be 25-30% fat.  Pork shoulder works well for this or leaner cuts of meat combined with pork belly or fatback.  Put meat in the freezer until very cold, but not frozen.  Also, put your grinder pieces and bowl in freezer or fridge as space permits.  The goal is for everything to be nice and cold.

Toss meat with the spices and salt and grind through the desired grinder plate into a mixing bowl.  If you are using a larger die for grinding, make sure you are extra thorough trimming off the tough connective tissue and tendons or you will end up with chewy/hard bits in your sausage.

Mix the sausage mixture with a stand mixer (or meat mixer) fitted with the paddle attachment.  Slowly add the cold liquids and set a timer for 5 minutes.  As long as your meat mix stays nice and cold, you can’t really over mix it.  You can however under-mix it and end up with a dry, crumbly, unpleasant texture.  Depending on the equipment you are using for this, you may need to do this in batches.

Load the meat mixture into the sausage stuffer.  Put a casing on the nozzle leaving a couple of inches overhanging.  Leave the end unknotted until the sausage starts coming out to avoid a huge air bubble.  Stuff sausages, twisting every other one in the same direction.  Poke casings with needle or sausage poker.

Sausages are best if allowed to sit for 1 day before eating to allow casings to dry and flavors to mingle.  If possible, hang sausages in the refrigerator during that time to tighten the casings and squeeze out air bubbles.

To package and store your sausages you can wrap in plastic wrap and then butcher paper and freeze or vacuum seal and freeze.  If vacuum sealing, I recommend freezing first or leaving the sausages linked together as the vacuum pressure will try to pull the sausage out of the casing.  Fresh sausage you can store on a plate wrapped in plastic wrap or a bag in the fridge.  You should use fresh raw sausage within 3-5 days.

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Equipment

| Charcuterie: Sausages, Pates and Accompaniments |

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| Kitchener Heavy Duty Electric Meat Grinder |

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| ThermoPro Dual Probe Meat Thermometer |

Buy Now →

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