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Ground Pork breakfast sausage being fed into pork casings.

German Bratwurst Recipe

Do you love to cook German bratwurst sausages served with lacto-fermented sauerkraut and traditional German potato salad? Follow this recipe to make homemade German bratwurst, and you will never want to buy it from the store again!
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Course: Breakfast, Main Course
Cuisine: German
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 8 minutes
Servings: 8
Calories: 450kcal
Author: Carolyn Thomas

Equipment

  • Meat Grinder
  • Food Scale
  • Sausage Casings
  • Sausage Stuffer
  • Plastic Wrap optional
  • Freezer Paper optional
  • Tape optional

Ingredients

  • 850 grams pork cubed
  • 150 grams pork fat cubed
  • 19 grams salt
  • 4 grams margoram
  • 3 grams pepper
  • 1 gram mace
  • .5 grams allspice

Instructions

  • Grind meat and desired fat using a meat grinder on a large grind followed by a small grind. Remember, the ideal ratio of meat to fat is about 15%.
  • Mix all spices into the ground meat mixture until evenly distributed throughout.
  • Take ground pork mixture and, using a hand-crank sausage stuffer and sausage casings, thread the casing onto the stuffer hose.
  • Tie a knot at the end of the casing and begin filling the casings with the ground meat.
  • To keep sausage from getting piled up in a heap, arrange it on the counter in a large spiral (as shown in the video).
  • Once the entire casing is filled, tie off the other end and begin twisting into desired-sized links.
  • Package brats into serving sizes. Wrap in a layer of plastic wrap and then again in freezer paper.
  • Freeze for up to one year.
  • Defrost in the refrigerator overnight and cook thoroughly until sausages reach 165°F.

Notes

Seasoning German Bratwurst
The lean-to-fat ratio for German bratwurst widely varies. While we prefer 75% lean meat with 25% pork fat for our breakfast and Italian sausage, we prefer 85% lean to 15% fat for bratwurst. We also found that measuring in grams yielded the best results. 
Using a simple food scale makes measuring your lean-to-fat ratio and spice blends a snap.
Ingredient 1 kg. Pork (2.2 pounds) 10 kg.Pork (22 pounds)
Salt 19 grams 190 grams
Marjoram 4 grams 40 grams
Pepper 3 grams 30 grams
Mace 1 grams 10 grams
Allspice .5 grams 5 grams

Nutrition

Serving: 1link | Calories: 450kcal | Carbohydrates: 0.3g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 41g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 19g | Cholesterol: 94mg | Sodium: 980mg | Potassium: 311mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 0.003g | Vitamin A: 11IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg
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