Tag: brats
The Thrill of the Grill
Now that grilling season has returned, it’s time for a little review of some of our favorite grilling links and ways to prepare them. While they all taste great, there are subtle differences in the way you may want to prepare them.
Usinger Cooked Brat – The white brat. Bavarian style made with finely chopped Pork and Veal. These are the type served all over Germany. When grilled they actually swell and get plumper as they are cooked. Grilling gives them a crispy outer skin and smooth flavorful center.
Usinger Fresh Brat – My method for grilling a fresh brat is “low and slow”. It’s the opposite of grilling a steak, which you sear right away to seal in the juices and then cook them at a lower temperature. With a fresh bratwurst it has to acclimate to the heat slowly. Too much heat too quickly can cause the brat to swell so much that it will break the casing, which is what you are really trying to avoid. If the casing breaks, all of the juices and spices wind up in your grill.
Usinger Natural Casing Beef Frankfurters – These are meaty, juicy and have more than a hint of fresh garlic. Grilling enhances the “pop” when you bite into the natural casing.
Usinger Smoked Andouille Sausage – This is a great sausage with lots of complex flavors. Spicy, smoky and tangy all at once.
Usinger Jalapeno Cheddar – A hardwood smoked, fully cooked bratwurst that is ready to heat and eat. Made from coarsely ground premium pork, Jalapeno peppers, cheddar cheese and our apple wood smoked bacon for extra smokiness. One of my favorites.
Additional tips – Personally, I’m not a fan of parboiling. It can change the texture of the casing and dilute the flavor of a perfectly spiced sausage. If you’re short on time, the pre-cooked are quick and don’t require the care of grilling fresh meat.
If you like Kraut, try our Festival style sauerkraut. It’s pre-cooked also and may be the only condiment you need.
Enjoy!
Fred Usinger Day February 23rd, 2015
February’s tastiest holiday is almost here! Fred Usinger Day.
Mayor Tom Barrett proclaimed February 23rd as Fred Usinger Day in a special proclamation back in 2005. This special proclamation recognized Usinger¹s as a locally family owned and operated business for four generations spanning over 125 years. The City of Milwaukee salutes Fred Usinger, Inc. for it¹s long standing good corporate citizenship and commitment to the betterment of Metropolitan Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin area². To commemorate this event, our friends at the Old German Beer Hall will be offering a free Usinger brat to patrons beginning at 11am until 8pm. I will also be on hand at OGBH to tap a keg at 6pm and there will be free beer until the keg runs out. Take a break from the cold and enjoy a hot juicy Usinger brat, maybe a pretzel and your favorite libation as we celebrate Milwaukee’s sausage heritage.
It¹s my favorite thing about February, hope you can join us for the party!
Fritz
Oktoberfest Time
Simply put, Oktoberfest is the world’s largest outdoor party. It’s held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The 16-day festival runs from late September to the first weekend in October. Many of the locals refer to it as Wiesn, which is short for the grounds it’s held on. Having been held since the early 1800’a it’s an important part of the Bavarian culture. Most other Oktoberfest around the world have been patterned after Munich’s, they’re just a little smaller. Munich’s averages about 6 million visitors per year!
If you like to eat German food, you’ll love Oktoberfest, check this menu out. Hendl (roast chicken), Schweinebraten (roast pork), Schweinsh axe (grilled ham hock), of course they’ll have plenty of Würst (sausages) along with Brezen (pretzel), Knödel (potato or bread dumplings), Käsespätzle (cheese noodles), Reiberdatschi (potato pancakes), and Sauerkraut. If you’ve been to Milwaukee’s German Fest this may sound familiar. One of the sausages served at Oktoberfest is Weisswurst (a white sausage containing veal). This delicious sausage literally melts in your mouth and is one of my favorites. We make it at Usinger’s and ours is equally as delicious.
Oktoberfest brats are also a seasonal favorite. They are just a bit longer than regular brats and spiced perfectly. If you’re celebrating Wiesn stateside this year, put some Weisswurst and Oktoberfest brats on the grill and it’ll go a long way toward giving you the taste of Munich’s Oktoberfest.
Enjoy the season, Prost!
Fritz
The Best Fair Food at the Best Fair Price
The Wisconsin State Fair begins its 11 day run on Thursday July 31. It has become a Wisconsin tradition each summer and it’s been around even longer than we have. The first Wisconsin State Fair was held in Janesville in 1851. It moved around quite a bit the first 40 years, but settled in Milwaukee at its current location in 1892. Usinger’s is a proud participant of the fair and has a booth in the Wisconsin Products Pavilion with many other great Wisconsin companies. You will find some of the best food at the fair in the pavilion and also some of the best prices. From apples to ice cream and potatoes to Usinger brats, it’s the place to go. Usinger’s is Milwaukee’s oldest and still family run sausage kitchen. Come visit the Usinger booth inside the air-conditioned Wisconsin Products Pavilion. There you will find the best food at the best price at the fair.
Here is what’s on our menu.
Quarter pound brat, served with kraut
Quarter pound Italian, served with peppers and onions
Quarter pound chicken sausage with spinach and feta cheese
Quarter pound Smoked Brat with Cheddar & Jalapeno
Jumbo Pork & Beef Hot Dog
All are served on delicious Miller Bakery Pretzella buns and are just $ 4.00 each!
See you at the Fair.
Try it, You’ll Like It!
Try something a little different on your grill this summer. A Usinger Smoked Brat with Cheddar Cheese & Jalapeno Peppers. This is one of my grilling favorites. To create this awesome link, we started with a Usinger Smoked Brat mix, then added apple wood smoked bacon bits for a campfire taste, Cheddar Cheese for flavor and pieces of Jalapeno Peppers for good measure. We packed them all in a natural casing and then hardwood smoked them. This is the complete sausage, no condiments needed, well maybe a great sausage roll. But seriously, you’ll want to enjoy all of the great flavors so don’t cover them up with a bunch of add-ons.
These sausages are fully cooked, so you just need to grill them over medium heat to warm them completely through to get the cheese melted and the outside skin crispy. Try not to crack the casings because you won’t want to lose any of the flavor.
Enjoy !
Fritz
Advanced Grilling Tips — From Fritz
Follow these easy tips to become the Grilling Guru of your neighborhood this summer.
When preparing sausages on the grill follow these steps to earn expert status and avoid incinerating your sausage links.
The links you will be grilling should come from the refrigerator, not rock hard directly from the freezer. All sausage should be thawed in the refrigerator prior to use.
The grill. Gas or coals, the plan is the same. Low and slow to avoid temperature shock to the links because they will split and lots of the flavorful juices from inside the sausage will be lost. Use the grill cover to keep in the heat during the beginning.
For a gas grill, warm it up on high, then just before placing the links on the grill turn the heat to low. Start the sausages on low and every few minutes turn the links and increase the heat just a little bit. Follow this sequence for about 10 minutes. Then the next 5 minutes is where the real cooking begins and you need to baby that sausage. Bring the heat up to high, you want to brown the link and “crisp up” the outside casing and cook the link to the center.
Charcoal grill. The coals need to be completely white, then you can start. Spread the coals out. Start the links on the outer perimeter where there is less heat. Turn the links often and gradually move them to the center of the grill. Follow this sequence for about 10 minutes. The center of the grill should be the hottest and this is where “crisp up” happens during the next five minutes until the sausages are cooked through.
Once the links are well browned, you hear them hissing and sizzling they are ready to enjoy.
Vote for the “Bucks Best Brat”
Usinger’s , The Milwaukee Bucks and Pick’n Save have selected the five finalists in the Bucks Best Brat Contest. Now it’s your turn to pick the winner. Just go to the contest page and cast your vote, you’ll receive a $1 off coupon on your next Usinger purchase when you use your Roundy’s Fresh Perks Card.
http://www.nba.com/bucks/bestbrat
February Festivities
We all know about Valentines Day and Presidents Day, but there’s another Day in February that you can really sink your teeth into… Fred Usinger Day.
In a special presentation in 2005, Mayor Tom Barrett proclaimed February 23rd as Fred Usinger Day throughout the City of Milwaukee.
This special proclamation recognized Usinger’s as a locally family owned and operated business for four generations spanning over 125 years. “The City of Milwaukee salutes Fred Usinger, Inc. for it’s long standing good corporate citizenship and commitment to the betterment of Metropolitan Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin area”.
To commemorate this event, our friends and the Old German Beer Hall will be offering a free Usinger brat to patrons beginning at 11am until 8pm. I will also be on hand at OGBH to tap a keg at 2pm and there will be free beer until the keg runs out.
Take a break from our cold and snowy winter for a hot juicy Usinger brat and your favorite libation as we celebrate sausage.
It’s my favorite thing about February, hope you can join us for the party!
We’ll also be featuring several sausage specials at our retail store to honor this event. Watch the Usinger website or Facebook for more details.
Thanks,
Fritz