Beer Friday: Best Beer Brats Recipe
9 Comments Published by Ryan October 20th, 2006 in Beer, Food, Meat. Share This
Ah, bratwurst. Many foods can be used as shining examples of Man Food, but precious few are actually best when cooked in beer and served with a beer reduction sauce as a condiment. Throw in some beer-battered onion rings as a side dish and crack open a bottle of your favorite local brew, and some might call this heaven. And by some, I mean me.
So, with the summer grilling season sadly over and the shortened days of October drawing to close, I thought it would be a good time to exchange beer brat recipes with you guys. This way we all have a great excuse to stock up on beer and sausages, and spend the precious few remaining days of (marginally) grill-capable weather throwing back brews and eating meat. Read my recipe after the jump—I dare you to do better. (Hint: According to science, you can’t.)
You’ll need:
- Five or six regular sized brats, preferably fresh from your local butcher, but anything should work as long as they’re uncooked
- Enough crusty brat-sized rolls for your brats
- 1 22-ounce bottle Rogue HazelNut Brown Nectar
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1 medium white onion, sliced into half-rings
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 2 tsp sugar
- Hit of olive oil
- Salt to taste
The method is astoundingly simple. Tongs are really helpful (do not under any circumstances pierce the brats with a fork or anything else!) and you’ll obviously need some kind of high-sided stock pot large enough to accomodate all your meat, as well as a hot grill waiting in the wings. Start by getting that pot heated up over medium-low and throw in your butter and olive oil. Once the butter is melted, add the onions and a dash of salt. Cook until just soft, then add the sugar and continue cooking over medium low heat, stirring occasionally to ensure against sticking.
Cook the onions just until they start to caramelize (i.e., turn brown). Should be maybe ten minutes but your mileage may vary. As soon as you’re starting to get a nice browning on the onions, crank the heat all the way and immediately add your brats, the entire bottle of beer (you had an extra for drinking, right?), and enough beef broth to cover the meat. If you don’t need all the broth, don’t use it. A little will go a long way toward adding meaty flavor, but it also dilutes the beer, and that’s the main flavor we’re after.
Boil all this over high or medium-high heat until the beer and onion mixture is very nearly a syrup, usually 30 to 45 minutes, then move the brats to your already-heated grill for scoring and additional flavor production while the onion mixture continues to reduce. When the brats are nicely scored and your onion mixture is all thick and gloopy, you’re ready to go: put brat on bun, spoon on the beer and onion sauce, and enjoy. I like to add a generous dollop of spicy whole seed brown mustard, but they’re great au naturale as well.
I usually just boil the brats in beer and onions for about ten minutes before grilling. Then I take the left over beer and onions, put it in an aluminum tray and sit it on the grill. When I’m done grilling the brats, I toss them in the beer and onion bath so they don’t dry out. That way any one who shows up late or wants some more doesn’t end up with a dry, cold brat.
Sounds great, but where’s the sauerkraut?
That sounds amazing.
I do something pretty similar, minus the broth though…
But anyways, I usually like to deglaze that pan with a little white wine then use that as a sauce.
The real key is the Rogue beer. Gotta have the HazelNut Brown Nectar. I’ve tried dozens of different beers over the years and it makes by far the best sauce of all I’ve tried, with the possible exception of some maple syrup microbrew that I found once camping in Colorado and have never seen again. Anyway, letting the sauce reduce to virtually nothingness and deglazing isn’t bad, but I’ve tried deglazing with dry red wine, sweet and dry white wines, and beef broth, and generally I prefer to just let the sauce be.
If you’ve never used broth, give it a try. It lends the sauce an additional layer of nice meatiness and saltiness, and keeps the beer a little diluted so the alpha acids from the hops don’t get too bitter.
I soak my saurkraut in beet over night I prefer dark beers.
I went ahead and made this last night. Excellent! My take away from next time – easy on the beef broth. All we had was “condensed” so it was extra-strong to begin with. I’ll make sure to just use regular.
say you can’t find the rogue hazelnut brown nectar. what would you say is the best replacement that is easily accessible? any other rogue brews work well?
a method that i use…Pour some beer into a pan, throw in some onion, and maybe a little butter, and of course, your brat. Let it boil for about ten minutes. It should be steaming, then take’em to your grill and cook them any way you like