Bratwurst Meatballs

 So I'm on a roll today (a meaty one).  As I've mentioned before, I've been getting pork from PTB Farms (If you follow that link you should also check out their instagram at https://www.instagram.com/pinetroughfarm/ as Hailey posts great stories about life on the farm.  In addition to every pork cut you could imagine, they also sell sausage of many flavors including bratwurst.  Thought the bratwurst is tasty, it's not the same as my favorite bratwurst, which was also the first bratwurst I'd ever had.  When I was in graduate school in Texas, there was a local butcher that sold the best brats.  Legend had it that one of the chemistry professors at A&M missed Wisconsin brats when he moved to Texas and took his grandmother's recipe to Readfield's Meats and they ended up being one of their bestselling items, as well as the star of many a GSAC cookout (damn, they have a website now, and merch!  And David and I thought we were so fancy writing the newsletter on his first gen Apple Macintosh).  Anyhow, I've not really had brats like that since leaving Texas.  

A few weeks ago, I watched this video from Sohla El-Waylly on making meatballs.  Her "Sohla Off-Script" videos on Food52 are short and fun, and she teaches you a basic technique that you can take in many different directions.  When she said that "meatballs are just a hand-formed sausage" I had the idea to try a bratwurst meatball.  And it went pretty darn well.

Bratwurst Meatballs

Adapted from: https://food52.com/blog/26252-sohla-off-script-meatballs-guide and https://www.thepauperedchef.com/article/wisconsin-style-bratwurst

Ingredients

2 oz bread (sandwich bread, hamburger buns, etc)

½ cup whole milk

1 lb ground pork

2 tsp kosher salt (I used Diamond Crystal)

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground coriander

1/8 tsp ground marjoram (did not have so substituted a pinch of dried oregano, rubbed between my fingers to crush)

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

¼ tsp dried ginger

12-oz beer (I used an amber ale)

1 large onion, sliced

1-2 tsp kosher salt

 

Directions

1.     Tear the bread into small pieces, ranging in size from small cornflakes to panko sized crumbs.  Mix with milk until everything is moistened and incorporated but still lumpy.  Let sit at least 5 minutes so all the starches are hydrated.

2.     Add the pork and the rest of the spices (through ginger) to the bread/milk mixture.  Mix in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment at medium speed for about 1 minute until the mixture is well combined and springy.  (if you don’t have a stand mixer, you can knead the mixture with your hands for 3-5 minutes until it is well combined and springy). 

3.     Transfer the mixture to a container and refrigerate overnight (24 hours).

4.     To form meatballs, measure out ¼ cup portions of meat mixture onto a greased sheet pan (lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  Wet your hands with cold water to help prevent sticking and roll each meatball in your palms to get a rounded shape. I got 11 meatballs with this mixture, but #11 was a little runty.

5.     Place the sliced onion, salt and beer in a 10” saute pan (you could also use a 5qt dutch oven).  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

6.     Carefully place the meatballs in the poaching liquid, cover and simmer for 6 minutes.  Carefully turn the meatballs over, cover and simmer for 6 minutes.  Meatballs should be fully cooked at this point.

7.     To finish, grill meatballs over medium heat to heat through and get some grill marks on them.  Serve in a hot dog bun with mustard and sauerkraut and some of the onions from the poaching liquid.

 

fFformed and ready to poach:

 

 Served up with oven fries and homemade sauerkraut.