Bratwurst Cooked in Beer, With Apple Sauerkraut

Submitted by Galley Wench

"We have a new comfort food! Serve on buns Recipe #318739 or pass a basket of Recipe #322241 !"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 15mins
• Ingredients: 17
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 4 -6 links bratwurst sausage
• 1 cup julienned red onion
• 1 (12 ounce) bottle dark beer
• 3 ounces bacon, chopped
• 2 cups julienned yellow onions
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 large red apples, cored and cubed
• 2 tablespoons deli mustard (to taste)
• 1 tablespoon caraway seed
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 2 lbs sauerkraut, rinsed well under cold running water and drained
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• fresh ground black pepper

• ACCOMPANIMENTS

• rolls or rye bread
• deli mustard
• cold beer (lots)

directions

1. With a sharp knife or kitchen fork, prick each sausage several times.
2. In a saucepan, combine the red onions and beer and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
3. Add the sausages and poach until almost cooked through, about 5 minutes.
4. Remove the sausages from the liquid and set aside, reserving the liquid.
5. In a large pot, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp, about 5 minutes.
6. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
7. Add the yellow onions to the fat in the pan and cook, stirring, until very soft, 5 to 6 minutes.
8. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.
9. Add the apples and cook, stirring, until starting to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the caraway seeds, mustard, vinegar and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.
10. Add the sauerkraut and reserved beer cooking liquid (without the onions), sugar, salt and pepper, and bring to a boil.
11. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered until tender and aromatic, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour.
12. Preheat the grill.
13. Grill the sausages until cooked through, about 5 minutes, turning to cook evenly on all sides.
14. Remove and place on a platter.
15. Remove the sauerkraut from the heat and stir in the cooked bacon and adjust the seasoning, to taste.
16. Arrange the sauerkraut on the platter with the sausages and serve, if desired, with rolls and mustard or Rye Bread. Serve with cold beer.

Reviews

[Chica Chica]

I come from a completely different cooking culture and was hesitant to tackle this recipe but I have a boyfriend who is half German so I had to attempt it! We had a mini Octoberfest party and I made this recipe to great success. In the future I will make this the day before because it is a lot of work but also because I found that like most food it tasted sooooooooo much better the next day. The flavors had time to meld, deepen, and soften. Definitely will do this again next year and invite more people! Thanks for a great recipe.

 

[SrtaMaestra]

This is very good! Super comfort food! My husband and I were skeptical about the apple-kraut combination, but we enjoyed this for dinner tonight with a German white wine, creamy cucumber salad, and baked potatoes. I made some changes to suit our individual tastes. First, I threw out the beer that I had cooked the brats in. I just couldn't see putting all of that fat that had cooked out of the brats into the sauerkraut, when there was already bacon grease in it. I added a fresh bottle of beer to the kraut. Second, I omitted the caraway seed. (Personal preference--I just don't like it in kraut, bread, or anywhere else). I did find two pounds of kraut to be quite a bit to go with only 4-6 brats. We made 10 brats, used 4 for dinner (only 2 of us had kraut, since the kids don't eat it), and had enough kraut to layer in a 2 qt. casserole dish with the remaining brats, where we'll bake it to reheat for another meal. We did have to use 2 bottles of beer to poach the brats, as one bottle just ouldn't cover them all. We used a light beer as that's what we had in the house, but I think next time we'll use a dark beer to make the kraut even richer and more flavorful. We used high quality brats form a local sausage maker and German style bagged kraut. Made for PRMR. Thanks for posting this!