MisterChrister
Quintessential Chatty Farker
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2012
- Location
- Wis-con-sin
I already had some of my super-secret formula homemade brats thawed in the frig when my wife reminded me that tonight was parent's night at daughter Mary's soccer game. I'd get home from work, have to leave right away, and get home too late to start my usual slow beer simmer. Hmmmm, what to do.....Idea! Break out the SV controller, let the tubesteaks hang out for a couple hours, then kiss with a flame when we get home! BAM! This actually worked out absolutely perfect for several reasons:
1- An overcooked sausage is a sorry sausage. The surest way to take an outstanding artisan sausage (like mine, for example) and make it average is to overcook it. The fat melts, pockets, and runs out. The casings burst, or shrivel if overcooked to death slowly. In the end, half of the flavor and yummy goodness runs out with the beloved fat. Almost everyone, everywhere, overcooks their sausage and ruins it. 160 is max IT after the grilling step. Try temping your brats after the usual simmer next time; likely 180 or more. I've made a concerted effort to finish at 160, or 155 with my homemade stuff, which is almost all I'll eat anymore. This means to get them out of the bath by 150 or so, before climbing another 5-10 degrees over the flame. The flavor and juiciness difference is staggering. SV makes it REALLY easy to nail your exact temp, every time. I can't overstate this; if you don't already, give it a shot next time. Focus on not overshooting your temp the way you would with a rare/medium rare finely marbled ribeye. I promise that it's well worth it, and gets easy with a little practice.
2- The small amount of juice that DOES come out of the sausage during the SV stays right ON the sausage in the bag. I usually do a beer bath with onions. Even though a little of the beer flavor gets into the brat (unless you simmer them to death, replacing the juice and seasonings that run out with beer flavor) mostly, the brat flavor ends up in the beer. Pretty much like boiling your ribs. I spent a lot of time getting my brat seasonings just the way I want them. I want that flavor to stay in the sausage, not in a diluting bath. Besides, I put beer (and whiskey!) into my brats when I make them.
3- Time factor. I can let them ride for an hour, two, four etc., without worrying about overcooking. That's possible, but not easy to do with a conventional simmer.
Anyways, rant off. Here we go. I wanted to keep the brats elevated so the roaster didn't overcook them from contacting the metal. Some leftover ribs on the bottom wire rack were just the ticket. Everything's been in for 2 hours at 150 in this pic.
Kiss of flame to firm the casings up for snap and char flavor
A proper German brat, Sconnie-style
Since I'm half cheap and half broke, I never bought the Anova. Instead, I use a $39 plug and play temp controller. The roaster (or crock pot on smaller cooks) full of warm/hot water gets plugged into the controller, and the controller gets plugged into the wall. When the controller probe senses that the water temp dropped under whatever my temp setpoint is, it lets the roaster turn on until it hits the setpoint. Word of caution, this only works with old dial style cookers, not digital models. It will power up to 1000W or 1200W, I can't remember. It's able to run my big turkey roaster as long as i leave the roaster set to medium, and start with hot tap water. I plan to run this with a relay sometime, so I can use a high wattage, high temp bucket heater in a huge cooler for big parties. I'll probably need a $20 aquarium pump to circulate in a big tub like that though. Here's the link for the controller, in case there's any other cheapskates like me out there! If you already have a dial-style crock pot, you can get into SV for $39! A big thanks to the fellow who recommended this rig to me a few months ago!
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Itc-308-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat/dp/B011296704"]Inkbird Itc-308 Digital Temperature Controller Outlet Thermostat, 2-stage, 1000w, w/ Sensor: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41-5oojEbvL.@@AMEPARAM@@41-5oojEbvL[/ame]
1- An overcooked sausage is a sorry sausage. The surest way to take an outstanding artisan sausage (like mine, for example) and make it average is to overcook it. The fat melts, pockets, and runs out. The casings burst, or shrivel if overcooked to death slowly. In the end, half of the flavor and yummy goodness runs out with the beloved fat. Almost everyone, everywhere, overcooks their sausage and ruins it. 160 is max IT after the grilling step. Try temping your brats after the usual simmer next time; likely 180 or more. I've made a concerted effort to finish at 160, or 155 with my homemade stuff, which is almost all I'll eat anymore. This means to get them out of the bath by 150 or so, before climbing another 5-10 degrees over the flame. The flavor and juiciness difference is staggering. SV makes it REALLY easy to nail your exact temp, every time. I can't overstate this; if you don't already, give it a shot next time. Focus on not overshooting your temp the way you would with a rare/medium rare finely marbled ribeye. I promise that it's well worth it, and gets easy with a little practice.
2- The small amount of juice that DOES come out of the sausage during the SV stays right ON the sausage in the bag. I usually do a beer bath with onions. Even though a little of the beer flavor gets into the brat (unless you simmer them to death, replacing the juice and seasonings that run out with beer flavor) mostly, the brat flavor ends up in the beer. Pretty much like boiling your ribs. I spent a lot of time getting my brat seasonings just the way I want them. I want that flavor to stay in the sausage, not in a diluting bath. Besides, I put beer (and whiskey!) into my brats when I make them.
3- Time factor. I can let them ride for an hour, two, four etc., without worrying about overcooking. That's possible, but not easy to do with a conventional simmer.
Anyways, rant off. Here we go. I wanted to keep the brats elevated so the roaster didn't overcook them from contacting the metal. Some leftover ribs on the bottom wire rack were just the ticket. Everything's been in for 2 hours at 150 in this pic.
Kiss of flame to firm the casings up for snap and char flavor
A proper German brat, Sconnie-style
Since I'm half cheap and half broke, I never bought the Anova. Instead, I use a $39 plug and play temp controller. The roaster (or crock pot on smaller cooks) full of warm/hot water gets plugged into the controller, and the controller gets plugged into the wall. When the controller probe senses that the water temp dropped under whatever my temp setpoint is, it lets the roaster turn on until it hits the setpoint. Word of caution, this only works with old dial style cookers, not digital models. It will power up to 1000W or 1200W, I can't remember. It's able to run my big turkey roaster as long as i leave the roaster set to medium, and start with hot tap water. I plan to run this with a relay sometime, so I can use a high wattage, high temp bucket heater in a huge cooler for big parties. I'll probably need a $20 aquarium pump to circulate in a big tub like that though. Here's the link for the controller, in case there's any other cheapskates like me out there! If you already have a dial-style crock pot, you can get into SV for $39! A big thanks to the fellow who recommended this rig to me a few months ago!
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Itc-308-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat/dp/B011296704"]Inkbird Itc-308 Digital Temperature Controller Outlet Thermostat, 2-stage, 1000w, w/ Sensor: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41-5oojEbvL.@@AMEPARAM@@41-5oojEbvL[/ame]
ray:
