Butcher’s Sausage with Peppers and Onions

On July 24, 2019 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Food, Germany, Recipes4 Comments

When we lived in Frankfurt, there was a butcher located on the corner of our street where we would go and buy fresh meats for dinner. Here in Colorado, we have to go a little bit further to get to a butcher, but it is well worth the effort. Everyone talks about farm to table cooking, but for home-cooks it isn’t always as easy. We also go to a local farmer’s market every weekend to get fresh vegetables. This is a meal that definitely reminded us of Germany, not just because of the sausage, but also because of using the fresh ingredients with no preservatives. Butcher’s sausage is a sausage that is made up of meat scraps that the butcher saves as they trim up different cuts of meat. Our sausage had pork, beef, duck pate, chicken liver, and chicken. It sounds like a crazy combination, but it tasted really good. Obviously, this recipe works well with bratwurst, beef sausage, or almost any type of sausage. You can also use green pepper if you’d like, but red and orange peppers are a little sweeter. Because the sausage has a lot of seasonings inside of it, there isn’t any reason to add anything other than some salt and pepper.

Peppers and Onion from the Farmer’s Market

INGREDIENTS

Two Links of Butcher’s Sausage
1 Red Pepper – sliced
1 Orange Pepper – sliced
1/2 Red Onion – sliced
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 Buns or Hoagie Rolls
Dijon Mustard
Salt and Pepper to taste

Browned Sausage and Caramelized Vegetables

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat a large skillet with the oil over medium-high heat. Be sure to slice the peppers and onion into similar size strips. Place the peppers in the pan and sauté them for about 5 to 6 minutes, until they start to soften. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper, and continue to sauté until peppers and onion begin to caramelize, about another 4 to 5 minutes. Butterfly the sausage and place them into the center of the pan, moving the peppers and onion towards the edge of the pan, and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes per side until the sausage begins to brown. Spread the mustard onto the bun, place the sausage cut-side down, and cover with peppers and onion.

Spicy Sausage Sandwiches

On April 17, 2019 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn RecipesLeave a comment

We enjoyed a lot of different sausages during our time in Germany, including currywurst. Another thing that we enjoyed was going to our local butcher and seeing what seasonable meats were available. We are fortunate that have a butcher in our home town that does the same, so we went there a couple of weeks ago and we were able to get some Linguica sausage. It is a spicy cured sausage from Portugal and we cooked it in a spicy curry and chili sauce. We made more sauce than we needed for the sausages and plan to use it on some other things as well. It was simple, delicious, and definitely registered on the spicy scale. The sauce would be great with hot dogs, bratwurst, or beef links as well. Although not exactly the same as currywurst, it certainly satisfied that craving.

INGREDIENTS

2 to 4 Sausage Links – Linguica or other style
12 oz Beer – something that you would enjoy drinking
1 cup Chili Sauce
1/4 cup Malt Vinegar
2 tbsp Light Brown Sugar
2 tsp Curry Powder
2 tsp Hot Sauce
1 1/2 Onion – thickly sliced
3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Hoagie Rolls

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine the chili sauce, salt and pepper, brown sugar, curry powder, hot sauce, malt vinegar, and beer in a large sauce pan and heat over medium-high heat until it starts to simmer. Continue cooking for another 5 to 7 minutes to reduce the sauce. While the sauce is thickening, brown the sausage in a skillet with 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat, about 4 minutes per side. Remove the sausage and add another tablespoon of olive oil and the onion to the skillet, season with salt and pepper, and cook the onion until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the sausages and onion to the sauce and simmer together just for a couple of minutes just to let the sauce coat the sausage and onion. Butterfly the sausage so that it will lay flat, place on the rolls, and spoon onions and sauce over top.

Beer Braised Bratwurst with Homemade Sauerkraut

On April 18, 2018 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany, Recipes4 Comments

We had several types of sausages during our time in Europe, but bratwurst was one that we had several times. Unlike here in the United States, bratwurst is not served on a bun unless you are getting it at a festival or market, but we enjoy the convenience of eating them on a bun. To try and replicate the experience of eating bratwursts in Germany, we decided to braise our bratwurst in a German pilsner and make our own sauerkraut. Just like cooking with wine, if you are going to braise your bratwurst in beer, be sure to choose one that you like and would drink on its own. Making sauerkraut was surprisingly simple, but if we do it again in the future, we would probably put it in a slow-cooker and cook it even longer than we did for this recipe. We did go to a local butcher to get a high quality bratwurst as that is an important feature of the bratwursts that we ate overseas. Due to the weather, we broiled our bratwurst, but grilling them would certainly be the best. It turned out to be quite simple and delicious.

INGREDIENTS

4 Bratwurst
2 Bottles of Beer (German Pilsner)
3/4 Large White Onion – diced
1 cup Water
1 cup Distilled White Vinegar
1 Head of Cabbage – small, cored and shredded
1/2 tsp Celery Seed
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 1/4 tsp Sea Salt
Ground Pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine the water, vinegar, 2/3 of the diced onion (which is half of the onion diced), cabbage, 3/4 teaspoon sea salt, celery seed, onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, and black pepper in a large saucepan and turn the heat on high. Mix the cabbage until the seasonings are evenly distributed and bring to a boil. Cover with a lid and simmer, stirring frequently, for 30 to 45 minutes and the cabbage is tender. In a medium saucepan, combine the beer and onions and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the bratwurst, red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, and pepper, be sure that the bratwurst are completely covered with liquid. Simmer the bratwurst for 10 to 15 minutes to allow them to absorb the flavor. Grill or broil the bratwurst for about 5 minutes per side and the skin is evenly browned. Serve on buns with Dijon or spicy brown mustard and sauerkraut.