Marczyk Bratwursts: A Photo Essay
In the long, illustrious history of the photo essay, none has ever been done on the bratwurst, and more specifically, on the bratwursts that we make. In this soon-to-win-a-Pulitzer photo essay we'll show you a very tasty way to make beer brats.
(1) All bratwursts must start out raw. If they don't, something very strange is going on and you should avoid them. The raw brats shown above were made in our 17th Ave store. We grind Niman Ranch pork in-house, which is then immediately spiced and herbed and stuffed into casings, all by hand. Each bratwurst is 1/3 pound, give or take a couple fractions of an ounce. (We arranged the bratwursts in this photo alphabetically.)
(2) Pour two or more cans of beer into a skillet. (We used Diebolt's Anton Francois Amber Ale, which we're also using to make our September artisan bread — more on that later.) Bring to a boil and add sliced onions (you'll want plenty of onions), red pepper flakes and garlic powder.
(3) Add the brats and let them cook in the boiling beer for 15 minutes, turning them midway, then remove. And for the love of Charles Dickens, hold on to the onions — remove them with a slotted spoon and save them in a bowl. (At this point you may be wishing that you could be in a hot tub full of beer, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, onions, and bratwursts; we want to assure you — that's completely normal.)
(4) Give them a good sear on the grill, under the broiler, or in a skillet. Cook them just long enough to give them a nice roasty color. (A skillet tends to splatter quite a bit, so prepare your defenses accordingly.)
(5) Behold the beautiful bratwursts. Behold how moist* they are in the middle. And behold the delicious coloring they acquired.
*many people dislike the word "moist," but you can't say that a bratwurst is damp, clammy, or moisture-laden
(6) Ensconce the bratwursts in some hotdog buns and top them with the onions and your favorite mustard. Sauerkraut is also a viable option, but you may not need it because the onions hold on to a lot of flavor, as determined by Einstein's Onion Equation from 1909:
which is second nature to most of us by now.
Here’s our Artisan Bread for September: Amber Ale ‘Fest Bread
We're calling our September artisan bread Amber Ale 'Fest Bread because it's our version of an Oktoberfest bread and we get to shorten a word with an apostrophe. There is just water, yeast, beer (Diebolt's Anton Francois Amber Ale — lightly malty and fruity), and wheat flour in this bread. We finish it with roasted bulgur wheat nibs — roasted barley is more traditional with breads of this sort, but roasted bulgur is a bit different and provides a lovely toasty flavor.
"We're building the bread around the flavors in the beer," says Jamey Fader, Marczyk's Culinary Director. "Our yeasts hereabouts tend to be more floral, unlike those on the West Coast with their strong 'yeastiness' impact — think San Francisco sourdough. We want our bread to have that floral, light yeasty thing." Which Dieboldt's Anton Francois just happens to have. (Eating our bratwursts on this bread would be a wonderful thing.)