BRAT info
Bratwurst (literally "Fried Sausage" in German), a pork sausage with just the
right grind, consistency, herbs/spices, and fat content, was popularized in Wisconsin in
the last century by a large German immigrant population. Although found
extensively in Wiscsonsin, it is not so easy to find in Germany, despite the
many, many varieties of sausage they do have.
While bratwurst can be found everywhere in the US now,
when the Fest first started in 1979, it was nearly
impossible to find them anywhere in Tucson (this was part of
the motivation for starting the Fest, after all). Indeed,
we feel that we had no small part in bringing the
poplularity of bratwurst to the Southwestern US.
There are now many brands and styles of bratwurst
that can be had. They range from good to so-so to
quite poor. Brats for the first Fest were made
by a local Tucson butcher shop, Dreher's (long ago closed).
The Johnsonville brats below were not available in Tucson
until much later.
We highly recommend the following,
after several extensive taste-tests among leading
brands and locally made sausages:
JOHNSONVILLE BEER BRAT (uncooked)
These scored as number the one rated, by far, in
all of our blind taste tests. Johnsonville
Original Brat, popular with brat eaters
for years, scored only at around #4 on our list
of some 8 samples. The beer brat has beer
mixed into the sausage, along with the
normal herbs/spices during production. It results
in an extremely tasty and moist final product.
This is an authentic Wisconsin brat.
An interesting story of bratwurst can be found here,
if you have a few minutes to spare:
A Bratwurst Story
(again, right-click to open in new window)
Finally, we note that veggie sausages have improved substantially recently.
They are worthy of consideeration given the effects of normal sausage
consumption on our own health, the future of the planet, and on
the welfare of animals. We can no longer entirely ignore our
responsibilities.