Thursday, June 5, 2008

Brats in the Oven

I love to grill, but without the necessary equipment, e.g. a grill, you have to come up with other ways to make some good food that is normally cooked on the grill. I am a huge fan of sausage, be it smoked, Polish, Italian, bratwurst, etc. I picked up two packages of brats, one beer and one Italian mild, along with some white onion, bell pepper, shredded kraut, pickled jalapeƱos. Second best way to cook sausage is wrap it in foil and bake it. Here is my take on oven-cooked brats.

Bratwurst of your choice (4-5 links)
1/2 can sauerkraut (or freshly made, somewhere between 1-2 cups, according to your liking)
3/4 cup white onion, chopped
1/2 cup bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup jalapeƱos, sliced

Preheat oven to 360-375, depending on how long you want to cook and how juicy you want the brats. I started about 350 and ended up around 400 just to get a idea of where to place it in the future. It took me about 30-40 minutes to cook under 350, and I cooked a few more minutes at 375 and 400. I would suggest about 25 minutes at 375 and 30-35 minutes at 360.

Lay out a big enough piece of aluminum foil to wrap the brats and other ingredients on a cookie sheet or baking pan. Place brats about two inches apart on the foil, and garnish ingredients over the brats, and wrap foil on top, leaving just a small vent at the top. Salt and pepper if you'd like. Place in oven after preheated.

Check after about 25 minutes to see if meat is a paler color than before. The casing, depending on what kind of brat you got, should be a white color or something lighter than the uncooked brat. the inside should be a very pale color throughout when cooking in completed.

I didn't need any additional ingredient, such as spicy brown mustard, ketchup, etc. I placed it in a bun, and enjoyed some of the juiciest, robust, and flavorful brats I have had in a while.

Luckily, I now have a grill I can cook my remaining brats on. I am also going to grill the onion and bell pepper, and warm the kraut over the grill, along with roasting me some beer brats.

3 comments:

Rosa Agustina said...

Thank you very much for sharing this recipe online. Made it tonight and then grilled on George Foreman without any drying. It was a hit!

Unknown said...

I enjoyed this recipe, I actually just boiled mine first and then baked them for 30min along with vegs & it turned out great.

DiLina said...

Discover how long to boil brats when you're cooking up your next batch of delicious beer brats.