VERONICA HINKE

author • speaker • journalist • coach

Recipes & Food Styling

Spaten Beer-Soaked Brats

The secret to perfect bratwurst? You have to “poke ’em & soak ’em!” in two bottles of Spaten beer at least overnight. Poke a fork into each bratwurst four times to make holes so the beer can seep in to work its magic.

Titanic First Class passenger Adolphe Saalfeld wrote home to his wife Gertrude about the spaten beer he drank with his first lunch aboard the Titanic: “Washed down,” he told Gertrude, “with a Spaten beer, iced.”

Get into the fall spirit & use a beer like Oktoberfest Spaten!

The other golden rule of bratwurst is to cook them in a GOOD sauerkraut. You can grill them a bit first if you want grill marks, but they should finish cooking in the oven, nestled in a bed of fresh pickled kraut and slivered red onions. My mom swore by Frank’s Bavarian Kraut, rinsed, but this year I could not resist a new variety I stumbled on: “Stimulus Package” kraut by The Brinery! Wunderbar!

Spaten Beer-Soaked Bratwurst & Sauerkraut

(4 Bratwurst)

Poke fork into each bratwurst four times and pour two bottles of beer over bratwurst. Set in fridge overnight.

Arrange sauerkraut and thinly sliced red onion in bottom of roasting pan; place bratwurst on top.

Pour the beer used for soaking over the bratwurst and sauerkraut in a roasting pan. Sprinkle fresh chopped terragon over all.

Cover roasting pan with lid and cook at 375 for 45 minutes.