Grilled Brats and Beer Recipe

10

Ingredients

4 4 1/2-inch onions, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
3 3 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
Pepper
2 2 2 (12-ounce) beers (see note
2/3 2/3 2/3 cup Dijon mustard
1 1 1 teaspoon sugar
1 1 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
10 10 10 bratwurst sausages
10 10 10 (6-inch) sub rolls

Preparation

Step 1

Recipes for the Midwest’s favorite tailgating dish sound foolproof, but our first attempts resulted in gray, soggy sausages and bland onions floating in hot beer. To perfect our Grilled Brats and Beer recipe, we browned the sausages first over medium-high to give them a good color and seared flavor. Braising after grilling made the brats soggy, so we threw them back on the grill for a final crisping after braising. Searing the onions first added serious flavor to the beer and onion mixture. We reduced the beer and onion mixture with yellow mustard, which lent brightness and body to the liquid and sauce.

Serves 10

Turn all burners to medium-high and heat, covered, for 15 minutes. (For charcoal grill, arrange 50 coals over bottom of grill. Light 100 coals; when covered with fine gray ash, pour evenly over cold coals. Set cooking grate in place and let heat, covered, with lid vent open completely, for 5 minutes.) Scrape and oil cooking grate. Brush onions with oil and season with pepper. Whisk beer, mustard, sugar, caraway, and 1 teaspoon pepper in 13 by 9-inch disposable aluminum pan.

Arrange disposable pan on one side of grill and grill onions on other side of grill until lightly charred, 6 to 10 minutes. Transfer onions to pan and grill sausages until browned, 6 to 10 minutes. Transfer sausages to pan, cover grill, and simmer until sausages are cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove cooked sausages from pan and grill until lightly charred, about 4 minutes. Transfer sausages to platter and tent with foil.

Continue to simmer beer mixture, with grill covered, until onions are tender and sauce is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Place bratwurst in rolls and spoon on sauce and onions. Serve.

1. Simmer the beer, mustard, and spices in a disposable aluminum pan over one side of the grill. Grill the sliced onions on the opposite side.

2. Transfer the grilled onions to the simmering beer mixture and grill the bratwurst until just browned.

3. Submerge the browned bratwurst in the simmering beer mixture to finish cooking.

4. Once the sausages are cooked through, return them to the grill to crisp up while the beer mixture finishes reducing.

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