Brats and sausages question

[Cicada]

My cousin opened a new locker plant in the area and is looking for ideas for flavored meats. I threw out cheddar brats, jalapeno brats, and wild rice brats. Any other favorites he can or should consider?

[reinhard1]

polish and italian are popular also along with the standard breakfast sausage. if he will do venison seasonaly he should have summer, thuringer, and salami for sure.

along with the smoked version of brats, italian,polish, kielbasa. just depends how much he will be getting into as far as making sausage and he will have a service case or not. good luck.

[thirdeye]

I guess he is only limited to his imagination, and how much he wants to invest in equipment. A meat grinder and stuffer can go a long way in making fresh sausages and also bulk sausage (like breakfast varieties, or things like Italian that folks would use in sauces or soups). If he went one step further and got a smoker, he could offer more varieties of sausage as well as selling smoked pork chops, ham steaks and even pastrami. Jerky is a big seller in some meat shops too. If he moves into Charcuterie (dry cured meats, and more), that might appeal to a different crowd.

As far a flavors of sausages, a quick look at the Johnsonville HSOforum will show you what flavors their research has found to be top sellers, and there are some interesting combinations. On the other hand, Usingers promotes more traditional sausage flavors and European style of wursts. I guess in a round-a-bout way, look at what other shops are selling and take a lead from them.

Here is a site I located with a Google search. they have quite a selection and variety. Click the "sausage" link on the top information bar, then hang on to your tastebuds....Heheheee.

http://belmontbutchery.com/

[LABS4ME]

Along with all the regular sausages I've made, I'm always trying out new combinations...

I make alot of pizza brats, awesome! did cranberry - wild rice brats and breakfast sausage which were good, saurkraut and chedder brats... tastey. Jalepeno/sundried tomato/cheddar brats were good...

For pheasant (he could do chicken thighs and I'm gonna try it with venison too) I make an outstanding fajita brat and i've done pheasant italian saugsages with a little marinara and high temp mozz. and trying to perfect a pheasant cordon bleu sausage that twice has been only OK. I'll get it, just need a little more work. Made BBQ bacon-cheddar brats with venison too... they were good, but the patties are much better.

Let us know when he is up and running and the name of the plant. We hunt in Ottertail county by Perham and some of the guys are looking for a new processor as the stuff that got back last year from a local was ho-hum...

Good Luck!

Ken

[RK]

Cicada -

Pretty excited Jason is starting the shop up. I have fond memories of going in to "Dave and Ted's" when I was a kid.

A couple brat ideas:

- Dill pickle brats, and apple brats. Both are exceptional. Love wild rice brats too so good call on that one.

For sausage:

- have him figure out a good Andouille so I don't have to hunt all over for it when I want to make gumbo...

- Swedish potato sausage. Should go over good with all the Swedes up in PR

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[reinhard1]

swedish potato sausage is a good money maker. good luck.

[leech~~]

Man there use to be a guy up in Silver or Beaver Bay? That was just crazy with the Brats and Sausages. He must of had like 30 different kinds and they were great! Not sure what ever happened to him? I just remember his mixing table that looked like some mad scientist worked there with like 50 cans and jars of spices on and around it! Oh as Rein would say. Good Luck!

[OnAFly]

I guy down here does gummy bear brats. They are kind of a novelty, but they get attention that's for sure.

[reinhard1]

i dont know about gummy bear brats, but the dill pickle brats sound like something i might try with a small batch to see how it goes. but i could be wrong about gummy bears also, it's sausage after all. good luck.

[reinhard1]

sounds like my kind of sausage head. good luck.

[OnAFly]

I didn't think they'd be any good either until I tried them. They were good, kind of a sweet/salty thing going. They got the shops name in the local paper, so I'm sure id got a few customers for him.

[CAMAN]

I've had Cranberry and Blueberry-Cheddar beef sticks, they were AWESOME!! No reason I can see why they wouldn't work for a sausage or brat.

[Alagnak]

Not sure if this one was mentioned or not. 3 years ago I tried a mushroom/swiss spice mix for 25# batch of brats and loved it so much I've made it 3-4 times since. It's got dehydrated shrooms in the spices but I add a few cans of them plus about 3# of swiss cheese. I usually mince up a few onions too since like them as well. They're great.

[hockeybc69]

Check out the brat selection at McDonalds meats in Clear Lake and copy all their ideas.

[CAMAN]

Just a few ideas I thought of -

Garlic or maybe Onion/garlic- Just plain awesome!

Sauerkraut - Hey why not?

Bacon - Again, why not?!?

Hawaiian - Pineapple, ham, and maybe even cherries?

4-alarm - Gotta have some hot stuff!!

Mango Habanaro - Again hot, but with a sweet flavor. My absolute favorite flavor at Buffalo Wild Wings!

Cajun - Mmmmmm...

Dijon Mustard - Sounds good

Buffalo - The sauce, not bison

Bleu Cheese - Might have to think of something else to add in that compliments it though

Jamaican Jerk -

Now I must stop because am now hungry, but could probably go on forever!

Good luck to your cousin!

[MuleShack]

For sausage:

- have him figure out a good Andouille so I don't have to hunt all over for it when I want to make gumbo...

Everything that I like was already mentioned, but I stock up on the Andouille from Kramarchuk's in Minneapolis. We use them with scrambled eggs for breakfast.

Some other favs are the cheddar beef sticks and the jalepeno beef sticks. the Thuringer is a must for snacking with cheese and crackers.

[Cicada]

Thanks guys for the input. He and his partner have been working their butts off and soon will have the fresh meat case filled, hopefully with a suggestion or two from you guys. RK, Ted has passed away, but Dave will be there from time to time along with my dad helping them along. Kind of funny to see Dave wanting to crack the whip again, but this time Jason has the whip. Over time, Jason will learn how to use it too. Reinhard1, I let him know that you have lots of experience in retail meat sales and he should take you words to heart. LABS4ME, they would be happy to serve you and your crew next fall, or even now if you have a desire to try them to get a taste of their work. They are called Heart O' Lakes Quality Meats in Pelican Rapids. Again, thanks for the suggestions and I will check back to see if anyone else has more great ideas.

[Mid-Lake Rock]

I also enjoy the gummy bear brats. My favorite from that shop is the bloody mary brat. Spicy, tangy and stuffed with green olives. Yum!

[reinhard1]

i would be willing to help with anything i can. if they have questions you can PM me and i will give you my number. i may not know everything but i have dealt with retail for 35 years and maby even one idea could help. sounds like good people. good luck.

[MNfan]

Where are they located in Pelican? Not the old locker plant. I will need to stop in I love a good locker plant!!!!

[Cicada]

They are in the industrial park on the north side of town. If you're coming in on Cty 9, turn right after the golf course and look for a red building on the left.

[toughguy]

wild rice with blue berry or cranberry = awesome. shroom and swiss are good too.

[Cicada]

Some bad news, especially for those in our area that had a chance to try some of Jason's sausages. There has been a fire. It started from one of the smokers and gutted the building. Jason, or Heart O Lakes Quality Meats, will be down, but not out. He plans on rebuilding the business. So tough since he really had it running smoothly and the locals were being very supportive.