Grillin: Sausage and Sauerkraut

A while back, there was a a Food Lab on Serious Eats about the best way to grill sausages. It was surprisingly interesting. Before, I would just toss the sausages on a hot grill, flip them a couple times, bring them in and call it good. Of course they would crack, explode, cause the grill to flare up, and shrivel the minute they came off the grill, but I thought that was how it goes. Turns out, it is not, and there are much better ways to grill sausages. I highly recommend checking the article out.

The best way, it turns out, to grill a sausage is to actually poach it first, then finish it off on the grill. This cooks the sausage through, and also gets nice grill marks and smokiness. Sure, it is a bit more complicated than breaking a styrofoam container open and tossing them on the grill, but the results are incredible.





















Now, there are some really fancy sausages available at the fancy-pants grocery store, but those tend to be hit and miss. So for this time, I decided to just go with some tried and true sausage from a BBQ joint in a small town near Austin. I also would have been totally fine with getting Johnsonville brats. Seriously, they are really good, and always consistent. Better then throwing the bones with fancy and custom sausage.

In addition to the sausage, I got a 3 pack of those aluminum trays. I think they were 9" x 9". I figured if the results were good, I would try it again, so might as well get a few aluminum trays.

Lastly, instead of trying anything fancy with the kraut, I got the Del Monte brand. It is always decent, and I fear that if I bought a jar, I would OD. Love of sauerkraut is my only flaw, I think.

Oh, yeah, of course beer would be involved, so I procured myself a 4-pack of Shift. A nice lager is always a welcome addition to sauerkraut and bratwurst. One for them and four for me.

Grilled Sausage and Sauerkraut

1/2 yellow onion
1 can sauerkraut
6 sausages (unless you get a bigger aluminum tray)
1 9x9 aluminum tray
dash of caraway seeds
1 cup of lager
salt and pepper

Start off by chopping the union into split rings. Well, you could just roughly chop it if you want: I just prefer a larger piece of onion. Spray some nonstick on the aluminum tray, and dump in the sauerkraut. Toss in the chopped onion, and dash in the caraway seeds, and season with salt and pepper. Give the mixture a good stir and add the sausages.

Heat the grill to medium, and once hot, stick the tray on to one side. Let the liquid come to a boil, and turn over the sausages. After about ten more minutes, turn them again. Twenty minutes after you put them on, they should be almost done. Take the sausages, and place them on the unused side of the grill, and let cook for about 2 minutes per side, or just until they develop a nice char. Once they are done to your liking (use a meat thermometer), return them to the pan and remove from the grill. Now, removing from the grill is really easier said than done. I barely made it to the door without dumping everything on the ground for the dog. I suggest taking some oven mitts and a cookie sheet out with you.

Serve with something delicious like mac and cheese. The sausages should stay plump, be cooked through and have very nice grill marks. Next time, I am making Italian sausage with peppers on a roll.