Proper German Bratwurst Sausages

Food & Drink, Events and Entertainment
1
Hi All

I live in Valais. I keep trying to find proper German Bratwurst sausages but everything i try just is not the same. I know in Switzerland we have the English shop. Is there an equivalent German on line shop? Can you post meat products? Is there an online retailer in the Swiss German area that sells or even delivers real German Bratwursts to a shop in Valais. Another side question how is the best way to cook proper Bratwursts? Oven / Grill / pan / oil?

Thanks for any help.

2
I'm afraid I don't know if you can find them in Valais but here in Zurich Coop and Denner sell the packaged little Nürnberger Bratwurst. Not the same as fresh from the butcher but quite tasty. You can either fry them in a heavy skillet, like a cast iron one, or put them under the broiler. No extra fat needed for either one. I broil them and add some quartered onions - really good together.

3
No sorry we get the Nurnberger here. I like them but often i have a craving for original proper German Bratwursts.

4
Bell has an outlet here in Basel, sometimes you can buy a pack of these sausages for 2sfr (the best before date is ok, but it will not last very long).

But you can deep freeze them, so problem solved.

5

That you write about VALAIS reveals that you are in the French speaking 66% part of Wallis. Get up to Brig, and ask for a Bratwurscht, and it will be what you wish. You might even make an excursion to Bern or Zürich and get real Bratwurscht, either pork or veal ( Schwins-Bratwurscht or Chalbs-Bratwurscht )

You have to realize the Röschtigrabe

6

I have my doubts about Bratwürschte in the UNTER-Wallis

7
Nürnbergers and Weisswurst seem easy enough to find here in Basel... Not sure what other kind of "Proper German Bratwurst" you are looking for....

8

The ST. GALLER are convinced to have the best Bratwurst of all, what is called ST. GALLER BRATWURST

A rather special one is the Maghrebine variant, the MERGUEZ

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merguez

much spicier than the European sorts, but smaller

the Merguez has conquered France in recent decades

9
I know what you mean, the bratwurst here seem to be a some how watery and the meat to fine and not enough spices/herbs.. and lets not get on to the whole with or without mustard argument!

10
As with burgers you have to make your own, if you want it "proper".

11
Exactly, and from a Swiss point of view, many other bratwursts are way too grainy, fibrous, overly spicy and look like stuffed with vomit.

"Proper," "real" or "decent," when used on food, usually means the way it is where you come from.

As for the mustard, as a St. Galler I have to say that a Bratwurst that needs mustard isn't a "decent" bratwurst, and that's 90% on the Swiss market.

12

A decent Bratwurst only is decent IF combined/combineable with mustard. I even use mustard with Merguez. I also love hard cheese with a strong mustard

13
Replace Bratwurst with Boerewors and you won't regret it one bit ...

14
I disagree.

The best Indian food I have ever had has been in India.

And I don't come from there.

My favourite sausages are French. I don't come from France either.

15
Same for Italian food in Italy.

However, German food is better in the US.

Tom

16
That's exactly why I wrote "usually." Of course there are exceptions. You may love Greek food in the USA, although it bears very little resemblance to food in Greece and you come from Denmark or wherever. Taste is a matter of taste, but there often is a heavy influence of just being used to something.

There are other factors too. When Wolli likes his Bratwurst with mustard, it's because the quality is so poor that the mustard must mask certain by-tastes a St. Galler butcher would never get away with. e.g. too much bacon (cheap) or mace (to mask the bacon taste).

On a "real" St. Galler Bratwurst , mustard would overpower the faint but important nuances that St. Galler butchers spent more than 500 years on to get them right.

Sad thing to say, that "real" kind of St. Galler Bratwurst is very difficult to come by even in St. Gallen City these days. Most of the butchers make them for Olma and the Kinderfest, and the rest of the year they make the crap you can also buy at Migros or Coop. Some of the younger ones can't even make them on those special occasions, but most people don't care because those old farts like me who remember what a "real" Bratwurst should taste like are gradually dying away. And most people prefer Migros and Coop anyway because of somewhat lower prices. That's how skills get lost.

17
I think that's a bit of derogatory comment. Perhaps that's the case for some people but it's not for everyone.

The problem I have with your statement is that I personally can't think of a single example where what you describe is the case.

So, it may be the way you find things but we're not all like that.

18
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bratwurst

With well over 40 different types what do you consider proper ?

There is a little hint in the name

Though the brat in bratwurst described the way the sausages are made, modern Germans associate it with the German verb “braten”, which means to pan fry or roast. [[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bratwurst#cite_note-1) Bratwurst is usually grilled or pan fried , and sometimes cooked in broth or beer.

19
That's exactly why I wrote "often." I didn't write "always." Many people prefer food the way their mom made it. So do I, sometimes. I bet you do it too, sometimes.

For instance, there are EFers who complain about Swiss bread being stale even before it hits the shelves, just because it has a crunchy crust, whereas the typical American supermarket bread is as soft (and tasty) as moist cotton, inside and out. There are people from northern countries that say there's no proper bread in Switzerland because it's way too white. In their book, only rye bread is "proper" bread. Period. There are people from southern countries that say Swiss bread is way too brown. Etc. etc.. Don't even get me going on the "right" pizza, beer, pitta, taco etc..

The entire EF is full of this kind of complaints. Just read around.

Years ago I met people from northern Germany who complained in a Swiss café about the foam on the coffee. They said the staff hadn't cleaned the coffee machine properly (!). They also said the coffee was way too strong, because they were used to so called " Blümchenkaffee ." That term comes from German coffee that's so thin that you can see the little flower decor at the bottom of the Meissen porcelain cup. Of course, people from certain other areas say it's way too weak. Etc. etc..

20
It always bothers me when expats here talk about Bratwursts being German, because in reality, it's just as intrinsically Swiss as German. Now, the most common Swiss brat is the ultra-finely ground veal one (though often cheaper ones contain pork as well), but the pork brats here are pretty much the same as in Germany.