I have a small confession to make, I really like summer bratwurst on the grill. The way you cook them on the grill is part of the fun. Standing over ‘em turning them so all sides get that deep
YUMMM
brown color. The sizzle as one breaks open…the resulting fire that you douse with your beer …you get the idea. The cook out is as pleasurable as the food. It’s even
better when you add friends and family.
So this year, as summer arrives, I am looking forward to a summer full of cook-outs. Unfortunately, though, I have been
advised to lower my fat intake. So the other night I found Chicken and Apple Bratwurst by Schnucks. I talked to one of the folks working in the meat department and was told they make the sausages from skinless thigh meat. They add the chopped up apple and spices so the exact nutritional info is not known. The closest we could come up with was the chicken brat has 50% less fat and about 200 calories per sausage. A regular brat has about 26g of fat and 283 calories. The chicken brats cook much leaner. I cooked up some regular pork brats at the same time and the difference in how they snapped and crackled over the flame was quite noticeable.
As far as taste goes, the wife and kids didn’t like the taste or the smell but I thought they were pretty good. I think what they didn’t like was that it was different. They don’t smell like a brat should smell. They have a sweet cinnamon smell. The first bite is a bit of a surprise. There is a distinct cinnamon and apple flavor. But after the first bite your taste buds settle in for what turned out to be a flavorful sausage.
I’ll be stocking up on Schnuck’s chicken and apple brats this summer. I won’t stop cooking the pork brats because that’s what the family likes but for my own health I’ll enjoy the chicken sausage just as much.
