Go to the Recipe: Grilled Sous Vide Sausages
I made a major mistake when trying this recipe this weekend. I went to the local Whole Foods and I asked for several different types of sausages. I cooked them with the Joule and then realized I've got chicken and pork sausages cooking together. What ended up happening was the chicken or pork (couldn't tell which one) was uncooked and could have got my family sick. I have another bag I hasn't cooked yet that I'll probably end up cooking on my grill instead. Perhaps the recipe needs to note "only cook pork sausage"? Maybe I did something wrong and it's safe to cook any type of sausage?
Hey Rob, sorry to hear some of your sausages didn't turn out. We tested this time and temperature (80 °C for 20 minutes) with all types of sausages, including pork and chicken, and you should be just fine cooking any sausage of standard thickness with this recipe.
I was just about to ask about cooking chicken (dark meat) sausages. The seller said he usually cooks to 160 degrees (internal temp) do you feel the 176 temp will still work?
Since I knew I was going to be grilling all Fourth of July Weekend anyway, I decided to try an experiment. I ordered some of Uli's sausages (a bunch actually, but specifically here I'm using the Men's Room Original Sausages). Last night I just straight-up grilled them, like I've done hundreds of times, along with some Johnsonville sausages as a "control". They were good, really good. Nothing that would make me special order sausages from the other side of the country again though. Tonight I cooked them sous vide as above, but without the onions, beer and broth, just sausages in a bag because I only wanted to test the cooking process. Then I finished them for about 5 minutes total on the grill. All I can say is "wow". I can't remember ever having such a perfect sausage. The casing had an amazing snap, and the inside was ridiculously juicy. I didn't think it was possible without being undercooked. Because they weren't on the grill long, the casings didn't split, and none of the fat ran out onto the coals to cause a flare-up. Absolutely amazing, thanks ChefSteps! I'll be sending you my future sausage shipping bills
The Johnsonville sausages turned out way, way better as well, FYI.
I made some sausages last week using Uli's methods and recipe. I cooked some raw in a hot skillet, and I scalded/simmered some (both with and without a final pan sear) in just water on the stovetop to test the differences. It was just too cold to go out to the grill that day. All were delicious, with subtle differences that weren't negligible but not the point of my post. I would like to try to cook them sous vide with Joule as discussed here, but I was wondering if anyone has ever used an immersion circulator (Joule or another) with the food directly in the flavoring liquid? There seems to be a variety of opinion on whether the food and "flavoring liquid" always needs to stay separate from the "heating/cooking liquid (i.e. water)." If the flavoring liquids are mostly water anyway, why not just heat that liquid? I realize this is certainly not advised for most foods like steaks, etc., but sausages seem ideal for this. The specific reason I ask, is that if I'm going to grind sausages from 1-2 pork butts for a large gathering of people, I would have to prepare a lots and lots of bags with individually portioned stock, onions, beer, sausages. It might just be easier to use a very large stock pot or cooler filled with the cooking/flavoring liquid and add the sausages and immersion circulator directly into the pot. This is essentially what most people do with beer brats, but this would have the added benefit of fine temperature control with the Joule as opposed to having to regulate the temperature of the large stock pot via on the stovetop or an outdoor propane burner.
I should have pointed out that I did see the brats in beer bath technique by Chefsteps, but again just seeing if anyone has experience with putting immersion circulators in liquids that have fats, sugars, etc. all mixed in to the mix. Thanks!
Just made Johnsonville branded Original Bratwursts while following the directions above and finished searing them on a hot grill for about 10 seconds on each side for even better color and flavor. They were the best bratwurst I have tasted by far in my life hands down! I highly recommend this recipe to all!
What brand of curry sauce is pictured (or do you recommend) to have them German currywurst style? Love and appreciate everything you guys do! Thank you.
You should definitely not do that. Immersion circulators are designed to operate in water, not soup (or whatever).
Nice approach, the flavours were well balanced and subtle additions to the sausage. Paired them with your suggested warm potato salad for a very mellow flavoured evening meal.
Thomas Keller uses beurre monté in his circulator baths to poach lobster. I have never tested it myself but I guess it’s possible.
Maybe bad brats from Whole Foods? Brats had no flavor, as if all the fat and flavor had drained out of the brat.
