Beef Brat Help

grinnell-locker

I have a customer wanting to have us private label some 100% beef brats. This isn’t something we have done too much of and it seems when we do the texture is off. Any tips or processes on making 100% beef products?

processhead

Can you describe how exactly the texture is off?

grinnell-locker

It is dry and crumbly. They also seem to shrink significantly when cooked.

processhead

What was your lean/fat ratio for the meat? Anything else you can tell us about your process?

grinnell-locker

processhead
80/20. We grind 3/8 then we add seasoning and water, it is then mixed in mixer then ground out 1/8" plate. Then stuffed in collagen casing.

processhead

For a bratwurst, my personal preference would be to up the fat to 30%.

grinnell-locker

processhead Okay. Would you add any binders or anything like that?

processhead

grinnell-locker The extra fat might be enough, but a binder could help if you have trouble getting a good bind. If you are still doing smaller test batches you could try one with and one without and note the difference. If this is a fresh brat, carrot fiber might be a good choice of binders.

How many minutes are you mixing in your mixer?

Dave in AZ

grinnell-locker
My 1st guess is like processhead , not enough fat… I’ve made 80/20 ground beef fresh stuff like meatballs, which is a fresh brat without casing, and that is always too dry as is. Adding egg and bread crumbs with 10% milk (all 3 are binders) improves texture 100%, and fat can only help–so I’d guess not enough fat or binder.

The two producers I know who focus on all beef sausage, though not “brats”, (and have talked about texture issues) are Kreuz Market and Smitty’s in Lockhart TX. This is smoked BBQ sausage, not a fresh"brat". However, both have talked about a dry crumbly texture on 100% beef, without a good binder. They use something called Bull flour, which is wheat, corn, rye, oats, and rice flours all finely ground. I made some, 20% each, and it worked fantastic as a binder for beef. I used 2%, but had to add extra water, so 1% would be great. It was undetectable flavor wise, but retained almost 100% of fat during 7 hr smoke/cook.

Your supplied info is sparse, do you really mean a replication of like a Wisconsin beer brat fresh sausage, but all beef? Asking because the two most common all beef sausages are kosher hot dogs (cured, smoked, emulsified), and TX BBQ sausage hot links (cured, smoked, hard mix with 8mm grind).

You have to mix beef to a strong extraction, or you get exactly what you always get with a gentle mix of 80/20 beef: a hamburger patty which falls apart on biting and loses most of it’s fat into the pan or grill.

Departing Contestant

with beef fat you always want to use stomach fat, not side fat. Beef will hold more water. Beef fat it is more chewy, and melts at a higher temperature (which isn’t a problem in a brat) fat content should be 30%

Skinny

Departing Contestant said in Beef Brat Help:

with beef fat you always want to use stomach fat, not side fat. Beef will hold more water. Beef fat it is more chewy, and melts at a higher temperature (which isn’t a problem in a brat) fat content should be 30%

calldoctoday

grinnell-locker Do you have at least 30% hard fat in it? I have even used more when the occasion presented it, I thought unfortunately, & it turned out great. You did not use any ECA in it did you? We like to add about 1 oz of some liquid per pound of meat.

calldoctoday

grinnell-locker For brats we do not even reduce the plate for the second grind, just do the second grind with the same 3/8" plate & it is perfect.