Bratwurst Burgers

I've got Germany on the brain since my trip.
Though, this is an idea that I got from a trip to Leavenworth Washington, our own little slice of Bavaria close to Seattle. One of our favorite places does a Bratwurst burger, and I love it.  I've been meaning to do one at home for some time.  As I was shopping at Trader Joe's (perhaps a little jet lagged), I threw in my cart some easy ingredients to make this for dinner on Monday night.

As you can see, it was some pretty easy stuff.

I like bratwurst mostly, but sometimes a pure bratwurst sausage is just too rich, however, when you mix in ground pork with it, it's the perfect balance.  You could use ground beef, but really, I like the pork is much nicer. 

Trader Joe's had nice big buns for 99 cents each, but Costco has the big bags of small pretzel buns for a very good price if you want to make sliders for a party, or a game.

Makes 4-6 burgers, or about 16 sliders (2 oz each)
Ingredients

1 lb ground pork
1 lb bratwurst, remove casings
Pretzel buns, enough for desired number of burgers, or sliders
Sliced cheddar
Braised red cabbage, sweet & tangy
Or, Sauerkraut
German mustard

I was at Trader Joe's and saw this red cabbage slaw and thought why not saute this up and make a sweet & sour red cabbage for our burgers? 

Saute up the cabbage with 1 Tbsp of oil, 1 sliced small onion, and 2 Tbsp of vinegar.    Add a teaspoon of sugar, if desired.  Saute over medium heat for about 20 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Mix the pound of ground pork with the pound of bratwurst (casings removed) and mix well.  Mix well and shape into patties that fit to your buns.  Make them a bit bigger, as they will most likely shrink by about 10%.  I ground some pepper over the top of each patty and fried over medium high heat until done. I used cast iron skillet on medium high to give them a crisp crust.

Add a slice of cheese and add to a mustard smeared bun, top with cabbage and serve.
Delicious!


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