Not terribly long ago, I was scrounging for lunch in the fridge. I found a leftover smoked bratwurst and a hoagie roll. Heated up the bratwurst, cut it in half lengthwise, put it on the roll, doused it in BBQ sauce, added some diced onion and some pickle and found it not entirely unlike a McRib. The texture was a bit off, but the seasoning was close. Been thinking about that for a while, so decided to try something.
Got a package of uncooked bratwurst and removed the casings. Divided the 5 links into 2 half pound patties, roughly the size and shape of a hoagie roll.
While I was at it I made some half pound beef burgers.
Then put them on the WSM over kingsford blue and hickory chunks at 275. Took about an hour and a half to come to 155.
Seasoned everything with a little SPOG. Was gonna sear them, but when they came to temp, they looked ok so didn't bother.
I know a lot of you will recoil in horror at a burger at 155, but I have a nearly 90 year old living the house, so have to keep a close eye on things. After a 20 minute rest, everything was at 165, so it was time to build my sandwich.
It wasn't exactly like a McRib, but it was a pretty good sandwich! The flavor of the sausage was just about spot on. The original is essentially a mild sausage seasoned with rosemary essence, and this was pretty close to that. The original uses liquid smoke, this had hickory smoke. Their sauce is sweet and sticky, all I had on hand was a doctored up Carolina mustard sauce which was just fine. The pickles and onions were PERFECT!!
All kidding aside, it was basically a mcrib with the volume turned up to 11. It was bigger with bigger more prominent flavors. If I do it again, which I probably will, I think I'll cut the size in half and use a more middle of the road sauce as well as a milder wood like pecan.
Thanks for looking!
Got a package of uncooked bratwurst and removed the casings. Divided the 5 links into 2 half pound patties, roughly the size and shape of a hoagie roll.
While I was at it I made some half pound beef burgers.
Then put them on the WSM over kingsford blue and hickory chunks at 275. Took about an hour and a half to come to 155.
Seasoned everything with a little SPOG. Was gonna sear them, but when they came to temp, they looked ok so didn't bother.
I know a lot of you will recoil in horror at a burger at 155, but I have a nearly 90 year old living the house, so have to keep a close eye on things. After a 20 minute rest, everything was at 165, so it was time to build my sandwich.
It wasn't exactly like a McRib, but it was a pretty good sandwich! The flavor of the sausage was just about spot on. The original is essentially a mild sausage seasoned with rosemary essence, and this was pretty close to that. The original uses liquid smoke, this had hickory smoke. Their sauce is sweet and sticky, all I had on hand was a doctored up Carolina mustard sauce which was just fine. The pickles and onions were PERFECT!!
All kidding aside, it was basically a mcrib with the volume turned up to 11. It was bigger with bigger more prominent flavors. If I do it again, which I probably will, I think I'll cut the size in half and use a more middle of the road sauce as well as a milder wood like pecan.
Thanks for looking!
