Your Nolechek's Guide to Bratwurst vs Sausage

Bratwurst and sausage often get confused, so we're here to clear the air. It's always good to know the difference, especially if you want to figure out your flavor preference!

Sausage

For starters, what is sausage? Sausage is just a word for minced or ground meat product – whether it’s pork, beef, veal, lamb, chicken, or turkey. The meat is mixed with fat and flavored with salt. Spices, seasonings, and other ingredients are also added for more flavor. There are three primary methods to prepare sausages, each of them having a significant impact on the sausage’s flavor and texture: dried sausage, smoked sausage and fresh sausage. 

FUN FACT: 

• Some of its biggest fans are the Brits, who spend almost 500 million pounds on sausages every year. That’s over 250,000 tons of sausage! 

Bratwurst

On the other hand, a Bratwurst, is a type of link sausage usually made from pork. Some Bratwursts make use of a combination of meats, though, such as pork and beef, pork and veal, and more. Brats get their distinct flavor from fresh marjoram. Other herbs and seasonings such as sage, mace, cumin, nutmeg, coriander, paprika, ginger, cardamom, and caraway may also be added for more flavor. The meat is stuffed in a natural casing and is sold fresh. As such, you need to cook your brats before you eat them.

FUN FACT: 

• Bratwurst meat can either be very fine (fein) or rough (groß). It can also be somewhere in the middle, which is called mittelgroß.

We hope you enjoyed this post on what makes a sausage vs. bratwurst! Be sure to order yours today and get grilling!