| Gourmet Sausages
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Originally
posted: 01/01/2001
Last updated:
01/08/2008 |
Dittmer's Gourmet Meats
& Wurst-Haus is a small German butcher shop and delicatessen in
Mountain View, CA. Dittmer Bubert learned the sausage trade in Hamburg,
Germany when he was 14 years old. At 19, he immigrated to Canada where he
worked in a variety of meat processing plants and learned a great deal
about ethnic meat specialties.In 1978, Dittmer bought a
small gourmet meat shop in Mountain View and began producing a selection
of over 40 fresh and smoked sausages, many of which are consistent award
winners with the California Association of Meat Processors.
Here are some pictures I
took when I smoked a variety of Dittmer's fresh
sausages on the Weber Bullet. You can smoke any type of fresh sausages available at your local
supermarket or
gourmet meat market.
As
always...click on any of the pictures to
view a larger image.
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So Many Sausages...So
Little Time
With so many varieties of
fresh sausage to choose from, it's hard to decide what to buy when you
visit Dittmer's. I decided on five varieties:
- Sheboygan brats
- Cajun-style sausage
- French wine sausage
- Chicken
with portobello mushroom sausage
- German bratwurst.
All of Dittmer's fresh sausages
are produced using natural animal casings and require no preparation or
parboiling before going into the cooker. Couldn't be easier! |
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Fire The Cooker
Fresh sausages can be
cooked pretty much any way you like in the WSM. You can throw them in a
"low & slow" cooker along with chicken and ribs, or you can cook them
quickly over high heat.
If cooking sausages by
themselves, just light a full Weber chimney starter
of Kingsford charcoal briquettes. When they're good and hot, spread them
out in the charcoal chamber, assemble the cooker with the empty water
pan in place, and arrange the sausages on the top cooking grate.
Set the lid vent and
the three bottom vents 100% open and leave them that way throughout the
cooking process.
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Select The Smoke
Wood
Place 1-2 small chunks
(2" x 2" x 1") of mild smoke wood on the hot coals. The wood does not
need to be soaked in water before use.
I used apple wood with my
sausages, but any mild fruit wood will work great. |
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Barbecue The Sausages
Fresh sausages cook quickly,
and cooking times will vary depending upon how hot the cooker runs and how many
sausages you're cooking.
Dittmer's says to cook their
sausages to an internal temperature of 155°F. If cooking over high heat, start
checking the meat temperature after about 20 minutes with an
instant-read thermometer. If cooking "low & slow",
cooking time will be about two hours, so start checking internal temp after
about 60 minutes just to be safe.
It's not necessary to turn or baste the sausages
during cooking.
When the sausages reach
155-160°F, remove them from the cooker, cover with foil, and let rest for
just a few minutes before serving.
You may notice in these photos
that I used colored toothpicks to keep track of each sausage variety during
cooking.
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Dittmer's Makes The Best Wurst!
Slice the sausages on the bias
and serve them with a variety
of specialty mustards as an appetizer, or serve them whole as part of a full
meal. Put leftover sausage on a good quality toasted roll along with your
favorite fixings for a fantastic sausage sandwich.
My cooking log noted that the
sausages looked just right—plump and juicy, not overcooked—and the apple wood
added a nice smoky aroma and flavor.
Don't be discouraged if you
don't have a Dittmer's in your neck of the woods. Check better grocery
stores and meat markets to see what products are available in your area. Also, check the Yellow Pages under "Meat-Retail" for
local sausage producers near you.
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