Cooking with the Bubba: Usually a series of original recipes #30- Home made Bratwurst

In breaking from our normal content, cooking, here's a classic recipe for making your own fresh Bratwurst. With the shrinking number of old world German butcher shops, the real thing is hard to come by, so why not make your own?

Ingredients (for 12 to 15 wursts): 2 lb lean veal, 2 lb lean pork, 1 teaspoons white pepper, 1 1/2 cups milk, 1 1/2 teaspoons mace, 1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs, 1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg, 3 teaspoons salt, hog casings (found at most Italian pork stores—tell the butcher you want to make about 15 sausages.)

Instructions: Cube the meats, mix together, and grind. Add mace, nutmeg, salt and pepper and grind a second time. Using your hands, combine the meat with the bread crumbs. Add the milk and beat with a wooden spoon until light and fluffy. Stuff into pork casings (a grinder with a stuffing attachment really helps here) and tie securely into desired lengths. Not having clean string available, I use dental floss. Unminted, of course.

Cooking: The bratwurst may be fried lightly in butter, but are also delicious dipped in milk and then broiled or grilled over charcoal.

Serve: With potato dumplings and saurkraut or red cabbage, and a nice spicy German mustard with horseradish. HOME