Minnie -- I USED to drink soda (not pop), but I can't yet handle the carbonation in my mouth (nor anything with a lot of pepper and spices). I miss my Mt. Dews and COkes, but then again my body probably doesn't miss all that sugar and caffeine...

I moved from NC to Arizona four years ago, and was surprised that bar-b-cue here WAS NOT pork on a bun, but a noun meaning "a cookout". We had pizza at our first bar-b-cue here!! What is that?!?! Ha ha...

Minnie,

Bratwurst has been known as Wisconsin Soul Food. Check this out:

http://www.bratwurstpages.com/brats.html

As everyone is telling you, it is a very traditional sausage originally made with fresh milk and eggs. Danny Boy has explained how to perfectly cook them and eat them. Brat is German for fry and wurst is sausage so technically they would be called fried sausage although most people grill them after boiling in the great concoction mentioned by Danny Boy.

Having worked in the pork industry for 20 years and living in the midwest for all but the last 5-6 years, I have pounded down more than my share of brats.

It sounds like you have waited longer than the man who grew his jawbone in his back for nine years. It may not be as good as a good pulled-pork sandwich with cole slaw but it is a different kind of good.

Ed

Ok, so I grew up in St. Louis, and Bar-b-que was either pork spare ribs (not baby backs) or pork steaks, cut from I have no idea where on the pig but I've not seen them anyplace else in the country. Royal Crown soda was the cola of choice, they delivered to the door, same as milk, bread, and veggetables. Everything there was grilled if possible, including the bratwurst. I grew up in the Italian section, so our sausage of choice was salsicca (I think i spelled it correctly) or Italian sausage, again grilled, put on pizza, or cooked in your spaghetti sauce.

Washed our dishes in the "zink" watched TV in the "front room" and while sitting on the "couch"

Here, I drink "bing hong cha" (iced lemon tea or "shwei bien" (sprite) or "bing shway" (cold water). While pork is a staple and is very good here, I can't seem to get across to the meat cutter that I don't want the ribs cut into teeny little peices. Shame, I had my gas grill shipped over from the states, fitted it with a huge 20 gallon LP tank, and only used it aobut 5 times in the last 2 years. Makes a nice plant stand.

Bob

Bob,

The pork steak is cut from the Boston Butt which is the shoulder on the pig. Now you know why pig's are so confused having to wear their butt on their shoulder. Probably easier than us wearing our heart on our sleeve. The Japanese take the rib bones out from smaller, leaner hogs and make their bacon with the rib meat too. It is much better than our pure fat belly bacon.

I still get confused and call the living room the front room. We drink bo-bo cha here. Do you know what that is? It has those wierd jelly things in it that you suck right up in the straw. My wife loves it and I have been almost too scared to try it since radiation with that huge ball of chewy flying through the straw.

Ed

In the northwest we have "soda pop" which kind of goes along with our being broad minded. Bratwurst has its own festival here, and I wouldn't miss it.

And Ed, the jaw only grew for 7 weeks, not nine years (grin). But that makes a better story, for sure.

Oh, Boy! A Food discussion! My very favorite thing! Such fun coming here with serious thoughts and having this irreverent group take your mind off your troubles!!
For me, there is nothing like planning a great meal and then buying wonderful things and then cooking them up and serving them to happy, expectant family and friends! Toooo sad that I haven't done that for over a month now
Tom is eating things today, however (happy day) and I pulled out his new propane-fired charcoal grill and seasoned up some nice fat country-style ribs (fancy name for sliced pork shoulder!) to throw on there. Although Tom is my grill-meister, I did a pretty darn good job tonight and HE ATE THEM It really takes so little to make me happy!
Around here we say 'soda' at times, but mostly people identify the drink they want with "Pepsi" or "Coke," etc.

He fell to 138 pounds this week, gang. I'm on a mission to get him back up at least 10 pounds before the next round - - - do you think I could lose my extra pounds like that??? No way!

EVeryone have a good night - or day -
Nicki

Nicki -- Tom and I are both right at 138 (and to think I was at 195 at this time last year)... we should have a contest or something... he who gains the most weight this week, gets another batch of your world famous ribs!!!

This is my third round with chemo, and I think this week the radiation has finally caught up with me as well... Not doing so well on the food front yet -- but hopefully will come around in a day or two... I crave things, just can't quite get the stomach excited about them yet...

Joanna,

Thanks for the clarification. The story in our paper just mentioned he was enjoying the bratwurst for the first time in 9 years! I read your version and it seems they weren't working on the jaw bone the entire time. I guess he should've pushed a little harder for about 8 1/2 years eh?

Ed

One would think, after what I and others have been through, that I would be shock proof, but the picture of that, that THING growing on his back really disturbed me. However, I am happy for him and his bratwurst.