Captain of the Tailgate: Have Some Sausage

Considering this is a Chicago Bears website, it's no surprise when the topic of sausage comes up in various comment threads.  There was a FanPost last year that was discussing Anquan Boldin, and a half day later, the entire thread had become a sausage discussion.  Such occasions are not exactly rare around these parts.

Before I share this recipe with you, I must add a disclaimer:  We are all undoubtedly productive members of society, with friends and family that love us.  As we get older, we should try to maintain our health as much as possible, so please make sure to exercise and eat healthy as much as possible.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way... let me introduce you to a recipe that I have enjoyed on numerous occasions through the years: Bacon-wrapped, cheese-stuffed brats. 

This particular recipe comes from the website tailgating.com, and was shared with them by Carrie in Florida: 

INGREDIENTS
6 cans of Beer
Package of Bratwurst
1 sweet or yellow onion (sliced)
1 Package of bacon (Not-cooked)
1 block of cheddar or Monterey jack cheese (I use the pepper jack) sliced in 3inch long ½ thick chunks
Package of hot dog buns or hoagiesToothpicks

Step 1- Boil Brats and onions in Beer. Drain and let cool

Step 2- Slice Brats open scoop out part of center for room for cheese. Add cheese in and close the Brat.

Step 3- starting on the end toothpick a piece of bacon and then wrap around brat to the other end securing with another toothpick

Step 4- Drain the leftover onion and place in a foil pouch

Step 5- Grill Brats on open rack flipping until bacon becomes fully cooked. (The brats were previously cooked so you just want them to be hot. Add the foil package of onions to the grill to re-heat

Step 6- Serve Brats on Bun with onions and a dab of mustard (optional)

There are a lot of folks out there who are not fans of onions (myself included), but this recipe does not really create too much of an oniony flavor.  I have also done this using cloves of garlic instead of onions, and that works great as well.  Make sure to try this out next time you are firing up the grill, and let us know what you think.  Personally, it's one of my favorites.

Do you have any sausage recipes you'd like to share?  We've got our paper and pens ready to write them down...