In the beginning there was Knockwurst

So I was hoping my first post would have a little tidbit about bacon and something about "The Beast" which I'll tell you now is my knife. Unfortunately I can't get a good photograph of it right now so that will have to be another post. Also seeing as this is my first post I'm not really sure how i want to structure this blog so I wont feel bad about rambling on and on: as a result you'll just have to bear with me.

I work at The Boston Cheese Cellar, in Roslindale Village in Boston MA, which is the greatest cheese shop in all the land... well, we're at least working towards it. I got the job because my friend Nick's parents opened it at the end of 2006 and said "Hey Ben is awesome (and broke); let's get him to work for us!" Except some of those statements may have been falsified. Anyway. Yesterday Nick and his dad made a trip to Karl's Sausage Kitchen in Saugus: I couldn't go but I was at least brought 4 beautiful knockwurst(s) [I'm not quite sure how to pluralize the word].

I didn't have the knockwurst last night because I had the apartment to myself and my girlfriend was away which meant it was my annual "Garlic chili steak and bottle of pinot grigio Batman Begins night. " I know what you might be thinking "steak with white wine? a whole bottle? Batman is awesome!" And yes to all. If the steak is spicy enough it goes great with the sweetness of the wine, and it's the only wine I can drink a whole bottle of and nothing makes Batman Begins more fun to watch than a whole bottle of wine. Anyway, a full post about all that another time.

Back to the post at hand. I decided if I was going to do these amazing knockwurst any justice, I'd have to cook them in at least a remotely German way. I picked up a large bottle of beer and some brussel sprouts.. now i know i should have used peppers and apples and sauerkraut but I wasn't in the mood for the sour and sweetness and I'm in the midst of a brussel sprouts kick.

For the beer I used Hennepin from the Ommegang brewry in New York. I know this is a Belgian style beer but it was the best choice considering i had to get it from the market, because all the liqour stores in Massachusetts close at 6pm on Sunday because it's a damn puritan state that doesn't want me to have my booze.

To the point.

I pulled out my trusty cast iron skillet (a nice 12 incher) and put it on medium-high heat. Once it was heated up I added about 1 tablespoon of butter, melted it to coat the pan and threw on 2 knockwurst.

While that was going I washed the sprouts, pulling off the outermost leaves, and cut them into quarters.

Once the knockwurst were nicely browned on the sides I melted 2 more tablespoons of butter in the pan and threw in the quartered sprouts and sauteed them, adding a couple pinches of salt, until then were browned a bit.

Then came the fun part: I opened up the beer and poured it into the pan until it was up to about a half an inch, threw on a cover and poured myself a glass.

About 10 minutes later, plus plating, I had this:




















The knockwurst was fantastic and the sprouts were amazing. The only thing I might have changed was cooking it for a little longer. Maybe 3 more minutes browning the knockwurst and 5 more cooking in the beer, but that aside it was a perfect meal. And that's all I have to say about that.

Stroud Out.