Johnsonville bratwurst gives me a headache.
The reason? Johnsonville brats are made with MSG (monosodium glutamate), evidently to help preserve the product for national distribution.
Back in the day in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, we never bought Johnsonville, and rarely many of the other local brands available in Sheboygan. We bought a smaller brat available from Luedke's Meat Market, which started way back in 1917 if my information is correct. It was our meat market of choice for sausages of all kinds in the 1960s and beyond, including Sommer Sausage, mit oder mitout (with or without garlic -- a little Sheboyganese German-American lingo there). The brat fit perfectly in half a semel roll, a light airy hard roll I've never seen anywhere else. The Luedke brat was also preferred because it was NOT a pure pork brat, but a pork and beef mixture. Better flavor and texture.
At any rate, I've found a grocery store brand brat without MSG for tonight's nod to Oktoberfest, at which I'll be drinking . . . Bud Light Platinum!
Sie Lebe Hoch!
