If you have been reading this tailgating blog for any length of time, you know that we we here at Tailgating Ideas love Johnsonville Sausages. Bonus points to you as a reader if you recognize that Brandon is usually the one to blog about Johnsonville and tailgating. We thought we would mix it up a bit and I would pinch hit for Brandon and do a review of tailgating with Johnsonville.
The beauty of the three meal tailgate, you know, breakfast, lunch and dinner all in the parking lot, is rare and magical. Much like a beautiful unicorn gently drinking from a meadow stream, the three meal tailgate is one to behold and cherish but is also elusive. With that in mind, Johnsonville has you covered no matter if you tailgate for just a few hours or all day.
The directions on the package indicate that you can warm them up in the microwave, four at a time for about 30 seconds, and they will be perfectly warmed up and taste just like you took them out of the pan or off the grill. We couldn’t help ourselves and tried a few Johnsonville Fully Cooked Breakfast Sausages at home in the microwave before taking them out to the parking lot. Warming them in the microwave was super convenient and they tasted fantastic. For those tailgaters that have an RV, I would highly suggest grabbing a few packages of the fully cooked versions for your next tailgate that includes a morning meal.
We then moved onto the Johnsonville Original Breakfast Sausages. These we placed directly on the grill and cooked them as if they were smaller and thinner hot dogs. Most people like to fry breakfast sausages in a pan, but when out tailgating, your grill will suffice just fine. Just make sure to grill the sausages lengthwise going across the grill grates and you won’t lose any to a firey death below the grill grates.
These sausages once grilled to perfection were also excellent. Tasted just like the sausages you remember from growing up and the flavor was outstanding. Comfort food at its finest right there in a parking lot. We coupled our breakfast sausages with some scrambled eggs prepared on the Sizzle-Q right on the grill and we were having breakfast while tailgating before we even set up the TV to catch the early NFL games.
Unfortunately, the game we attended was an afternoon kick off so we didn’t get to have a three meal tailgate. A two meal tailgate will have to do as a suitable replacement. The lunch menu was more Johnsonville. This time it was the Johnsonville Bacon and Cheddar Grillers.
If you are unfamiliar with Johnsonville Grillers, I would highly encourage you to read Brandon’s review of the Bacon and Cheddar Grillers and the Mushroom and Swiss Grillers. If you skip those previous reviews, basically Johnsonville Grillers are Johnsonville’s famous brats recipe in the shape of a burger. And with the Grillers, they not only fit nicely on a hamburger bun, but they include additional flavors that would normally be considered a topping.
We went with the bacon and cheddar grillers because, come on, how can you go wrong with either bacon or cheddar? Combine the two into that famous Johnsonville taste, and you have a tailgating goldmine.
The Grillers were, as you might expect, excellent in all ways. Blame it on my German heritage and upbringing, but whenever I have a brat, it needs to be accompanied by either some brown mustard and/or sauerkraut. Or both. At this past tailgate, I went with both.
Sauerkraut and spicy brown mustard can sometimes overpower the flavor of the meat so you need to understand the right portion in order to not let one flavor dominate all the others. We built the perfect Griller and with the very first bite, we could taste the cheddar and bacon coming through. Although coming up with bacon and cheddar to infuse into a burger patty filled with bratwurst borders on genius, we are thankful that someone at Johnsonville came up with it.
All in all, the Johnsonville tailgate was a huge success. The only detractor was that we didn’t have enough time before kick off to enjoy the Johnsonvilles all day and for three meals. After tailgating all day with this grub, we are going to declare the Johnsonville Fully Cooked Breakfast Sausages, the Johnsonville Original Breakfast Sausages and the Johnsonville Bacon and Cheddar Grillers, all “Tailgate Approved”.