In honor of The Statesman having its first ever “Alcohol Issue” this week’s dish has been specially picked and includes alcohol in the recipe. Although there is not enough alcohol to intoxicate you in this dish, The Statesman does not encourage those under 21 to obtain alcohol illegally, even for this recipe.

But, for those who are 21 and older, this is a recipe you are really going to want to make. My mother is Italian and when she used to have more time, she used to make tons of authentic Italian dishes all throughout my childhood. One food in particular I remember her making was these succulent, juicy sausages packed with flavor. Unfortunately, she would not let me have her homemade recipe for them, so instead I bought prepackaged sausages at the grocery store, which is just fine too. For this recipe, I used chicken sausages because I cannot eat red meat, but feel free to swap chicken for beef if that is more your style.

Ingredients

– 1 pack of chicken or beef sausages

– 2 teaspoons of olive oil

– ¼ teaspoon of garlic pepper

– 1 sweet onion

– 1 bottle of beer (lager)

First, get a medium sized skillet or pan and put the heat on three quarters of the way up. Lay each sausage down right next to the others and drizzle about one to two teaspoons of olive oil all over them to help them crisp up after they have simmered. Next, take your beer and add it to the pan until it covers up the bottom half of the brats. It will take an estimated time of 20-25 minutes for them to cook. You will know to turn them when the bottoms of the sausages are browned. Once the liquid in the pan is sizzling, make sure to turn down the heat to a medium-low setting. You do not want the liquid to boil before you flip the sausages. On another important note, when you flip the sausages, do not use a fork to turn them. You do not want to puncture the casing of the brats because the juices will leak out and the dish will come out tasting a little dry. Use tongs to gently flip them so you do not have to worry about breaking the casing. When you flip all the brats over, pour about two more teaspoons of olive oil to make sure they don’t stick to the pan. As they cook, cut up your entire sweet onion,. Make sure to cut it horizontally so you are left with long slices of onion. Add them to the skillet and stir them among the beer and olive oil. Continue to cook the brats until all the liquid in the pan evaporates and you’re left with olive oil. But, also be sure to make sure the bottoms of your brats do not burn. When both sides of the sausages are golden brown, your brats will be good to serve. I recommend adding them to buns and putting the onions on top. Pack of six serves three.