The Midwesternest piece of Memorial Day Weekend news has broken, and it is that the self-proclaimed World's Largest Brat Fest has achieved its destiny by grilling and bunning perhaps the world's largest brat.
The Wisconsin State Journal was all over this bus-length sausage:
Brat Fest officials said they grilled a brat measuring 54 feet 10 inches to surpass the record brat of 52 feet, 2 inches set last October in Prescott. ...
The monster brat made by Johnsonville Sausage consisted of 28 pounds of pork, and fit perfectly on a bun made by Pan-O-Gold using 45 pounds of dough.
The brat was grilled on a handmade cinder block grill. It took about 20 volunteer grillers to rotate the brat, which took roughly 30 minutes to cook. ...
Pan-O-Gold also produced the bun used in last year’s event in Prescott. “This bun was the largest we’ve ever made, using 26 pounds of flour,” said Dan Futato, vice president and general manager for Pan-O-Gold.
After the measurement they chopped it into 110 segments, sold those off for four bucks apiece and sent the money to Oklahoma for tornado relief. Seriously: Midwestern.
(Incidentally, sorry about the photo. It was the first thing that came up in a search for Wisconsin and brat. Honest.)
Have a great rest of the holiday. If you see a veteran, including and especially either of my brothers, buy 'em a cold one.
Unofficially, record set for longest brat in bun [Wisconsin State Journal]
Photo credit of Wisconsin's own Paul Ryan: AP