Brett Favre - My Buddha with a Football - also Brats

I heard that Randy Moss was traded back to the Vikings today which made me think of my time in Wisconsin during the prime Brett Favre/Packer days.  I lived there when they went to the Super Bowl twice.  The Vikings were the Packer's nemesis.  Now, Brett is QB and Randy will be catching the ball... Sweet, if it were 10 years ago.  They would have been unstoppable.

I  loved watching Brett Favre play.  He is my Buddha with a football.  He always played in the moment, forgetting the score, his last play, or the next play.  He seemed to ride the wave of the moment, passing into double and triple coverage if the moment dictated it.

Brats
Brats, the grill, tailgating and Packer football will be forever linked in my mind.  If you want to impress your neighbors in Wisconsin, serve a Johnsonville brat.   I feel better buying a named brand brat.  I just don't trust what goes into generic or store brand sausages.

In Wisconsin, the way to cook a brat is to boil it in beer and then finish it off on the grill.  This gives the brat a unique, sticky, sweet, flavor.   I never liked this method because beer smells bad when boiled on the stove and we always cooked with coals and it took too long to fire up the grill.  I am no longer a slave to boiling beer smell and messy grills because I don't live in Wisconsin anymore and lightning will not strike me dead if I don't.

The question was how to get that sticky, sweet, flavor without putting up with the beer smell and starting the grill for a family dinner.  In Utah, I cook brats, in a pan, on the stove, in fruit juice.  I use apple or cranberry juice for my brats.  Put the brats in the pan and then put enough juice in the pan to cover half-way up the brats.  Simmer until all the juice is gone and the brats brown slightly.  Turn the brats to get the sticky goodness on all sides of the brat.  Use spicy brown mustard to offset the sweetness.