Yummy Fall Fest Brats
 | Author:
Nancy Marks
Nancy Marks: MT43 News Secretary and News Editor |
Yummy Fall Fest Brats
MT 43 News Staff
It all started when the lady ordered two cases of brats at 150 per case.
Bob Chamberlain, former owner of Bob’s Supermarket, related that about 15 or 16 years ago Townsend Rotary Club member Beth Ihle came into the store and ordered two cases of brats for the recently organized Townsend Fall Fest, Rotary’s annual fundraiser. The following year Beth came back again, this time to order five cases. “Could I check out the prices for her? I said, why don’t you just let us make them for you? That was the beginning of brats for this festival. The store has been making them ever since,” Bob said.
Ed Chamberlain, who is Bob’s son, and Mark Bennett are meat cutters at Bob’s. They take great pride in making up the brat recipe of pork and “other stuff.” Could they share it? Nope, secret family recipe, they said. “Only a handful of us even know the recipe,” Mark laughed.
This year they made 3,000 brats with 1,000 pounds of pork. Ed and Mark make them three weeks before the festival. The process includes cutting up the meat, grinding it and finally stuffing it in the casings. “We do about 400 pounds for each batch. We let it sit so the seasonings will go through before we freeze the batch,” Mark explained.
Meat cutting is an art, and many times runs through families. Ed began learning to cut meat when Bob started training him in 1991 when Ed was 19 years old. Mark’s mother was a meat cutter at Safeway. He learned from her. Both men have been cutting meat ever since. Mark worked ten years in a Deer Lodge market before he came to Townsend.
Asked about the banter between Townsend Rotarians and the butchers about whether they might run out this year, Bob explained, “We did run out the first year because we all underestimated how popular the sandwich would be. After that, we never ran out again!”
Dan Petek, the current owner of Bob’s Supermarket, said he is pleased the store can be part of the tradition of Townsend’s Fall Fest.
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PhotoCredit: Photo Credits: Nancy Marks
Image 1 Caption: Keeper of secret brat recipe Mark Bennett
Photo Credits: Nancy Marks
