Well, Bob, we are right next to Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin team name is the Badgers, and bratwurst is very popular in that state. From those bits of information -- you're on your own. Now that you mention it -- I think these brats ARE from Wisconsin. Hmmmmm.....
Everybody knows that hot dogs are made from the nether parts of animals -- you know, the lips and assholes -- but trust me on this -- we only use animals that led a good life and ate things that wouldn't harm those important parts. So don't worry about the hot dogs, either.
Hamburger: I buy it in bulk and make up the patties in the comfort of our kitchen. I've got a fancy (okay, it's a cheap one) hamburger patty press, so they're all nice and round and flat. Nancy was in charge of weighing out the blobs of burger and then passing them to me for final work -- and she really did use my nitrous scale to make sure they all are 1/4-pounders. We didn't let the cats get too near us, and even if we did, the long-haired cat got a haircut just recently so he didn't have a chance to add much to the burgers. And I wore a shirt the entire time -- no chest hairs in the burger patties.
Now -- the final item -- the pasties. We don't make them. We order them up from a store in Crystal Falls (Michigan) and they make, bake, freeze, and package them before delivery to Marquette. They're standard pasties "with" -- that is, with rutabaga as well as potato, onion, coarse-ground beef, and seasoning. If you want further information on just what is a pasty -- you can find out lots via the search engines, or you can go to
www.pasty.net (or is it pasty.com?). We've been bringing pasties to Salt Talks for three or four years now, and they get more popular every year. Last time -- 85 pasties, and I didn't even get one. This year I'm thinking about getting 100.
My biggest concern is that the deep freeze that we put in the pickup to hold all this food for the trip -- was at about 98% capacity last summer. I'm looking for a bigger freezer for this year. Damn, isn't it great to have such problems?