Summer intern Savannah making bratwursts!

The Hermann Wurst Haus is excited to welcome our first interns this summer- Riley Franklin of Eldon, Missouri and Savannah Angell of Centralia, Missouri. The girls will be pitching in around the store and trying their hand at a variety of meat processing skills. Savannah will be guest writing a column for the duration of her internship.

I officially smell like a smoke house. I know this because a Hermann Deli employee looked at me with a quizzical glance as he took my cash and asked if I worked at the Hermann Wurst Haus. My partner in crime, Riley and I, explained that we were summer interns just getting settled in to our new job. He said the smoky smell gave us away before we even made it to the counter. It’s really not a bad smell… the first time I walked in to the Hermann Wurst Haus, words like spicy and strong came to mind. But that of course was for the German style restaurant and custom meat processor. My make up bag, favorite sweatpants and hair smelling of smoky evenings in our apartment above the smokehouse is less ideal. My internship bosses, Mike and Lynette Sloan are used to such comments. Lynette’s hairdresser even told her she smelled so good she just wanted to take a bite of her. So… I have that to look forward to this summer.

Anyway, with a little help from Mizzou’s Dr. Bryon Wiegand, I started a summer internship at the Wurst Haus in downtown Hermann, Missouri. I normally spend my summers showing livestock and working at my family’s livestock market and Riley helps on her family farm. This meat processing business is all new to us, but Riley and I are both Animal Science majors at the University of Missouri where we learn about food production- from pasture to plate. The chance to take some of our class room learning and apply it hands-on has been pretty interesting.

My first day challenge was brat making. The Wurst Haus features a restaurant that can seat over 100 guests. A constant flow of tourists and locals fill the seats and customers order lunches such as the classic bratwurst on a pretzel bun (imported from Germany), served with a side of sauerkraut, German potato salad and bread pudding. While I’ve yet to acquire the taste for sauerkraut, I do love the Reuben flavored bratwurst. This favorite brat is made of pork, seasonings, caraway, kraut, thousand island and swiss cheese. Looks like a brat… tastes like a reuben. Mike’s bratwurst creations include oddities such as bloody mary flavor, caramelized pear and gorgonzola cheese and pineapple-bacon.

While from the outside, brat making looks quite smooth at the Wurst Haus. With over 50 flavors being cranked out, Mike has the process down to both an art and science. I was instructed to hit an on/off lever, slide the casing along the horn, and bam… brats are made. After asking my co-worker Patrick what he was actually doing he responded, “basically nothing.” I hit the lever and in three short seconds the casing had burst, the chorizo sausage mix kept spurting out and I figured out that maybe turning the machine off with the knee controlled level wasn’t so straight forward under pressure. We turned down the machine to 25% speed and my afternoon continued with isolated successes and assurances to my amused coworker that this was only a steep learning curve. By the end of day 2, I was up to 40% speed.

Hermann is well known by Missourians looking for a relaxing get-away. Billboards are scattered down Interstate 70 for a collection of wineries as they count down the miles to the Highway 19 exit and the famous vineyards of Adam Puchta, Hermanhof, and Stone Hill wineries. Bachelorette parties, couples on motorcycles and day-trippers come from across the state to drink wine, antique shop, bike the Katy Trail, and sample beer and brats. The Wurst Haus features its own beer label with titles such as Butcher’s Block Lager and Wurstmeister Wheat. The four beers and five flavors of sodas are just another tier of Mike’s interest in creating a unique experience at the store.

I fully expected to learn things like identifying soup bones versus soup meat and technique used when slicing our 12 flavors of bacon. However, if you drop by to see me on a Saturday or Sunday, I will likely be at the bar explaining the smoky flavor mixed with hints of dark chocolate found in our Steamboat Smoked Ale, as I pour samples for excited visitors. I did not expect my Day 3 lesson to be in bartending, but unfortunately for Mike, he may have hired the only MU student who couldn’t poor a beer with ease. Lucky for my customers, my days of foam-topped glasses and awkward pronunciations of the phrase “German hefewizen” seem to be getting smoother with practice. I have learned so much already and still have plenty to cover before my internship ends in the fall. With summer in full swing, it is time for a fun filled day trip, and I am hoping to perfect my bartending skills on some friendly faces!  

Summer intern Riley with Lynette Sloan