By Jacob A. Bauer

    As the club approaches its 2008 annual February Schlachtfest, it is certainly appropriate that I recall my memories of making bratwurst as a youth in Lower Bucks County, PA during the Great Depression.

    I was born in 1927 to Donauschwaben immigrants, Jacob Bauer from Backa Palanka and Theresa Helleis from Batsch. Both towns are in the southern part of the Batschka region of then AustriaHungary (now Serbia). High quality hog production in the Batschka was widely known and pigs were exported throughout Europe. My sister, Elsie Penrith (nee Bauer) was born in 1924 in Falls Township, Bucks County, PA.

    My grandfather, Christian Bauer came to the USA and settled in Trenton, NJ in 1901 with his wife, Elisabeth Bohnert and their sons, Charles and Jacob (my father), then an infant. The Bauers became tenant farmers in Falls Township from 1904 until 1917, when they bought their own farm on Tyburn Road in Falls Township, Bucks County, PA. My Bauer grandparents grew; asparagus, string beans, tomatoes and peppers on their farm and had one horse for farming duties. However, "Blackie", the horse, was finally replaced by a tractor but remained a family "pet" until he died. Their two sons and two daughters helped on the farm until they got married. Christian finally sold the farm in 1946 and moved in with his daughter Elisabeth Meszaros and husband in Fallsington Heights (now Fairless Hills). He died there in 1950.

    My grandfather, Lorenz Helleis, wife, Barbara Blank and children, Barbara, Lorenz, Jr, Theresa ( then 11 years old, my mother) and Frank came to the USA and settled in Trenton in 1913. The Helleis children, Maria and Adam remained in Batsch. The Helleis family moved to a rental farm, owned by the Balderstons, across the road from the Bauers around 1924. They grew cabbage, corn, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, cantaloupes and water melons on a farm somewhat larger in acreage than the Bauers. They had two horses which were used for farm duties and a cow. Son, Frank and daughter-in-law, Kate lived on the farm also and did most of the farming work until Lorenz died in 1938. The other children married and lived elsewhere. My grandmother Helleis, then moved in with us in Fallsington Heights. Both were "truck farmers" selling their produce at the Trenton Farmer’s Market near the Delaware River, on Rt. 29 near the present day Trenton minor league baseball park on Cass Street.

    My uncle Frank Helleis and his wife Katie Helleis later joined the Trenton Donauschwaben, followed by my son, Dennis Bauer and his family (their children and their grandchildren), my wife, Carol and I and then my nephew Dan Penrith and his family. Uncle Frank and Aunt Kate Helleis were also members and Kate was active in our club kitchen for many years, including Schlachtfest time.

    As in the "old country", Fall was the time to butcher pigs and make bratwurst and other pork-based meats for family use during the Winter and Spring. Extra pork products were often sold at the farmer’s market by my grandparents. Making sausage was a special family event, including yourg and old. My sausage making memories go back to the mid-1930’s in Falls Township.

    The pigs were killed using a 22 caliber rifle and then bled into a "Trog" or trough. They were then dehaired using hot water, hung up, beheaded and split in half. My job as a youth was to prepare the intestines for the sausage casings. This was a nasty job which I still vividly remember some 70 years later. I had to turn the pig intestines inside out, scrap and then clean them while my elders butchered the pigs, removed the meat for grinding and mixing with ingredients (garlic juice, salt, white and black pepper, paprika and special spices). My grandfathers used handmade metal tubes and wood plungers (Wurstspritz) to inject the casings with the tasty finished sausage mix. In addition to bratwurst (Brootworscht), we also made liver wurst (Lewerworscht) and blood wurst (Blutworscht). Two feet sections of stuffed casings were then cut and tied off for sausage links. Some were used for fresh sausage and some were hung and cured in grandpop’s (Grossvater) smoking shed out back behind the farmhouse. He used hickory chips to smoke the sausage and hams. My grandfathers would insert cloves of garlic in the hams centers prior to curing them in the smoking shed. After the preparation, sometimes over several days, the family sampled their product at a meal of fresh bratwurst and Gulaschsuppe over noodles.

    In addition, we used other parts of the pig for bacon, spare ribs, pork roast (Schweinebr aten), head cheese ( S c hwa r t e l ma g a ) , p i g s f e e t (Schweinshachse), brain and lard for cooking. Our family efforts certainly paid off and supplied us with meat throughout the Winter and Spring during the Depression years. We would also make weekly fishing trips to the New Jersey shore in preparation for our weekly Friday dinner meal, being good Catholics.

    These memories are brought to mind each November and February when I participate in the leberwurst and bratwurst making duties here at the club under the watchful eye of our "Papa J" Jakober. For those in the club that have not participated in the event, you are truly missing a lot "Gemütlichkeit" not to mention a truly cultural fun filled day introducing you to an ancestral tradition. Membership is always open to join the Bratwurst Boys (and girls) at the club the Friday and Saturday before our feast on Sunday, February 17th.

Mahlzeit!!