Knock! Knock! Let me in the Man Cave for some of those Buffalo Bleu Cheese Brats.

Man Cave Buffalo Bleu Cheese Brats

Tonight I fired up the grill and put some Man Cave Buffalo Bleu Cheese brats on to grill. These are gourmet brats. Well, you could probably guess that. It's not like you go down to the grocery store and buy buffalo meat brats with bleu cheese. Well, it's not like that around here at least.

The guys here really love our standard beer brats, so it's kind of hard to get them excited about changing things up. They like what they like, but they will humor me.

My favorite of the Man Cave brats had been the dried tomoato. Those are really good, but the guys here were still leaning toward our regular recipe. They liked the veggie herb brats fine, but they still aren't much for branching out.

Then, there's the Buffalo Bleu Cheese brats . . .

The brats are made with a spicy buffalo sauce and have some bleu cheese but not over the top. These are spicy brats and perhaps more what many people would think of a really good spicy Italian sausage.

They were outstanding. In fact, I put one in the freezer for my son who is up at his college apartment this week. He loves zippy food, and I'm sure he'd think these brats are terrific.

I would make a couple of notes on the Man Cave buffalo bleu cheese brats:

1. They are not for the faint of heart or those who do not like heat. They won't burn you totally up, but they do have spice. Just a really nice kick for those who like hot foods.

2. With these gourmet brats, you want to grill them lower and slower. They have cheese in there, so you don't want to hit them with super high heat. Let them grill along slower - more like a burger.

Grilled Man Cave Buffalo Bleu Cheese Brats

Man Cave is a party oriented type sales concept. You host a Man Cave event. I've not been; I'm not a man. But, they certainly have some excellent products, and you can order online if you're not a man or if you're not into the party thing.

Man Cave Gourmet Black & Bleu Brats Slow Smoked on a Weber Bullet

Black & Bleu Brats from Man Cave

For lunch today, we had Black & Bleu brats from Man Cave. They sent me some of their gourmet meats to try out.

If you're not familiar with Man Cave, it's (dare I say?) kind of like Tupperware. The guys can have MEATings in their Man Caves and check out the latest grilling tools, bar gear, and unique food products like frog legs (one of my favorite foods). You can go to the Man Cave site and buy items, so if you're not the hang out type, or if you're female and just want to shop and surprise your grill guy, then that's another option.

Slow Smoke Gourmet Brats

We're smoking a pork butt today, so I decided to double duty the Weber bullet and have brats for lunch. With the Johnsonville brats, we simmer them in beer and butter and then grill them quickly like hot dogs. With the bleu cheese mixed in with the meat on the Black & Bleu brats, you need a low temperature and more time. We were around 250 degrees F, and I smoked the Man Cave brats for 15 minutes, turned them, and smoked the other side for 10 minutes.

The guys weren't huge fans I must say, but none of them like bleu cheese, so I wasn't surprised. I thought the brats were good, and the Coleman's mustard from England went perfect with them. It's a hotter mustard than most here in the United States. I like the Man Cave Tomato Basil brats the best, but I'd say big bleu cheese fans would vote on these. You can definately taste the cheese.

Man Cave Tomato Basil Brat - Review

Grilling Man Cave Brats for my Son Young Man


Man Cave got in touch which I think is pretty cool, since I'm a female griller. That's pretty progressive for the guys. Some of them like to keep the Man Cave off limits for the girls. They do have a point there. I drop in, but it can get a tad rowdy outside with the guys. I know. My sons have put me on crutches before, but that was at the lake where they water tubed me in high gear and circled and made a huge wake. When Momma gets thrown 8 feet in the air, the landing is not so pretty. My doctor said he hopes I do not go on vacation very often.

The Man Cave guys wanted to know if I'd check out their brats and let them know what I think. If I'm not in max mode (which can happen - but I'll say), I'm game to try out something new in the grilling or barbecue world. My only stipulation is that I'm going to call it the way I see it. If someone does not want to gamble on that, it's fine.

Man Cave Tomato Basil Brats

The brave guys at Man Cave decided I might be a Tomato Basil Brat kind of woman. That works. There are few general flavors I do not like. The only one that comes to mind right off would be figs. Ugh. Don't send fig anything. And, I turn down any offers figgie, since I know those kick in my gag reflex. I can't do a fair review on anything "fig."

Man Cave nailed the mail in. The products were packed well and rock solid frozen when they arrived. UPS did not even bounce the box off the side of the house or anything strange. Yes. I can tell when it's a delivery issue rather than the packing end.

These are gourmet brats. I don't see much information online or on the package (even with my reading glasses). Just eyeballing, I'm thinking these are the slow smoked type and not Johnsonville brats (which is all we can get here and which we do love). With flavors added to the meat mix, you don't want to break the casing and lose the flavor.

I'd also note that The Kings Stock brats sold by Man Cave are smaller sized brats versus the Johnsonville (which I hope gives everyone a ballpark size idea). They are closer to hot dog size. This meant that the buns were rather large for the brats, but they were sub buns (really the only option here other than just standard hot dog buns). I just used the sub buns like we typically do and broke off bread (much to the delight of my dog who is a bread hound).

Putting the Man Cave Brats to the Test

I fired up the PK cast aluminum grill which is a charcoal unit and does a great job at offset slow smoking too. The coals were to one end. The meat went on the other end. And, I smoked these brats around 20 minutes.

The brats looked and smelled great as I was grilling. Though I typically do a beer and butter boil on the mass market brats, this was a slow smoke on the high end brats.

When the Man Cave brats came off, I bunned them up and gave them a try. I must say they were excellent. I liked the extra flavor cased in. It took longer to smoke these brats, but it cut out the step of simmering them on the stove beforehand.

All in all, I would say this is a thumbs up on Man Cave Tomato Basil brats. They were easy to smoke up, and the flavor was terrific. I would like a higher end smaller bun to go with them. If you live in a bigger city, you probably have that option. Go with the smaller buns in the classic hot dog size range.

Loving my Man Cave Dress

We did have some fun on Facebook about the t-shirt Man Cave was kind enough to send. They sent me Extra Large. I am sure no tiny, but I'm not XL. I dubbed the t-shirt my Man Cave dress. Several Facebook barbecue buddies asked that I provide proof of this dress of the Man Cave. So, I talked my son into taking a few photos while I grilled Man Cave brats in my Man Cave dress. (Son has requested no more XL t-shirts be sent as he is not going to get out in the yard and do this again - haha.)

The Man Cave shirt is cool, but it is certainly manly as one might expect. I gifted it to the father of the boys after the one grill photo shoot. It would be a super gift for the guy in your life who loves to grill.

Man Cave is clearly more of a guy site as you can guess from the name. But, it is also a cool spot for women to pick up some great grill gear and food for gifts. So, don't be shy if you're female. But, I do have a tip for the guys. Do not buy your sweetie a XL Man Cave shirt. Even if it would happen to fit in terms of size, those rules would not be what she would wear around town (-:

Man Cave Rules