100-foot brat cooked without breaking

BELLEVILLE, Ill., Sept. 10 (UPI) -- A 100-foot-long bratwurst was successfully grilled by a team of about 50 volunteers in Illinois without the sausage breaking or burning, organizers said.

Bob Fritz, of the Robert "Chick" Fritz beer distributor company, said he and about 50 others slowly turned the brat on a 100-foot-long metal trough constructed for the sausage by Belleville company Bel-O Cooling and Heating and cooked the German delicacy to perfection Tuesday at the city's Silver Creek Saloon.

"There were no erratic movements," Fritz told the Belleville News-Democrat of the key to the group's success.

The grilling endeavor was a practice run to prepare for an attempt to grill a 200-foot-long bratwurst later in the month as part of the city of Belleville's 200th anniversary celebration.

A previous practice attempt with a 50-foot brat ended in failure in August when the sausage broke into pieces. Organizers said the volunteers were apparently trying to turn the brat too quickly and the grill was burning too hot.

Next week's brat, scheduled to be grilled at 11 a.m. Sept. 21, will be sold in pieces with proceeds benefiting local food pantries.

Teresa Hessel of the Belleville 200 Committee said she and her fellow organizers originally planned to attempt an official world record with the 200-foot bratwurst, but they decided to forgo the fee it would require to be recognized by the World Record Academy.

"We need to put all the money we have toward the festival," Hessel said. "We decided this was not an expense we wanted to incur. We're just going to do it for the fun of it and have it be an unofficial record."