Posts Tagged ‘Natural Casing Hot Dogs’
Daisy Hot Dogs Review
Had a hankering to make coney island style hot dogs, with my ho-made delicious sauce (recipe), so I needed some natural casing hot dogs. Gotta have that “snap” when you’re dripping coney sauce down your shirt. (BTW, in the industry, that “snap” is referred to as “knack” – from the German word for “crack.”)
Alas, one grocery had no natural casing dogs, across the street, where they usually have three or four options, today they had only one, “Daisy Brand,” a Chicago product, “since 1925.” Made by the Crawford Sausage Company, a few miles southwest of the Loops.
It’s a pork/beef product, very mild, with a minimum of additives. Tasty. All natural casing dogs run very close to the same price, unless they are on sale. They’ll cost you about a buck a dog. Well worth it. What I like about them over some competitors is they are “pure savory,” you can’t taste any added sweetener which seems to be so common these days. Full ingredient list: PORK, BEEF, WATER, NONFAT DRY MILK, SODIUM LACTATE, SEASONING (DEXTROSE, SPICES, SALT, PAPRIKA, HYDROLYZED PROTEIN FROM SOY, FLAVORINGS, CARAMEL COLOR), SALT, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM ERYTHORBATE, PAPRIKA, SODIUM NITRITE. (No corn syrup solids, yay!)
These pups are made in the Crawford factory on South Pulaski, pictured below. Looks like they are working on setting up online ordering.
And oh yes, the coneys turned out JUST fine….
Daisy Hot Dogs Review
Home Cookin’ – Old Wisconsin Wieners
I had previously tried and noted my thoughts on Old Wisconsin Brand Polish Sausage, and I thought I’d give their weenies a whirl. I’m glad I did. This is a great dog, made with pork, beef, and less than 2% of all that other stuff. They come 14 to a package at around $7. This compares to a couple other premium NC dogs that are five in a pack for five bucks or more.
When I haven’t made my ultra famous ho-made hot dog coney sauce, I like ’em with kraut and plain yellow mustard. Which is how I had them today! What’s your favorite dog topping?
Usinger’s Meats – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
I wrote a bit about Usinger’s the other day. Here’s the rest of the story, as I prepare to dig into their natural casing “Old World Recipe” wieners. Pretty straightforward ingredients with these pups, beef and pork, water, spices, sugar, salt, paprika, and a couple of the sodiums as a preservative, in a natural lamb casing. My kind of dog. Mrs. Burgerdogboy will be sorry she missed out on these, she loves a good hot dog.
Back to the story.
Immigrant Fred Usinger Sr. arrived in Milwaukee from Frankfurt (!) in 1880, took over a little butcher shop in downtown, and eventually married a niece of the former owner. Four generations later, family members are still running the company, which has grown to become a Milwaukee institution with a national reputation, in fact, Usinger’s hot dogs were the official supplier to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake. That’s recognition!
Usinger’s makes a wide variety of smoked and fresh sausages, in addition to deli meats. Their hot dogs are described by many as “the best in the nation”, and received that accolade also in a 1984 book called “The Book of Bests“.
If you can’t get to the Upper Midwest, then just type in the URL, press click, and enjoy these great products at home.
