Skinless Bun Size Beef Frankfurters
What’s the difference between a hot dog, wiener, and a frankfurter? Well, in manufacturer parlance, franks are usually all beef, wieners tend to include pork, and hot dog has just become a generic term worldwide for basically almost any sausage on a bun. One of the largest differences in “hot dogs” is whether they are skinless or come in a natural casing.
In my dozen or so years of looking at the hot dog industry, I’ve never been able to ascertain why the ‘skinless’ variety became so prevalent in the US. Today, only about 5% of the hot dogs sold come with a natural casing, which as we previously discussed, are the small intestines of sheep.
In my own logic, I would think skinless became popular as a way to appeal to the younger consumer. As I have mentioned on many occasions, my personal preference is a hot dog with a casing. I like the ‘snap’ that comes with biting into one, and the casing (if not split during cooking), works as a self-containment device for the meat’s juices, producing a more flavorful snack.
So what’s the proper way to cook a hot dog? There are as many manners and fashions as you can dream up, whether warming them in a skillet or hot water, the microwave, on the grill. Most hot dogs in the US are fully cooked before packaging, so you are basically just warming them at home.
With a natural casing hot dog, the manner of cooking will proscribe whether or not the casing cracks open, but then again, there are people who have that preference.
Most often in a hot dog business, you’ll see one of two variations: slow and low on a flat top griddle (which I emulate at home with a cast iron skillet), or there are some folks who insist the proper method is to boil water, shut off the heat, and drop the dogs in for five minutes.
How you choose to prepare them is a matter of your personal preference only. And I’m sure we all know people who eat them cold out of the package.
The Sabrett Skinless Beef Bun Length dogs come in a 14 oz package, with eight franks.
The ingredients are beef, water, salt, flavoring, garlic powder, and hickory smoke flavoring, with trace amounts of common additives. The three additives in the Sabrett Skinless Beef dogs are standards in the preserved meat industry in the US, are compounds of the salt or sugar families, and are used to enhance flavor and preserve product color.
I found the Sabrett Skinless Beef Frank to be as good as any similar product I have ever tried. They are flavorful with a nice texture.
They are available in groceries in these states, or online here or here.
This product will be a regular in our home!
(Ed. Note: Sabrett furnished products for us to try).