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| Bacon from J.W. Trueth |
J.W. Trueth is a terrific plan to shop for meat. The Oella butcher does steaks, pork, chicken and fish. Last weekend, we waited in line as people seemed to buy everything.
We bought a taste of three items -- bacon, ground beef, and spicy half-smokes.
The thick-sliced bacon went diced in a frying pan, then became the crisp part of a sautéed cabbage dish. The ground beef went into tacos from the 1970s.
But the half-smokes are the taste of my future. Lightly spicy. It's not a course sausage like the Italian links from Laurel Meat Market. It's a super-fine hot doh -- just with more flavor than most hot dogs have. I get the spice. I get the smoke. That's a delicious hot dog. (So delicious that I forgot to photograph before we ate them.)
What other hot dogs should I check out? The Trueth half smoke contrasts nicely with the peppery Hartmann's dogs from Wegmans. What would round out the grill? A chicken sausage from Harris Teeter? Last year, I wrote up an overview of sausages, but there must be good stuff still to learn.
10 comments:
I enjoy the kosher hot dogs or spicy hot dogs from Beilers at the Amish market.
Also their applewood(or hickory) smoked bacon is the best I've ever had.
Stuggy's Old Fashioned Hot Dogs in fells point started retailing there dogs not to long ago they are really good. check them out at http://www.stuggys.com/
Buy some local pork sausages from the farms. Clark's, Breezy Willow, TLV all have some sort of sausage. On line order or stop at their farm stands.
Or, check at Boarman's to see what they could put together. I often grill their hot Italian sausage, split them in half since they are longer than a hot dog bun.
Breezy Willow sells chorizo, and an apple bratwurst. The brat is awesome.
If you are really brave, buy ground lamb and form up some kofta. Wrap around a metal skewer and grill. Put kofta in the search field on my sidebar and see how I did them.
That's not brave! ;)
Kofta is super easy to do. It's a weekly meal during the summer months here.
I have found Boar's Head dogs to be great. Expensive tho-
@AnnieRie -- Sounds great. My big problem with kofta is that my wife doesn't love the taste or the thought of lamb. The halal butchers will grind lamb to order, and it's delicious. (Broad metal skewers were available at Pars Market in Columbia.)
@Everyone -- Thanks for all the ideas. I was thinking all hot dogs, but a sausage would provide variety.
The very best hot dogs I've ever had are Eckrich franks in a natural casing. I haven't had one in over a decade, and all natural casing hot dogs have been a disappointment since. I thought they'd stopped making them, but a quick internet search shows some online retailers stocking them. Not sure if it's the same recipe, but it's worth an (albeit expensive) try.
Couldn't you make a riff on kofta with either ground beef or ground pork? I imagine Treuth's or Boarman's would grind pork for you if you asked in advance.
Laurel Meat Market has half-smokes directly to the left of their other amazing sausages. They're not homemade, but they're really good. I tend to get a bunch of them during the summer for a crowd, just as you describe.
The Barackwurst from Simply Sausage in Landover, a hybrid Chicago dog/DC half smoke is great. Mail order only, though. Their other sausages are fantastic too; I have a freezer full of them. They supply Jaleo, which is a pretty good pedigree.
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