OT: Hot Dog Casings....Enlighten me, please !

dldawes1

Ate some Queen City Franks for the first time this afternoon. Red onion and Jalapeno Mustard (with a hint of Ketchup) on a toasted bun !!!!!

Totally awesome...!!!!

One question...the casings....I've never had hot dogs with this tough of casings....is this normal ?

The taste is there...really good, but my old teeth won't hardly bite clean through the casings !

But I can assure....it didn't slow me down !!

nolaegghead

Most commercial US hotdogs don't have traditional intestine casings.   They're called "skinless".  Or they have a very thin collagen casing - these are called artificial casings.

Zippylip

package says natural pork casing, the only dogs I know of that use them are likewise tougher to bite through, a real snap.  But they are the best dogs I know of

SmokeyPitt

I haven't tried that particular brand but I love a natural casing dog.  FWIW I prefer not to cut them or puncture them and leave the case in tact.  If they are too tough you might try par cooking them a bit in liquid and then grilling as mentioned in this article:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/the-best-way-to-grill-hot-dogs.html

RRP

don't want to sound like a hot dog snob, but I only buy natural casing franks - that are more expensive, but worth it to me. BTW only brand I buy now are Boar's Head and in spite of living in a town with 120k population I have to drive to a small town 15 miles from me to buy them! So I buy 5 or 6 packages at a time, break them down and repackage in FS tubes and freeze. I call them "tubes in tubes".

nolaegghead

The most expensive hot dog (that you find at your typical grocery) is waaayyyy cheaper than decent beef.  Live it up, folks.

GregW

My favorite are Vienna Beef natural casing.
Sadly, they are hard to find in the South

Carolina Q

Wonder why Cincinnati claims to be the "Queen City". So does Charlotte.

As for hot dogs, Pearl Franks (made in Mass) are the best I've ever tasted. @RRP used to think so too, but I guess he got tired of spending the money for shipping.

RRP

Carolina Q said:

Wonder why Cincinnati claims to be the "Queen City". So does Charlotte.

As for hot dogs, Pearl Franks (made in Mass) are the best I've ever tasted. @RRP used to think so too, but I guess he got tired of spending the money for shipping.

yup - after the initial two shipments of Pearls then they suddenly kicked the shipping method from like $20 to a mandatory method of next day delivery for $100 for 2 packages of hot dogs! Contrary to the misconception that SGH has liked to label me with I'm not made of money.

Carolina Q

Ouch! I'd have switched too! 

dldawes1

Carolina Q,,yep I still have them on my bucket list !!!!  They didn't have them at Jungle Jim's !!!

CtTOPGUN

 Natural casing dogs are so much better than typical skinless or even artificial casing dogs. That snap is what we try to perfect. Here in CT we have a local brand, Hummel Bros.. Very good dogs. Also we get Boars Head and Dueschmaker. The natural casing version of these brands are superior to their other offerings. I will eat any grilled, griddled or fried dog. But when I get to choose it is always a natural casing dog (well...dogS plural).

   Jim

dldawes1

Maybe, being from KY....I just never learned to snap the dog !!!! This is honestly the first time I've ever even bought different kinds of franks, other than the regular ( what I call regular) dogs (whatever is available at Kroger or Walmart).

Yesterday I could not spell Hot Dog and today...I are one !!!  I have a ribbon, trophy, and new gas grill to prove it !!!!!!

I'll practice tomorrow for lunch on the rest of the Queen Citys !!!!!