hot dog!

We've all been there - standing in front of no less than 20 different kinds of hot dogs before a BBQ. You want to buy the ones that will taste the best. Or should you get vegetarian hot dogs? But what do those taste like? Nathan's? Hebrew National? Oscar Mayer? The options are many, and dizzying.

Just in time for the 4th of July, we've got some answers! Ben and I took a recent Saturday afternoon to execute a blind hot dog taste test. We got the idea after we watched a sort of historical documentary piece about hot dogs/frankfurters/wieners on the History Channel. We grilled each of the hotdogs until they were an even done-ness, put them in a toasted whole wheat bun, and each got a stripe of mustard. Add a blindfold, a makeshift ratings system, and here you go:

Here's how the ratings worked:

5: Highest, ideal.
4: Pretty good; not perfect, but pretty, pretty, pretty good.
3: Take it or leave it.
2: I guess I'd eat this if someone made me
1: I never want to eat that again.

We tasted all the dogs in the photo, here's how they ranked:

Oscar Mayer

Rating: 3.5

You know the song. I won't sing it. In the blind test, these dogs stood up as a pretty decent standard. They were really salty, which I think is something most people crave when they think of a hot dog.

Nathan's All-Beef Franks

Rating: 5

Great hot dog - they were seasoned really well, and the grill charring was a complement to the overall flavor. I'd recommend these to any griller. From the first bite, this was the standout dog in the crowd.

Tofu Pups

Rating: 1.5

First, to be fair, these probably are not meant to be grilled. When I was grilling it, it cooked about as well as a plastic bag would. The yellow-ish color was a little off-putting as well. The consistency of these were pretty gross, with tofu being a prominent flavor. I expected to really like these, but couldn't bear more than a couple bites.

Smart Dogs

Rating: 2

If you had to grill a veggie dog, make it a Smart Dog. It won't taste like meat, but it won't taste like tofu, either, which is important. These were seasoned well and stood up to the grill a little better than the tofu pups.

Ben's and my scores were averaged.

We know it wasn't the most comprehensive taste test, but given that there were only two of us...we felt like we got a pretty good grasp on the standards. Stay tuned for more taste tests of your favorite junk food. Any suggestions?