The 13 brands tested on the taste are beef hot dogs-here are our favorites

Hot dogs a staple summer cooking: Minimal preparation is needed, easy to cook, and guaranteed to mass. You only need the bun, spicesCoat and, of course, hot dogs. You can choose from so many hot dogs in the grocery store, it's hard to know that you should buy. Fortunately, we did the hard work.

To find the best francs, we tested 13 different brands, uncoated beef hot dog, which is probably found at the local grocery store. The hot dogs were boiled in water, sliced ​​them, and then ate them in random order without knowing which Hot Dog brand was. After tasting the road 13 different hot dogs, we tabulated the results and crowned a general winner in which we were happy to bargain in our own cooking. We also found some second places that would be welcome to our grateOr

The criteria

A really great hot dog must be gentle, juicy and slender. It should be meaty, greasy and salty, but it should not be too salty or greasy. While welcoming sweets, hot dog should not be too sweet: just enough sugar to balance the other flavors. In the words of our editorial director, DanielHot dogs must have a “balanced spice profile that does not lean too far in one direction”. You should not be too garlic or onions and should hang in a sweet place where all the flavors merge. Hot dogs can be slightly smoky, but they can't taste like liquid smoke. They should not be hot pink; Rather, it should be a natural brownish-red meat shade. The skin should have a nice bite but should not be hard or chewy.

“While uploads are one of the biggest joy of hot dogs, a great hot dog can eat in the bun,” our spectacular director, Amandasays. (As far as Daniel is concerned, “First of all, they are perfectly paired with the mustard.” And yes, he throws a little shadow on the ketchup crowd.)

General winner

Boar's head is not infected with beef frankfurters

“Good classic taste,” Daniel wrote. “There are a few moments here. This is the first where the texture of the house drew my attention.” Like Daniel, everyone else commented on how much they enjoyed the texture of Hot Dog. Our Senior Social Media Editor, OutskirtsHe appreciated his “decent moment” and Amanda liked “salty but not super salty.” These hot dogs were gentle and juicy, only with the right amount of bite.

Second -place

• Nathan's famous skinless beef frank
• Kirkland signature beef hot dogs
• Teton Ranch bun length, bred beef hot dogs

Although none of the brands were as good as our winner, all of our tasters liked hot dogs from these brands and would be happy to serve them in a back yard. While I found Nathan's famous skinless beef frank A little too salty, other tasters enjoyed hot dogs and thought they were balanced. In particular, Daniel liked that hot dogs were “greasy and well rich”.

Amanda thought Kirkland signature beef hot dogs They were “hot dog-y” and Keli and I liked how juicy they were. These hot dogs had a gentle pinch of liquid smoke that Daniel didn't care, but eventually thought they were okay.

THE Teton Ranch bun length, bred beef hot dogs They didn't want the momentary tasters, but all the editors agreed that they were good and tasteful, like classic hot dogs, with fine smoke, which was not as unpleasant or artificial.

The racers

• 365 Organic Fiused Grass Fed with Hot Dog
• Applegate Naturals is a great organic beef hot dog
• The ball park is breeded beef hot dogs
• Best's Bun -sized beef frankfurters
• Boar's head is not infected with beef frankfurters
• Villa on the road with sincere dogs
• Hebrew national beef francs
• Kirkland signature beef hot dogs
• Nathan's famous skinless beef frank
• The hot dog of the ecological, non -familiar grass of the nature of nature
• Oscar Mayer Classic Beef Franks Hot Dogs
• Sabrett skinless beef Frankfurters bun size
• Teton Ranch bun length, bred beef hot dogs

By finishing

Beef is the main ingredient in all tasted hot dogs. Each contains water, salt and spices, with garlic, onions and peppers as the most common spices. There are many sweeteners (typically corn syrup, dextrose or sorbitol) and preservatives, stabilizers or acidity that are added to the texture, color and flavor of hot -dogs such as sodium -diacetate, sodium -sorbate, sodium sodium phosphate, sodium phosphat. to maintain. Sodium nitrite is a salt used to prepare for the formation of Charfuguterie and marinated meat. According to Harold McGee About food and cookingSodium nitrite contributes to the “sharp, spicy taste” while extending meat's shelf life and minimizing a risk similar to harmful bacteria Clostridium botulinum from growth.

Our winner, Boar's Head, contains only seven ingredients on the packaging: beef, water, salt, cultivated celery powder, natural flavor, peppers, sea salt and sheep. It has the fewest ingredients of all tested brands. This is the only brand that uses the animal cover for its hot dogs, making their sausage an excellent moment. (Use of animal inner intestine to embedy sausages is a traditional sausage making that leads to sausages, which, as Daniel says, “is not insignificant quality for hot dog.”) Although hot dogs from Boar's head do not contain added sodium nitrite, contained with bred celery powder naturally occurring nitrates and nitritesOr

Overall, our editors enjoyed most of the tasted hot dogs and did not have a clear preference for sausages made with nitrites and other additives. Two of the three seconds were made with famous skinless beef franc and Kirkland Signature beef with hot dogs additives and preservatives, and our tasters still enjoyed them. Our tasters generally prefer hot dogs that were not open smoke taste. However, examining the ingredients can be difficult to notice the flavoring of artificial smoke, as brands can use the term “flavoring” umbrella without determining the aroma.

Our testing methodology

All flavors are completely hidden and do without discussion. Tasters taste the samples in random order. For example, tasting may first taste the sample, while the B tasting will first taste the six samples. The purpose of this is to prevent the fatigue of the palate unfairly securing one pattern. The tasters are asked to fill out our tasting pages, which rank the samples to various criteria. All data are tabled and the results are calculated without an input of editors to get the least impartial representation as possible.