Zinfandel Shines, Good Dog, Good Dog, Fries with That? Catsup, Catchup and Ketchup, Half a Glass and More in This Edition of Woody’s Whine!

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 Good Dog, Good Dog

At a point in July it was “Hotdog Week” and the other member of the tasting panel decided to order some Vienna Frankfurters shipped from Chicago – so a tasting ensued.

My research came up with three or four national brands that rotated from first to second place in taste tests and I was able to find two of them but not one of the winners, Oscar Meyer – we do live at the edge of the earth you know.

Consumer Reports Magazine of all sources reported some interesting research and opinions that I thought I’d share a taste of – get it?

The CR writer felt that most of the hot dogs you find at the grocery store will taste perfectly acceptable on a good potato bun, especially if it’s heaped with relish, mustard, chili cheese, or whatever. But some truly are better than others, and while you can’t really go wrong, there are ways to go really right.

CR – Editor’s Choice: Nathan’s Famous Skinless Beef Franks

“The original, the best, the pinnacle of a hot dog.” This one comes from one of the oldest hot dog companies in America, founded by a Polish immigrant who worked at a Coney Island hot dog stand. “The Goldilocks of hot dogs: crisp skin, subtle spice, uniform texture, and juicy.”

The Whine Panel – 3^rd place – Neither one of us were impressed with the Nathans’ Famous dog; “nice bite” was met with panel members “tough”, “decent flavor” was met with “nothing special”.

#2 CR – The Umami Dog: Hebrew National Beef Franks

This hot dog is so good that it’s almost unfair to classify it as second best. It is, in many ways, as good as a Nathan’s hot dog. This beef frank has a fatty, umami-rich flavor that tastes a little saltier than the Nathan’s and has a smoky, well-spiced complexity. 

The Whine Panel – My #1, nice easy bite, terrific spices, good sized dog, could have had two. On the other side, “It was good” – that’s all.

Vienna Frankfurter -#1 choice of the panel member with wining points of; “a good soft bite and size” and the comment “I could eat more”. I think it was a “homer vote”. I thought it was an OK dog but it was third place for me.

Our WGWW tasting was hotdog only, with mustard for the second bite only and for the record I did steam our three contestants.

Consumer Reports did select the Oscar Mayer Uncured Original Wieners as third place; a kid-friendly hot dog that doesn’t skimp on flavor, with a slightly a smoky flavor and a tasty, delightfully bouncy texture, that’s simple to appeal to young, less sophisticated palates. So maybe we didn’t miss anything.

Consumer Reports

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Fries With That?

And of course you all celebrated National French Fry Day on July 14^{th   –} what you missed it? While I didn’t have a day to be out sampling fries either, a young reporter from our local paper, the Press Democrat, spent the better part of a day doing just that and came up with the following ratings based mostly on the temperature of the fries when she got them.

I will admit to being a real fry guy and do in fact agree with her findings with the exception of listing Five Guys as a fast-food location. Their fries are in a different class, cooked to order and served in brown bags with the grease spots installed but it’s a get out of the car and go in place and their burgers are pretty terrific also.

A Rating range of 4.2 – 2.4 on a 5-1 scale

Five Guys “piping hot”, Burger King, Carl’s Jr. (Hardy’s) Chick-fil-a, Jack in The Box, KFC, In-N-Out, (they are the worst) Wendy’s, McDonalds @ only 3?, Sonic, poor temp, (I can’t stand any of their food). Curious for your thoughts?

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Catsup, Catchup and Ketchup

So you’ve got your hot dog and your fries so you must need some catup, catchup or do you prefer ketchup?

I complete my trilogy by sharing a brief version of the very long and complicated story of ketchup and it starts and travels though time and many spaces. Keep in mind that ketchup, Worchester sauce and many other flavored sauces were used at time of their invention to cover taste of let’s call it, poor food storage, as there was no refrigeration.

Let’s start with a reference to Spanish, Chinese and Cantonese cooking, the British were in Southeast Asia and had these sauces were mushroom were a base possibly with anchovies and used as fish sauce. The Dutch in the 1700’s find a sauce in Indonesia called kecap.

The sauce returns to England and many versions and spellings appear in a book noted by a chemist of the time in 1831 who counted three popular spellings: ketchup, catsup, and catchup. “These three words indicate a sauce,” the author writes, “of which the name can be pronounced by everybody, but spelled by nobody.” In line with the times, the book notes that ketchup is the product of “the liquefaction of salted mushrooms.” It makes no mention of tomatoes.

A version of the sauce eventually arrives in the U.S. and then tomatoes show up in 1812 and with vinegar, salt and wine, sugar was a later addition after the Civil War. Cooks began adding more and more vinegar and sugar, each to balance out the other, until ketchup arrived at the sweet-and-sour flavor profile to which we’re accustomed today.

In 1876, the world of ketchup changed forever as a first-generation German American named Henry J. Heinz launched his bottled version of ketchup—spelled “catsup” and the rest is tasty history.

I like ketchup on burgers and hot dogs along with mustard and relish and especially on fries and even better if I can mix some into mayo, yum.

Epicurious

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Half a Glass

A Glass of Red Wine May Fight Frailty

Researchers reported findings that key antioxidants present in red wine may reduce the likelihood of frailty in adults over 55. A team of scientists found that nutrients in wine and foods could help prevent the onset of frailty in adults over the age of 55. Their research suggests that adults who consume high levels of flavonols—antioxidants found commonly in wine, green tea, dark chocolate, citrus fruits, apples, berries and coffee—have a significantly lower chance of developing frailty as they age. They found particular benefits from the flavonol called quercetin, which is found in red wine.

Drink up!

WGN reported that Buona went head to head with Johnnies Beef to get into the finals against Jay’s.

“Congrats to Buona for winning it all! A  great run by Jay’s, as the championship came down to just 1% of 70,883 votes being the difference.”

I was so thrilled upon reading all of this as I had local connections to, WGN, the contest sponsor and two of the finalists.

I have had/have friends at WGN, Turano bread in Berwyn, is one of the major suppliers of Italian bread in the Chicagoland and regional area and I was a client as the bakery is three miles straight south from our Chicago home and I used them for my catering work.

Johnnie’s Beef, “over by da” in Italian family dominated Elmwood Park, was is about two miles west of our house on North Ave. and Buona my favorite, was only a mile west and their headquarters were again only three miles south of us, quite the delicious, foodie neighborhood. I really do miss it all as we were surrounded by ethnic food stores and restaurants.

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If you’re looking for a nice Cabernet this may be the one you want at less than $35

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According to Airbnb We Moved to The Right Place