Pick up most any summer food magazine (not counting Eating Well) and you’ll find ground meat in a casing suggested for BBQ fare.  The fact that sausages — hot dogs, bratwurst — are trendy this summer, sparked me to do a blind tasting for my Fourth of July BBQ to see whether one dog out shined the others.

And instead of just mustard and pickles, I suggested combinations of various homemade topping for the dogs that included:

  • Shredded Asiago Cheese & Garlic Relish
  • Crumbled Feta and Cider-Braised Leeks and Apples
  • Cooked Dal and Tzatziki
  • Beer-Braised Sliced Onions and/or Caraway Sauerkraut

I then offered my guests the following dogs, grilled and served unidentified, asking them which was the best wurst:

  • Hebrew National All Beef
  • Hebrew National All Beef – reduced fat
  • Ball Park Beef Angus – lower fat full taste
  • Niman Ranch Fearless Uncured Beef Franks
  • Niman Ranch Brats
  • Hillshire Farms Hot & Spicy Smoked Sausage
  • Hillshire Farms Beer Brats

As the dogs came off the grill, they were identified only by “A,” “B,” “C,” … with most guests downing two to four dogs to assist in the taste test.

“A’s the best.”
“No one like C!”
“C’s my favorite.”
“I love this spicy one.”
“It’s B!”
“Brats are my fav.”

Which one rose to the top? Not a one, but that’s perhaps because I included only top notch, good-tasting dogs for the testing. What did spark discussion and a promise  to purchase were the fact that the lower fat ones were among their favorites.