Vienna Beef question

I have a question about Vienna Beef Natural Casing Dogs...

There are two places out here where I get them... QTs and Larry's Dogs. At QTs, the casings are white where they separate at the ends, the skin is thick and sometimes takes a couple of chomps to break through, and the dog has a faint taste of buttermilk. At Larry's the dog has a thinner, snappier skin with dark ends and a more garlicy taste- no milk taste at all. Are these different varieties of VB natural casing or are the doggeries doing something different with them?

Thanks
Steve

I'm not a pro on Vienna dogs, but you saying White and Buttermilk in the same sentence has me thinking you have a bad batch of something... Need to page ChicagoStyleDog for his expertese!

I'm convinced they're both VB natural casing... Larry's showed me the box, and QTs has VB signs all over the place. I know both places put the dogs in the steamer for me when right when I ordered them. I've often tasted the milk flavor at one place, but never at the other. The place with the milk flavor had casings that were thick, so when you bit down, sometimes it would pull the innards out leaving the skin behind. Is this common on VB dogs? Could it be due to the way they were steamed... or the fact that they were frozen... or because of spoilage? I'm trying not to make a value judgement about the quality of the food until I figure out what's causing the difference in taste. This only seems to be an issue with the natural casing dogs. The skinless VB dogs I've had all taste the same. Is there milk in a hot dog?

See ya
Steve

Here's a list of all the ingredients from a Vienna Beef hot dog: beef, water, salt, corn syrup, dextrose, mustard, natural flavorings and colorings, garlic juice(garlic juice, salt),sodium erythrobate, sodium nitrate, and extracts of paprika. No milk. Having the innards pull out of the skin is uncommon. VB natural casings have that famous "snap" when you take a bite. They offer two types of natural casing hot dogs; the natural casing and the tied natural casing.

That was one difference. The QTs that tasted like sour milk had just plain ends with some white casing peeling back. The Larry's casing had tails... it was tied. Does anyone have an email contact for a P/R person at VB. I'd like to ask them about this before I blog it. My email is hotdogspot@hotdogspot.com

Thanks
Steve

I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but on the Vienna Beef website at http://www.viennabeef.com/distrib00.htm there is a direct link to contact the Los Angeles branch by e-mail.

This is just a hunch... Could it be that these ARE NOT Vienna Beef hot dogs? I have tried Hebrew National hot dogs, and they are just like the way you described them.

Also, I had the opportunity to tour the Vienna Beef facility and they DO NOT make hot dogs this way.

You can't tell a book by its cover!

I have to agree that you may have tasted another brand of dog, I have found a lot of vendors claiming that they are Vienna Beef, I grew up in Chicago and know Vienna Beef when I taste it. http://www.viennabeef.com should answer any questions as to the taste you experienced.

Happy Doggin'

Doggie-Dogg...

My two cents:

My hot dog stand "Real Deal Dogs" carries an 8 to 1 Vienna Beef natural casing, which is a sheep casing. This is the best, and I think the most expensive one they use -- 9, 8 and 7 to ones use this casing. I've been told that As you get larger (more meat) - the 5 and 4 to ones use a hog casing, which is a bit tougher. Other hot dogs/other brands which are longer (say foot-longs) cannot be made to hold together and must use a collagen casing. I don't think, though, that Vienna Beef even does a collagen.

I think the nature of the beast of a natural casing is that they are not so perfectly uniform. Sometimes they look "tied", sometimes they're a little split on the ends, and I've noticed minor length and girth differences from different cases.

I've never noticed any real color or taste change merely due the casing, however, I will say there is a BIG difference that happens when a casing dog is cooking. They start out uncooked as a pinkish beige and ripen and plump into a perfect rosy hue when steamed. But if you overcook them, which begins happening (depending on temp.) after an hour or two, the color begins mottling, they turn beigier, and the skin starts to toughen. Although they continue to taste great, they don't look as wonderful and they're not quite as juicy. My guess is that the two stands either use different methods of cooking (or different speeds or temps of steaming) their dogs, or that you were eating an overcooked one. I'm sure that many stands might continue to serve a less-than-perfectly-cooked dog to avoid tossing out a pricy quality Vienna Beef dog.

For fun I've tried grilling natural casing dogs and they tend to wrinkle and toughen. The new dog that Vienna Beef will be putting in the Target stores had to be reformulated to do right on a roller grill. The casing is different, and the sugar content was modified so that they don't look burned.

My new experiences have showed me how temps, times, and even how many dogs you stack or cook at a time affects how they cook and look. That "buttermilk" taste you describe however makes no sense to me, and does not seem normal in any way to my experience. I'd hate to think you might be getting a smell due to the way they clean or don't clean their equipment.

I've had great personal contact and input with the Vienna Beef reps. They are very friendly and accessible. But if your two stands are using exactly the same dog, I'd have to watch both of their whole process of preparing them to see what's going on.

-- happy dog eating... smeltfisher.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Doggie-Dogg

I have a question about Vienna Beef Natural Casing Dogs...

There are two places out here where I get them... QTs and Larry's Dogs. At QTs, the casings are white where they separate at the ends, the skin is thick and sometimes takes a couple of chomps to break through, and the dog has a faint taste of buttermilk. At Larry's the dog has a thinner, snappier skin with dark ends and a more garlicy taste- no milk taste at all. Are these different varieties of VB natural casing or are the doggeries doing something different with them?

Thanks
Steve

I emailed VB, but there was no reply. I'm positive they are both VB, and I know the sour dogs I ate were put in the steamer just for me. I can only guess that the sour ones were old and beginning to go bad.

See ya
Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Doggie-Dogg

I emailed VB, but there was no reply. I'm positive they are both VB, and I know the sour dogs I ate were put in the steamer just for me. I can only guess that the sour ones were old and beginning to go bad.

See ya
Steve

My emails with Vienna Beef (talking with Eliot Kaufman) take about 3 weeks to hit his desk and get a reply... I feel for this guy that probably spends his entire day doing nothing but investigating and replying to emails...

Simlpy said, VIenna Beef is not the same these days.
They are sneeking in cheeper formulas and fooling most people.
They have been caught selling briskets from milk cows (not illegle just cheeper!)
The original family is out! Only the Bodman family remain, who care about nothing but money.
Dont be fooled by the name. It's now just a another "Mistery Dog".

Steve Doggie-Dogg~

The dog that tastes like buttermilk cannot be from Vienna Beef. QT's might have the signage of Vienna Beef all over, but that does not mean that they are using the product. They might have at one time, which is why they have Vienna Beef signs.

I eat at the Vienna Beef Factory store in Chicago everyday. Not once in the time that I go there (which is religiously) have I encountered a hot dog that tastes like buttermilk. The Hot Dog you described at Larry's is what a Vienna Hot Dog should taste like. I took part in a blind taste test between Vienna, Best Kosher, Oscar Mayer, Chicago Red Hots and a few others. I spit every single other one out because 3 of them tasted like corn syrup, one of them tasted as you said, like sour milk, and the Vienna one tasted like....heaven

If you want to talk to them, I have called Vienna in Chicago before. They have a number, which is at the website. 773.278.7800. It puts you to the operator and if you ask for someone...hmm, let me think. Probably in Customer Service or Sales. It might take some bouncing around, but they are more than willing to listen to you.

As for oscar1---
you my friend sound like you work for some other Hot Dog Company by the way you are bashing the original hot dog makers. Vienna Beef was founded by 2 brothers at the World's Fair in Chicago who were from Vienna Austria. The local channel WTTW had something about them on the other day. Plus, it is mentioned in the wonderful book "The Devil in the White City" which is about the world's fair in Chicago.


~it's a bird, it's a plane.
It's WEENIE GIRL!