Jason Perlow

Not sure if its close to where you are going, but King of Thai Noodle House was a solid and inexpensive Thai restaurant when I was last out there, and I have several friends that live in the area that eat there several times a month. I recall their Beef Pad Kaprow with Fried Egg over rice was particularly good, as was their Pad Thai. Limited menu, with basically only noodle and rice plate dishes but still excellent. I think they have 2 locations. King of Thai Noodles 639 Clement Street at 7th Avenue 415-752-5198 http://kingofthainoodl.citysearch.com/

Right, but the Nathans and Sabrett's companies are generally regarded as Kosher-style, irregardless of whether or not one of their particular products has a natural casing. Most of the ones you find in the supermarket have no casing at all, but we chose the natural casings because they distinguished themselves from the others in the group.

People looked at me very strangely yesterday coming home with this: In fact, I actually had to explain to some people... the check out girl gave me a quizzical look and said "yo man, whatcha gonna do with all them hot dogs?" "Its for a web site. We're going to test them" "damn, that Internet shit is crazy!"

Scrambled Eggs with Zataar is a popular breakfast item in Israel.

The pork and mail-order dogs such as the Usingers, Niman and Schaller & Weber will be evaluated at some point, probably along with the mail order bratwursts at some later date. It will have to require strategic ordering of the product so that they all arrive basically at the same time, that is within a 2 to 3 day period. Hopefully we can convince some of the suppliers to send us review samples, because it could get very expensive.

Executive Summary of Perlow Supermarket Hot Dog Roundup: So here was the concept: Five adults are going to eat hot dogs anyway until they are ready to vomit during the 4th of July. Now, even though two of them didn’t show up, we decided to go along with this anyway. Fourteen brands, 29.6 ounces of meat (that’s 1 hot dog per package, for those of you taking count, each split 3 ways). We decided to each eat only 1/3 of a dog per brand, because we aren’t Kobayashi “Tsunami” Takeru. Because we are purists, we ate them unadorned, making sure we introduced condiments on the second bite, if at all. Because we didn’t want to confuse the issue, at least for this initial roundup, all hot dogs were 100 percent beef, except one which was a bison/beef hybrid, and the other which was a beef/chicken hybrid. The intent of this is that hot dogs with pork, although standard for much of the country, are considered a very different thing around here (meaning the New York area) and thus will likely receive a different roundup at another time. All were grilled on a gas-fuel Weber with the simplest possible cooking method – no basting, no smoking, and we did not split the dogs, which we felt would not have represented what most people do on their grills. Overall, Kosher dogs did pretty well. The best liked of the Kosher dogs, which was #3 overall, was a hot dog completely new to all of us, International Glatt Kosher, which likely is NOT available nationwide. This came as a complete surprise to us, because generally the term “Glatt” as pure is it might be from a Kosher standpoint, does not bring associations of great taste. We all thought this dog has really good spicyness and an appropriate level of saltiness to balance it out. The surprise is despite our perception of adequate saltiness, the dog that we reviewed from International Glatt Kosher is in fact a reduced-sodium (and also reduced-fat) product. However, the amazing thing is we couldn’t tell that was the case. The texture was good, and was somewhat fatty/greasy but not inappropriate given the high flavor and texture profile, but again remember this is also a reduced-fat product, so the fact that we even considered it to be slightly fatty tasting is again somewhat bewildering. An interesting surprise (although one reviewer was entirely cold on it) was the Abeles & Heymann Kosher Bison/Beef hybrid, the most expensive hot dog we surveyed. Spicyness and saltiness were all medium level, but all agreed it was a very firm dog and not very greasy. The Bison taste blended well and was not overpowering. One reviewer thought the texture was “somewhat like baloney” but the others didn’t agree. Well-received was the NY Kosher Deli dog by Meal Mart. The reviewers noted an unexpected herbal taste, some slight spiciness and about average saltiness. Reviewers disagreed on the greasiness, two finding it to be very low, but the other finding it to be very high. Hebrew National is considered one of the old standbys of Kosher dogs. It’s certainly one of the cheapest dogs in our entire survey, even allowing for different size packages. The thing about Hebrew National is that it wasn’t as good as any of us remembered. For one thing, it was among the softest textured dogs in the survey. Overall we all thought it was fairly greasy and although the scores for saltiness and spicyness were split, it just wasn’t the standard of excellence we had expected from our memories of those commercials with Uncle Sam and God. The final Kosher dog was Rubashkin’s Aaron’s Classic. Now we aren’t very sure about what is so classic about this dog, because it’s a beef/chicken hybrid. To be fair, we don’t know if there is a Rubashkin’s pure beef dog, but if there is, we hope its much better than this. Words like “slimy”, “mushy” and “nightmare” were thrown around the eating area, although one reviewer didn’t think it was bad as the other two. All agreed it was very, very soft textured, although there was wide disagreement about the greasiness level. Two “Kosher-style” dogs were surveyed. For those who don’t know, Kosher-style dogs are prepared with the same ingredient standards and methods, but without Rabbinical supervision. As with traditional Kosher dogs (not hybrids), they never include pork. It should come to no surprise that Nathan’s kicked some serious ass. The dog we surveyed with natural casing is the identical item to that which is served in Nathan’s fast-food franchises, and is generally regarded as far superior to the skinless version also sold in supermarkets. Overall, it was our second-best rated dog. Although the spicyness and saltiness figures don’t stand out as extreme in either direction, something about the actual blend of spices just plain works. A firm dog, generally regarded as not that greasy if cooked properly – it’s the classic, all-American hot dog. Nathan Handwerker knew what he was doing. Generally mentioned in the same breath as Nathan’s, at least by most New Yorkers is Sabrett’s, again with natural casing. One reviewer liked it almost as much as Nathan’s, but the other two were fairly cold on it, perceiving quite a difference. One reviewer thought the texture, although medium-firm, somehow felt wrong. Another reviewer was very pleased with the assertive garlickyness and spicyness of this dog. Even the two reviewers that were critical of it recognize that this is the classic “dirty water dog” throughout New York City and perhaps boils better than other brands. However, this was not a boiling survey. Two brands, coincidentally purchased at Whole Foods, made a point of being Nitrate-free and uncured. Well, maybe a little bit of curing might have improved them, because overall they weren’t well-liked. Han’s All-Natural Uncured Beef rated about as low as anything in our survey, and reactions varied from thinking it tasted “bad” to thinking it tasted like “nothing at all”. Very soft, not very spiced, not very salty, there really wasn’t much going for this dog. Welshire Farms Old-Fashioned Beef faired a little bit better – one reviewer in fact thought it was the second-best dog overall, but the other two disagreed very strongly. One perceived an “aftertaste”, the other thought the spice mix was “slightly odd”, but the one thing they were unanimous about was that it was by far the largest dog that was surveyed – literally twice the weight of several of the others, at a whopping 3.2 ounces each. It wasn’t a disaster, but it’s really no reason to visit Whole Foods and spend $4.99 on a package of Hot Dogs – although arguably you have your value per weight. The two hot dogs which arguably every person reading this can most easily get their hands on are also are among the worst. The dog that inspired generations of Wienermobiles and had one of the most memorable theme songs of any food product in the world, Ocscar M-A-Y-E-R, may have a Semetic name that implies a tie to Kosher dogs of quality, but at least from the reactions of our surveyors, is light years behind that standard. Let’s just say that if it’s the best tasting hot dog in your local supermarket’s refrigerated case, please, please consider mail ordering. Please note that again we are only surveying non-pork hot dogs, but really, if you’re having an Oscar Mayer, its questionable if you are really eating beef in the first place. There is a bad artificial smoky taste, it’s a very soft dog, woefully underspiced, very salty and at least two of our reviewers perceived it as very greasy, although the third disagreed. All agreed however, that it was a waste of time, or at least a waste of a nice hot dog bun. A similar brand available widely across the country is Ballpark. We tried the Grillmaster Beef, a new variant, whose commercials have been subject to ridicule on the Internet due to its self-proclaimed Girthyness. It rated pretty badly on our survey, not near the depths of Oscar Meyer, but still we weren’t impressed. It’s biggest problem – its bland. It’s a little less salty than Oscar Meyer, which was all salt and no spice, but the general reaction was that it tasted like a big stick of baloney. Last, but not least, are the Deli Dogs. This is an arbitrary label that we have chosen to convey the fact that while these dogs MAY be available nationwide, they are generally sold in channels that are related to the distribution of food service deli meat products which can be either regional or nationwide, depending on the success of that brand. Hebrew National and Oscar Meyer started out that way, but have long since transcended into such mass-produced mainstream products and packaging and these so-called Deli Dogs may be headed that way, but in our opinion were not yet there, since their target market seems to be on deli counters and deli-meat products for food service use. First up is Thumann’s Push Cart style. These were the thinnest, lightest dogs we tried and were regarded as “fairly ordinary” although not unlikeable. Think of any value we tested – Spicyness, Texture, Greasiness/Fattyness, Saltiness – and it hit around the middle score. And among the potential 30 points maximum from all our judges, it scored exactly a 15. In other words, it was sitting right there in the middle. Surprisingly, it hedged out Hebrew National by 1 point. Next’s up is Best’s Beef Reduced Sodium Frankfurters. This is not to be confused with Best’s Kosher, an unrelated Chicago-based brand we did not have access to. This Newark New-Jersey company has been described as the default hot dog vendor used in Italian Hot Dog stands in the area surrounding its city of origin. It scored 4th highest on our entire survey, despite being low-sodium. Particularly liked was the texture of the dog, which while rated Medium on average, seemed pleasing. Finally, the last of our reviewed dogs is one that we arguably could have grouped under Kosher-style because it comes in a natural casing and probably adheres to the same standards. We’re talking about Boar’s Head Natural Casing, and we’ve saved it for last because it was in the top 3 of all our reviewers and overall scored the best on average of everything in our survey. Extremely firm, extremely well-spiced, somewhat greasy but not inappropriately, and even somewhat salty, still it worked and the snap that we all noticed when biting into it seemed to seal the deal. Likely this brand is available in most markets and while we went into this survey not having had it that often, that will probably change in the future. Simply having tasted it in comparison with all these other dogs we just finally noticed what a class operation Boar’s Head really is. We promise this isn’t the end, but we are all hot-dogged out and will have to consume the remainder of this many packages in some creative way to get past this in order to someday have a next round with pork-based and mail order premium brands. Attached by the following link is our scorecard, which went down in the following way: the choices highlighted in tan/orange were our worst scoring, and the ones highlighted in cyan blue are the best. Spicyness scores were rated on a 1-5 scale, although this scale was not a qualitative rating but only a general feeling about the intensity of the seasoning. In some cases, a lower or average score could work better for that particular dog. Texture was rated as Soft, Medium or Firm, occasionally with a plus or minus thrown in if we were indecisive. In general, Firm was better although again this could be a bias of this particular group. Fattiness/Greasiness was rated Low, Medium or High and in general, less greasy dogs were regarded better although there are a few notable exceptions. Saltiness again is not a qualitative rating but a general sense of the strength of that quality. The overall ratings are the one qualitative number we imposed. This is how we actually feel about the dog – how much we actually enjoyed eating it. Some of us were tougher than others, but as a relative number to each other we feel it is fairly reliable. Hot Dog Scorecard (click here) Abeles & Heymann Bison/Beef, Ball Park Grillmaster Beef, Best's Beef Frankfurters (Reduced Sodium) Boars' Head Natural Casing, Han's All Natural Uncured Beef, Hebrew National Beef Franks International Glatt Kosher (Reduced Fat/Sodium), Nathan's Natural Casing, New York Kosher Deli (Meal Mart) Oscar Meyer Beef Bun Length, Rubashkin's Aaron's Classic (Beef/Chicken), Sabrett's Natural Casing Thumann's Push Cart Style, Wilshire Farms Old Fashioned Beef Uncured

Here's a preview of what is coming tonight:

Tonight, at the Perlow household, we will be evaluating many brands of Beef and Kosher hot dogs and doing a comprehensive taste test among them all. Results to follow.

Interesting. Thanks Klink and Irwin for some educational insight into this cut of meat. Clearly, theres a big difference between "Strip Loin of Beef" and "Tenderloin" and what you can do with them. A little explanation of the terminology goes a long way.

Yeah, I think I could do this as well.

Thats a really cool page, Sue-on.

You DID buy a whole bunch of steaks stuck together. You will not be able to reproduce the results of smoking a whole prime rib (which can be done) with this cut of meat. If you want some smokey flavor you should get some hickory or mesquite chips, wet them in some water, let them soak for an hour or two (overnight even better) and put them in the firebox or in an aluminum tin directly above one of the burners, and don't put the meat on until several minutes later when you start to see the wood chips smoke. But I really think hickory or mesquite will ruin the natural flavor of this cut, which is subtle to begin with. The flavor isn't as beefy as some of the other parts of the animal.

Yeah, that sounds like both sides, not just the tenderloin. In any case, you should NOT smoke this. In fact, I might even say that you should simply sear this on the grill at high heat, and then finish off at a much lower tempature to bring the whole thing to medium rare. That, or cut it into steaks and grill individually. Let it rest for like 6-8 minutes before cutting into it. Don't use a rub. Kosher salt, garlic (mashed into some olive oil and spread along the top of the loin) and coarsely ground pepper. Thats it. If you do decide to brine this, which is probably not necessary, make it a simple one.

I assume this is a primal cut of beef tenderloin, right? with the filet mignon, the tip and the chateaubriand? Its a long thing about the size of a long french bread loaf? In Cryovac?

Hell yes you want to grill it, and you want to eat it medium rare. Beef Loin just doesn't have the right texture and toughness for long cooking and smoking. You'll destroy it after several hours in that smoker. You want tougher, more fibrous cuts of meat so that it has room to tenderize with all the interlaced fat so it doesnt dry out and stays moist. Sausages is another thing you can smoke, but make sure you have plenty of fat content in the meat mix.

Please don't do that to a beef loin. Plate cut of beef brisket, yes. Pork shoulder or Ribs, yes. Beef Loin? I think you may have to do some time if you do that.

Interesting, I basically avoid buying white rums (unless its Rhum Agricole, and thats a whole different ballgame) unless I have the ability to sample them first. I was able to taste the N.O. rum, which is why I bought it. I still prefer the aged stuff.

Helen, why are hopped beers heavily taxed? Why not all beer and wine?

Yeah, I was the dumbass that said that. But I think that adage primarily goes for the industrially made white rum products, not the stuff from smaller producers. And if you are using it in a sissy drink like a daquiri you won't taste the nuances between producers either. To me, Bacardi White, Captain Morgan White, Don Q and and number of other mass marketed white rums taste the same. Obviously you are going to get a lot of variation if you are using locally made molasses, or if you are using different grades. For example the white rum from New Orleans Rum, which uses blackstrap molasses, tastes totally different from Bacardi or from most commercial rums I have had.

Greek/Mediterranean-Style picnic spread for 4th of July Festivities tonight Turkish/Iranian Egglplant Salad and Baba Ghanouj. Mexican Corn Salad (okay, maybe its not entirely a Mediterranean meal) with roasted corn, sundried tomato, fresh chopped tomato, roasted red pepper, red onion, parsley, cilantro, lime juice and chopped up dried chipotle pepper. Pork Chops Seasoned Greek Style, which will be cut apart and put into pita bread sandwiches with the Tzadziki. Pork Chop meat cut apart and trimmed, with cut up roasted mushrooms Tzadziki Sauce

Thought you guys might want to see our picnic spread for tonight, inspired by this thread: Greek/Mediterranean-Style picnic spread for 4th of July Festivities tonight Turkish/Iranian Egglplant Salad and Baba Ghanouj. Mexican Corn Salad (okay, maybe its not entirely a Mediterranean meal) with roasted corn, sundried tomato, fresh chopped tomato, roasted red pepper, red onion, parsley, cilantro, lime juice and chopped up dried chipotle pepper. Pork Chops Seasoned Greek Style, which will be cut apart and put into pita bread sandwiches with the Tzadziki. Pork Chop meat cut apart and trimmed, with cut up roasted mushrooms Tzadziki Sauce

Cool product, Beans. When I run out of my stock of Sirop I'll have to try the stuff.

Reporting back: It was a cucumber-vodka martini. My friends had purple basil mojitos. MMMMMMM on both counts. Where does one buy Sirop de Canne Antillais? I googled and came up emtpy. Ed used to sell it at his Yahoo ecommerce site but he's out of stock on it. http://store.yahoo.com/rhumsite/dosucasy1.html The one he sold is made by Dormoy. Its also made by Clement a few other companies, but its extremely difficult to find in the US. Actually I am pretty sure it is unobtanium. Both of the two I have are produced on the island of Martinique. I bought the Clement stuff on St. Martin and the Dormoy stuff from Ed. My understanding is that the British-Made product Lyle's Golden Syrup is similar to Sirop de Canne but I have never tried it. If you Froogle it you can get it fairly easily. As Ed says, the product called Sugar In the Raw can be used in the place of Sirop de Canne. I've had it that way prepared on St. Martin.

It requires special manufacturing equipment and is a patented process. http://science.howstuffworks.com/question114.htm http://www.delphion.com/details?pn=US04289794__

There are only 5 Ethiopian restaurants that I know of -- Meskerem, which I have been to, and is pretty decent but I haven't been there since Rachel and I first got married, which is almost 9 years ago. 468 W 47th St they have a second branch: Meskerem Ethiopian Cuisine 124 Macdougal St There is also Queen of Sheba 650 10th Ave Awash 947 Amsterdam Ave Ethiopian Restaurant 1582 York Ave Nile Ethiopian Restaurant 103 W 77TH St I haven't been to any of the others besides Meskerem.