Applegate Farms Organic Hot Dogs

Even though I used to enjoy them when I was a kid, I generally don't like "skinless" hot dogs nowadays. I'm not sure if my tastes have changed, or if the hot dogs really are nastier now than they were years ago, but in general, skinless dogs are fairly disgusting. Even brands I used to trust, like Nathan's and Hebrew National, seem subpar (both Nathan's and Oscar Mayer haven't been the same since they changed the recipes a few years back.) Only Sabrett's skinless franks are any good - but for the most part, I stick with locally made natural-casing hot dogs these days, such as Mucke's (made in Hartford CT) and Grote & Weigel (made in Bloomfield CT.) The flavor and quality are so superior to the truly awful national brands.

Many organic products, however, maintain a higher standard of quality than their run-of-the-mill counterparts. So I thought I would try an organic skinless hot dog brand to see if I could bring back a little of the magic I remember from when I was a kid.

Unfortuately, I chose a package of Applegate Farms Organic Uncured Beef Hot Dogs, which turned out to be perhaps the worst-tasting hot dogs I have ever eaten. It started with the texture: weird and plastic-like, there was a tough outer surface and a softer interior, all of which felt like it was trying to resist being chewed. The beef flavor was salty and artificial-tasting (not something I expected in an organic dog) and worst of all it was "enhanced" with a strong and acrid smoke flavoring which tasted more like "ashtray" than "smokehouse" and had an oily quality that made it linger in my mouth for hours.

Truly, truly horrible. I hope this isn't representative of what the typical organic hot dog is like, but for now I don't care. I'm sticking to natural-casing dogs.

.