Aldi's Deutsche Kuche Bavarian Brand Wieners

Here's another one of those "rotational" items that cycle in and out of ALDI stores now and then: Deutsche Kuche Bavarian Brand Wieners. They're decent natural-casing wieners made by Specialty Sausage Co. LLC (Bobak Sausage Co.) in Chicago.

My favorite way to enjoy natural-casing dogs is to steam them; it plumps them up as they heat and coaxes the buns to a delicate pillowy softness.

Don't look for any kind of assertive frankfurter flavor in these wieners. They're made of pork and veal, gently seasoned with black pepper, and lightly smoked. The flavor profile is similar to that of a high-quality veal luncheon loaf, smoked. Not too bad. I would certainly recommend them, especially if you're lucky enough to get them at the end of the sale cycle when the store starts discounting items to get them off the shelf (you might not want to wait that long for these because I bet they don't last that long.)

The somewhat bland nature of this dog lends itself to topping. Chili sauce was pretty good (the smoke was a nice compliment, and the veally flavor came through nicely) but the kraut and mustard pictured above might have been too over-the-top - the sharp tastes of the mustard and kraut totally overwhelmed the rest of the combo.