From Our Test Lab...
The 9 Brands of Dogs We TestedSince
the choice of toppings is critical to the successful creation and enjoyment of a Chicago Dog, we decided to review a variety of toppings and choose the brands we think are the best. We also spent a lot of time taste-testing many of the popular hot dog brands available from your local grocery store. Our results may surprise you!

Our goal is to to help you to select a good brand dog and achieve a perfect blend of ingredients to create the ultimate Chicago Style Hot Dog. Please note that our ratings only indicate the suitability of a brand for use in creating a Chicago Dog. Our ratings are NOT an indicator of product quality.

Hot Dog Ratings
We went to a few local grocery stores and purchased nine popular hot dog brands to include in our taste test. Each of these brands should be readily available nation-wide. Before we tell you about our testing, we should take a moment to introduce Matt, the newest member of our testing team. Matt also works with Kevin and Mitch as a Quality Assurance Engineer.

The following brands were included in our test: Vienna Beef Franks, Nathan's Famous Beef Franks, Klement's Beef Chicago Brand Hot Dogs, Hebrew National Beef Franks, Johnsonville Stadium Style Beef Franks, Best's Kosher Beef Frankfurters, Boar's Head Natural Casing Beef Frankfurters, Oscar Mayer Deli Style Beef Franks and Ball Park Bun Size Beef Franks.

The idea behind our testing was to make it as close to a blind taste-test as possible. For curiosity, the length of each dog was measured and recorded prior to heating. Each brand was assigned a number for identification purposes and carefully kept track of while they were heated to perfection on a Weber charcoal grill. When the dogs were ready, we conducted our testing. Each brand was rated independently by all three of us on the following criteria: Taste, Texture, Appearance, Snap and Juiciness.

After pouring over the test data and compiling our test results, we chose the top four brands. A couple of weeks later we treated our co-workers to a true Chicago Style lunch featuring our top four dogs. This gave us the opportunity to do a real-world test and pick our winners.  Drum roll please... 

Our Conclusion: Top three winners in order of preference - Best's Kosher Beef FrankfurtersKlement's Beef Chicago Brand Hot Dogs, and Oscar Mayer Deli Style Beef Franks. All three are excellent and highly recommended.

Brand

Description / Review

Rating

Best's Kosher Beef Frankfurters

Best's Kosher Beef Frankfurters are our #1 choice. They have a great flavor that sets it apart from the rest. They are juicy and not as salty as some of the others. The Best's Kosher brand will help you create the perfect Chicago Dog. We prefer the jumbo size version!

Excellent

Klement's Beef Chicago Brand Hot Dogs

Klement's Beef Chicago Brand Hot Dogs are our #2 choice. They have a nice mild taste, are juicy, but not greasy. They have a tougher skin compared to the other brands.

Klement's is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Excellent

Oscar Mayer Deli Style Beef Franks

The Oscar Mayer Deli Style Beef Franks were our #3 choice. We were pleasantly surprised that Oscar Mayer ranked this high. They have a mild, smokey/garlic flavor. They are juicy, but not greasy and are long and large in size. 

Oscar Mayer is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin.

Excellent

So, where's the Vienna Beef? Believe it or not, Vienna didn't even make it into our top five. We were totally shocked! Our only explanation is that there must be a recipe difference between the what is available to the consumer versus commercial retailers. Bottom line...if making Chicago Dogs at home there are certainly better choices than Vienna brand.

While the majority of the brands we tested were rated as "Good", Hebrew National and Ball Park Franks stood out as two of the least liked. Both these brands received a "Poor" rating and cannot be recommended. Other noteworthy items: If you like a thick natural casing, Boar's Head would be a good choice. Nathan's was good, but we all agreed that they taste more like a Polish Sausage rather than a hot dog.

Mitch & the Oscar Mayer WeinermobileThe surprise of the day definitely had to be the Oscar Mayer Deli Style Beef Franks. We were pretty sure that the Oscar Mayer contender would end up near the bottom of our reviews. Instead, we were pleasantly surprised that they ranked in the top three. We have never been a big fan of Oscar Mayer hot dogs, but their Deli Style Beef Franks are awsome.  Now that we have a new found respect for their Deli Style Franks, maybe Oscar Mayer will give us a ride in the WeinerMobile!

Neon Green Relish
Our Conclusion: Rolf's Old World Original "Deli Style" Sweet Pickle Relish and Sweet Super Green Pickle Relish from the Puckered Pickle Company are our favorites.

Brand

Description / Review

Rating

Rolf's

Rolf's "Deli Style" Sweet Pickle Relish is one of the best. Not only is the color a traditional nice bright green, but the flavor is incredible. Rolf's has a nice flavor that sets it apart from the rest. Even in our "blind" taste test, Rolf's was the one of the favorites.

Available in Madison at Woodman's and at Jewel in the Chicago area. We are searching for an online source to buy Rolf's.

Excellent

Puckered Pickle Co

Sweet Super Green Pickle Relish from the Puckered Pickle Company is fantastic. This relish is the brightest green and also the sweetest of the bunch. The flavor is excellent and a great compliment to any Chicago Dog. This company is headquartered in Chicago. They also have incredible pickles.

Available in Madison at Sentry Foods Hilldale.  For availability elsewhere, Click Here to visit their website.

Excellent

Vienna

The Vienna branded relish is a product of CHIPICO (Chicago Pickle Company). As expected, it is bright neon green and is a perfect compliment to your Chicago Dog.

Available at most grocery stores in the Chicago area.
In the Madison area, available at Jenifer Street Market (Madison) and Miller and Sons Supermarket (Verona).

Excellent

Pickles
Our Conclusion: Puckered Pickle Co Kosher Crunchy Dill Pickle Spears, Claussen Kosher Dill Spears and Boar's Head Kosher Dill Spears are our favorites and the perfect choice for your Chicago Dog. These brands are found in your grocery store's refrigerated section.

Brand

Description / Review

Rating

Puckered Pickle Co

The Kosher Crunchy Dill Pickle Spears from the Puckered Pickle Company are incredible! They are the perfect compliment to any Chicago Dog. They have a great flavor and a nice crunch.

The company is headquartered in Chicago. They also have great relish!

Available in Madison at Sentry Foods Hilldale. For availability elsewhere, Click Here to visit their website.

Excellent

Claussen Kosher Dill

The Claussen Kosher Dill Spears are an excellent choice for your Chicago Dog. They have a mild flavor and a nice crunch. These pickles are available in halves, spears or as a whole pickle. The jar says that they are crisp and delicious. We definitely agree!

Available at many grocery stores. Click Here to visit their website.

Excellent

The Boar's Head Kosher Dill Pickle Spears are a perfect choice especially if you like your pickles with a bolder taste. They are crunchy and have a stronger garlic flavor than the Claussen brand. The pickles are more substantial and longer than some of the other brands.

Available in Madison at Sentry Foods Hilldale.  For availability elsewhere, Click Here to visit their website. 

Excellent

Sport Peppers
Our Conclusion: The Dell'Alpe, IL Primo, Alpino and Marconi brand sport peppers are our favorites.

Brand

Description / Review

Rating

The Dell' Alpe sport peppers have a medium heat, good texture, are easy to bite through and do not have a long lasting aftertaste. The only negative comment is that the peppers were very inconsistent in size.

Click Here to visit the Dell' Alpe Website
Available at Gino's Deli (Madison)

Excellent

The IL Primo’s had an interesting taste which I would call sweet and spicy. The peppers are light green and have a waxy texture reminiscent of banana peppers. The size is consistent. Overall a nice pepper.

Available in Madison at Woodman's.

Click Here to buy IL Primo online

Excellent

The Alpino sport peppers are definitely on the high side of the heat spectrum, however, they are not overpowering.  We love their consistent size and juiciness. Alpino Brand peppers are a product of the Puckered Pickle Company.

Available in Madison at Sentry Foods Hilldale and possibly Woodman's. For availability elsewhere, Click Here to visit the Puckered Pickle website.

Excellent

The Marconi sport peppers are hot, but their flavor blends nicely with the rest of the dog. They have a consistent size and are long in length...two peppers nicely fit the length of the bun. Their firm skin holds in the juices and gives them a little crunch when you bite them.

Available in Madison at Woodman's and Copps.  For availability elsewhere, Click Here to visit their website. 

.

Excellent

The Vienna branded sport peppers were surprisingly the hottest of the peppers we tested. They have a good texture and a consistent size. But because of the heat, they tend to overpower the other flavors of the Chicago Dog.

Available at most grocery stores in the Chicago area.
In the Madison area, available at Jenifer Street Market (Madison) and Miller and Sons Supermarket (Verona).

Good

La Preferida’s have a mild to medium heat and are not too difficult to bite through. However they have an unpleasant sour aftertaste which really ruins the rest of the experience.

Available in Madison in the ethnic food section at the Copp's on Junction Rd, at Woodman's. Probably also available at most grocery stores in the Chicago area.

Fair


Now that you know all of the best ingredients, visit our Make Your Own page to create a perfect Chicago Style Hot Dog at home.

Your comments are always welcome. To contact us, Click Here.



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