Very informative, chicagostyledog, thanks. I contacted my Vienna Beef rep through email and he responded to me today about the David Berg’s. He seemed surprised I’d heard of them. I use Vienna Beef currently in two locations and very shortly four locations. They are a great dog and fantastic guys to work with.

The 8/1 Vienna Beef natural casings use a thinner casing than the 5/1’s, creating the famous "snap." To take advantage of the larger natural casing dogs, they need to be char grilled. If boiled, the larger natural casings are more chewy than snappy, retaining meat in the casing after each bite. The skinless Vienna Beef dogs give a snap when char or flat grilled because the meat is encased in their pseudo beef skin, instead of the natural casing.

CSD

i like a good natural casing, but its a fine line between having a snap, and being too tough to break through with your teeth. i like the ‘bite of dog’ to snap, then break free cleanly, not with some chewing of the casing, to get free, before the rest of the dog comes sliding out of the but, throwing toppings all over the place. oru local home depot has a vender, who soakes the dogs in water (boils them) so long, that i can taste the metal pan of the steamer in the juices. that, is a travesty. but i guess alot of folks have no taste buds, as the always seem busy.

I have found that, for the New York styledog, Sabrett’s Natural casing (Marathon Foods- New Jersey) or Thumann’s (don;t know the distributor) are best. But recently I tried grilling a skinless ona flat grill and found that for skinless the flavor and texture I best liked were from Vienna Beef. They are 100% bull meat and mahogany smoked and for some reason (probably the smoking process) when grilled on the flat-grill they seem to create a "skin" very like the natural casing – go figure. Vienna Beef comes out of Chicago.

Thanks CSD, I’ll check into that.
Have a good one.

Myway, you may want to check out David Berg. They’ve been in business since the 1860’s and are owned by and made by Vienna Beef for commercial foodservice. They’re sold all over the United States at baseball parks, museums, colleges, and even some McDonald’s. They’re much less expensive than VB products and have a taste profile that’s just a wee bit spicier. An excellent quality product: taste and cost. http://www.davidberg.com

CSD

quote:

Originally posted by chicagostyledog

MBFDFyre, those dogs are naked and few one eat that way. When they’re all dressed up with some place to go, they’re fabulous.

CSD

That gets me soooooo hugry!

Hi Tex,
I know what you mean. I wanted to try a natural casing product but could not get a hold of one here. I was able to get VB natural casings, but it was going to cost me an arm and leg. I was serving Best Kosher but they went up just enough to get my eye wandering. I recently tried the Farmland 7 to 1 natural casings that just became availiable in our area. I really like them, when I get them in it takes everything to keep my son out of them. I am opening for the season on the 28th of April. So I will let everyone know what the response was on them. They taste as good as my Bests do, and they are bigger, but the same price. So the perceived value is greater. I just love that NC snap! Hope all my customers will too. As far as I know, I willl be the only guy in the tri-county area here serving grilled NC dogs. The only place you can get them around here is at private golf clubs. Wish me luck. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

well, ever since joining this forum, I’ve really wanted to try an authentic chicago style dog. I dunno if having one with a casing is gonna be the "cats meow" but I am willing to give it a try.

Those dogs sure look good to me, I’ll have one with spicy mustard & sauerkraut, an order of fries, and a coke. Years ago a guy here cross cut the ends, everyone would ask for the carbon tips.

John

MBFDFyre, those dogs are naked and few one eat that way. When they’re all dressed up with some place to go, they’re fabulous.

CSD

Frye, it tastes far better then it looks! Appreciate the vendors that take the time to achieve that ‘snap’! (It’s easy to toss them in a water bath to cook, good, but dont cut it)..

You know, maybe its just me but that really doesn’t look appetizing. All shriveled and cut up. Hopefully it tastes better than it looks. 🙂

Food service natural casing dogs are approximately six cent more than skinless. If you’re using a gas grill, grill your skinless until they begin to char. Their exterior will toughen and this will create a "snap" similar to a natural casing(old Chicago trick). The Chicago method for char grilling natural casings requires cross cutting the ends, prior to grilling. Some places run diagnal cuts across the top or circular cuts.

CSD