The folks at Consumer Reports (CR) recently released a list of "best" foodstuffs. He're my thoughts on a few of 'em:
Best Barbecue Sauce
According to CR, KC Masterpiece Original is the best BBQ sauce in the land. ("It's versatile, with sweet molasses flavor, some heat, and just enough smoke to make you think grilled," they say.) According to Joltin' Django, KC Masterpiece ain't no good. It's too sweet and it tastes like mass-produced crap in a bottle.
If you want a peppery sauce with an equal balance of tomato and vinegar, try Stubb's. If you want a tangy sauce with just a hint - just a hint - of sweetness, try Sauer's. If you want to splurge on something that will make your kitchen smell like beer when it's cooking, try Budweiser's sauce. These are the only BBQ sauces you'll find in Joltin' Django's kitchen.
Best Hot Dogs
I'll give credit where credit is due and state for the record that CR has picked some damn fine hot dogs for its "best of the bunch" list. Here they are (in no particular order):
Hebrew National Kosher Beef
Nathan's Famous Skinless Beef
Boar's Head Skinless Beef
Hebrew National Kosher Reduced Fat Beef
Boar's Head Lite Skinless Beef
Sabrett Skinless Beef
I like Hebrew National's hot dogs. I like Boar's Head's hot dogs. I like Sabrett's hot dogs. But I freakin' love Nathan's hot dogs (and I've said as much on this Web site). The best Nathan's hot dogs are either kosher or have casings. Period. (Sorry CR).
Best Salsas
I'm not even going to mention CR's picks for best salsa. Most of 'em are pricey salsas that you'll have to order online ... and that says something right there.
As far as I'm concerned, there's only one store-bought salsa that's worth anyone's hard-earned money. That salsa is Herdez-brand salsa. Herdez has just five ingredients: tomatoes, onions, cilantro, serrano peppers and salt. When you're eating it, you'll just swear that it was put together by a Mexican grandma in a big kitchen somewhere. (Come to think of it, it probably was!)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Yeap! That was started by my grampa, and actually at that time I was working in the family biz. I must have been around 18-20, fresh in college, we call it "universidad" in Mexico and fortunately remember a lot of the events... it goes as follow: Don Mario Mimvielle, a former executive from Heinz of Mexico that than was working in the company Herdez, as advisor tu mi abuelito, he and abuelita Queta, obviously my grandmother, married since Feb 28, 1920 to my grandfather, finally convinced him to give it a try. He contended before that NO housewife would buy it as they would be offended that their hand was not in making it, taking the most basic staple of any mexican table out of their domain - he had gone through that with Campbell Soups (they had chosen Herdez as their exclusive distributor for Mexico, so much clout in the US, but in Mexico hard to crack the market, people - house wifes, would not like being caught in faking a splendid soup, and someone divulging it was out of a can! He felt that the same would happen with the salsa. So red (casera) came first, I think it was 5 mill cans, 100,000 cases of 48.... gone in 15 days! Well he said, how about and I think the number was 500,000 cases and 200,000 cases of the green - gone in a couple of months, the rest is history. He was a happy camperim, and many people loved him, including me. Abuelita Queta too, she would say, see I told you so. Want to know a cute factor, Mole Dona Maria, yes, she Tia Maria, was my aunt, abuelita Queta's sister, and yes if they were around and could admit to the truth, me (because of my wife) were their favorite grand children. Nacho, my oldest brother was abuelito Nacho's favorite, but that goes without saying, first boy grandchild and named after him, of course, it didn't hurt, that my dad, the oldest son, was also a Nacho. One more interesting factoid. During the bicentenial of the USA, 1976, the US gave a medal to people in every country that help and contribute to GOOD relations with the US, there were two persons honored with that for Mexico. Check who they were, and if you want to know more about Herdez of than, or of the family of than, call me...Pepe Hernandez 843-881-0399
best hot dogs - go North, upstate NY has Sahlens hot dogs, best anywhere.
I usually make my own salsa, but I'll have to try theirs. Thanks for the tips.
You deliberately left out that Consumer Reports had Ball park Franks in it's ranking. Ball Park are the best hot dogs especially if you are going to grill them.
Post a Comment