Taste Test: The Best Burgers and Dogs
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Beef, chicken, turkey and vegetarian hamburgers and hot dogs
Featured item: JUL 30, 2007
For grilling purists—what could be better than organically grown meat on the barbie? Round up the crew with our taste-test results for your best bets to please even a mixed crowd: meat-eaters and vegetarians alike.
The meats are organically grown—which means they were raised without hormones or antibiotics—and many of the vegetarian offerings contain organic ingredients.
For fun, we combined our friend's 12th wedding anniversary sunset barbeque with a grilled-meats (and meat-like substances) taste test. The BBQ was stoked, the pomegranate cosmos flowed, and the votes poured in—here, the best burgers and dogs for your own summer celebration:
Best burger: Whole Foods did very well, but Davis Mountains Organic Beef Patties emerged as the juicy fave. For DIY (as thick and hearty as you want it) burgers, try Organic Prairie ground beef. Non-beef eaters, take note: Applegate Farms Organic Turkey Burgers won high marks for unusual tenderness and juiciness.
Best veggie burger: The overwhelming favorite was Amy's All-American Veggie Burger, though Morningstar Farms Tex Mex Burgers' spicy kick was well-liked. A surprising contender was The Maui Taro Burger, made from the taro plant (this could be an acquired taste).
Best dog: Applegate Farms Great Organic Hot Dog was a clear winner, and the knowledge that these were 100% organic beef and nitrite-free was reassuring. Their Organic Turkey Dogs and Bilinski's juicy Organic Chicken sausages, in yummy flavors like Spinach Feta and Porcini Mushroom, took the honors among the non-beef dogs.
Best veggie dog: A unanimous vote for Boca Meatless Bratwurst. (Several tasters were concerned by sodium content in many of the veggie offerings, so beware if hypertension is an issue.)
As for the rest, diners were delighted by: Heinz Organic Tomato Ketchup (Muir Glen's version for dogs); Annie's Naturals Organic Dijon Mustard; Ezekiel 4:9 Organic Sesame Burger buns, and Vermont Bread's larger hot dog buns, which were great for holding extra fixin's.
Note: Most products available online or at Whole Foods and other natural food stores. Click on the above product names to learn more from the company websites.
Comments
2 comments
airwebone said:
I can vouch that the Applegate hot dogs are yummy!
Jul. 30, 2007 at 12:03 p.m. EDT
mlanier said:
Organically raised beef means nothing other than the grain and hay the animals were fed were grown organically. Organic beef can be produced in feedlots with corn and other grains that use lots of energy to produce, transport, and process. A much better choice is grassfed beef that requires much less fossil fuel energy and therefore less global warming. The cattle themselves harvest a crop powered by the sun. Research indicates grassfed beef is less fatty and has better heart healthy fats than grain fed (see http://eatwild.com/nutrition.html). Furthermore, grassfed is more profitable for farmers, better for the cattle, and better for the environment. The ultimate choice would be grassfed organic beef that also eliminates chemicals used to grow the grass. Oh, and to save even more energy buy beef from local farmers. If you don't know of any contact your local Cooperative Extension office.
Jul. 30, 2007 at 9:35 p.m. EDT
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