Market Basket
Sometimes you want a better class of hot dog
By Joan Namkoong
Advertiser Food Editor
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| Many consumers find hot dogs from regional makers superior to national brands.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser |
Miller's hot dogs are one of many regional hot dogs around the country that people often prefer over the more common national brands. They come from Oakland, Calif., made by a company that has been around since 1910. Michael A. Debenedetti heads up the company and is a part-time resident of the Islands with his wife, Staige.
Miller's hot dogs are made from lean beef shank mixed with 50 percent lean beef (that's about 22 per cent fat in this hot dog), milk (clearly these are not kosher) and a secret spice formula. The hot dogs are stuffed into natural casings, hickory-smoked for several hours and then stripped of their skins. Some are left with their casings on, which is what you'll find in 40-ounce packages at Safeway. There are about 14 hot dogs — long ones — in a bag, and they sell for $9.99, which sounds expensive until you compare them with Oscar Mayer hot dogs at $3-$4 for 16 ounces.
Disposable cookware
Used to be we stored leftovers in glass or ceramic containers in the refrigerator. Today, we use plastic bags and disposable containers. Pretty soon, we won't need any pots and pans. Reynolds has introduced disposable cookware: the Pot Lux line, designed to take to those soccer and baseball games and family potlucks. Bake, microwave, serve and freeze food in these decorative containers that come in 2- and 3-quart casseroles, 13-by-9-inch and 8-by-8-inch pans.
Actually, some of us would consider recycling these after one use, just as we don't throw out made-for-disposal containers. At $3 to $4 apiece, if you attend a lot of potlucks, the cost of these pans would start adding up unless you reused them. Look for them at supermarkets and at Longs Drugs.
Send shopping queries and new product information to: Market Basket, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Fax: 525-8055. E-mail: jnamkoong@honoluluadvertiser.com. Or call: 525-8069.
