{"id":11637,"date":"2014-05-22T07:26:11","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T14:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burgersdogspizza.com\/?p=11637"},"modified":"2014-05-22T07:26:11","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T14:26:11","slug":"gilberts-froman-frank-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/?p=11637","title":{"rendered":"Gilberts Froman Frank Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Gilberts<\/a>Based in northeastern Wisconsin<\/a>, Gilbert’s Craft Sausages<\/a> are touting their all natural, uncured line of franks and sausages. I picked up a package of their “Froman” franks, which I assume is a riff on the character of Abe Froman, the “Sausage King of Chicago<\/a>” in the Ferris Bueller<\/a> movie. \u00a0Gilbert’s grew out of a passion two friends had for microbrews in 2008.<\/p>\n

In addition to the uncured frank, Gilbert’s has a gluten free beer brat, a chipotle mozzarella lime smoked sausage, and an uncured smoked sausage with blue cheese.<\/p>\n

“Uncured” meats are those without sodium nitrates or nitrites, which are commonly found preservatives in processed meats.<\/p>\n

The ingredient list for the franks is straightforward:\u00a0Beef Sirloin, Beef, Water, with 2% or less of the following: Seasoning Blend (Natural Spices, Paprika, Natural Flavors), Sea Salt, Sugar, Cherry Powder and Evaporated Cane Syrup, Cultured Celery Juice Powder, Sodium Phosphate, in a Beef Collagen Casing. (Celery juice, powder, similar are commonly used as preservatives in uncured meats).<\/span><\/p>\n

The franks are packaged four in a pack, and come individually wrapped, which is kinda nice. They ARE spendy, however, at about $6.50 per four pack (10 ounces), (online price) or $1.62 per wiener. \u00a0That’s steep compared to other premium products. I generally pay between $4 – $5 for a six wiener package of all beef, natural casing franks, which is my own preference.<\/p>\n

I bought them today because they were in the ‘scratch and dent’ section of my grocer, and being sold at $2.00.<\/p>\n

The first thing I noticed about the uncooked wiener was its smell, or lack of it. The slight aroma from the uncooked sausage is actually kind of sweet – as opposed to any kind of smokey odor I would expect.<\/p>\n

Aside from the mildness, the flavor is similar to any all beef frank.<\/p>\n

It’s a very fine grind\u00a0sausage, and the collagen casing gives it a little ‘snap.’ Putting a little char on it adds to \u00a0the ‘bite factor.’ Would I buy them regularly? Probably not at this price. \u00a0On sale? \u00a0Maybe. \u00a0But I much prefer natural casings, but that’s just me, and a mere 5 % of hot dog buyers in the U.S. \u00a0Buyers looking for all natural dogs and who eschew preservatives will really enjoy this company’s offerings.<\/p>\n

Knowing how hard it is to launch a meat biz, and get shelf space, I greatly admire these guys for the progress they are making.<\/p>\n

Find Gilbert’s at a\u00a0store near you<\/a>, or\u00a0shop online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Gilberts<\/a><\/p>\n

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