{"id":12149,"date":"2014-09-14T09:10:49","date_gmt":"2014-09-14T16:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burgersdogspizza.com\/?p=12149"},"modified":"2014-09-14T09:10:49","modified_gmt":"2014-09-14T16:10:49","slug":"john-morrell-little-smokies-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/?p=12149","title":{"rendered":"John Morrell Little Smokies Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"John<\/a>I continue my quest for the world’s tastiest Little Smokies. \u00a0So far, by a wide margin, Hillshire Farms Beef are my favorite….in the number two slot is the in-house brand at discount grocer Aldi<\/a>. \u00a0 It’s not a close second as far as the primary criteria, flavor and texture, no, Aldi places for value… regularly nearly half the price of the big brands. \u00a0(Hillshire Farm are usually $4.99, sometimes $4.49, and Aldi clock in at $2.99 always.<\/p>\n

Today I tried out John Morrell<\/a>; a product that the package promises “Plump Meaty Bites.” Morrell is a meat company that traces its roots back to 1827 England. \u00a0They sell products under a number of brand names that they have acquired over the years: \u00a0Ekrich, \u00a0Armour, Kretschmar, \u00a0Krakus. \u00a0 Morrell itself is now owned by Smithfield, which of course, became a Chinese owned company recently. \u00a0(Not sure if it’s a good idea for US food companies to sell out to Chinese, just sayin’).<\/p>\n

There can be some confusion between “little smokies” and “cocktail franks.” \u00a0Cocktail franks taste like mini wieners and are most often found floating in a chafing dish full of barbecue sauce at a party or event you wished you hadn’t attended. \u00a0Little smokies are more “sausage-like” in both texture and flavor.<\/p>\n

I grabbed the Morrell package because it was substantially discounted compared to Hillshire, maybe $3.49. \u00a0Although the package says ‘little smokies,” \u00a0these are clearly cocktail franks, an extruded type sausage with the same fine grind and ingredients, and seasonings of one of Morrell’s hot dog products, I am sure. \u00a0Not only do they taste and feel like a frank, they are a much lighter color than the Hillshire Farm beef products.<\/p>\n

What is an extruded sausage? \u00a0 A slurry of ingredients is produced, and squirted into a collagen casing, which can be edible or non-edible. \u00a0If the latter, it is stripped off in the last state of manufacturing (fascinating to watch). \u00a0Newer technologies offer ‘spray on’ collagen casings, the operator can designate different thicknesses, in order to emulate the feel of a natural casing (intestines).<\/p>\n

Morrell’s product is pork and mechanically separated chicken. \u00a0Hillshire Farms, ain’t.<\/p>\n

Does the Morrell product place on my ‘consider regularly’ list? \u00a0Nope. \u00a0If I wanted little wieners, I’d buy wieners and chop them. \u00a0My taste in Little Smokies requires a resemblance in flavor and taste akin to “real sausage”, so I’ll suck up on the purchase price and stay with Hillshire Farms.<\/p>\n

The Morrell package does not indicate a USDA plant number. \u00a0I don’t understand why some packages must have it, others don’t. \u00a0I asked the USDA and got pawned off from one department to another – ultimately not receiving an answer.<\/p>\n

I generally don’t care for any ‘sausage’ product that contains chicken or turkey. \u00a0Yeah, I know they are supposed to be better for you, but the taste and texture just doesn’t appeal to me.<\/p>\n

Speaking of confusing? \u00a0The regulators could help me out by coming up with definitions for “franks,” \u00a0“wieners,” \u00a0and “hot dogs.”<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a>
In the pan,, unheated<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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John Morrell Little Smokies Review<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I continue my quest for the world’s tastiest Little Smokies. \u00a0So far, by a wide margin, Hillshire Farms Beef are my favorite….in the number two slot is the in-house brand at discount grocer Aldi. \u00a0 It’s not a close second as far as the primary criteria, flavor and texture, no, Aldi places for value… regularly… Continue reading John Morrell Little Smokies Review<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,16,26],"tags":[711,2120,3122,3245],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12149"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}