We're probably out of the playoff, but that gives us a chance to talk about the real action. Give me your Top Dog playoff rankings.
Avinash Kunnath:
1. Calabrese. Always solid, always strong, goes great with relish and everything. Plus, "Cal"abrese.
2. Hot Link. Solid option, plus as spicy as you can get with these sausages. Goes down right at the perfect time, and goes down right at other times.
5. Kielbasa. You know what's better than one type of meat? Two types of meat!
6. Bockworst. It's just so random and so Berkeley.
Ruey Yen:
Four in
1. Top Dog - It might not be the most interesting offering at Top Dog, but this one is listed first. Plenty of Top Dog novice will order this one. This is the Alabama of the Top Dog sausages. They may make the top 4 even with one or two loss.
2. Chicken Apple - A solid choice but a bit overrated due to playing in the weaker but popular conference of "healthier" choices AKA the Big Ten. Urban Meyer's heart is okay with him eating the Chicken Apple but not the greasier Florida-equivalent sausage.
3. Hot Link - This is my personal favorite, but it's not for everyone. Some people might claim that the spiciness overpowers other taste. I would say this is akin to the Oregon where the Ducks are rather flashy but still not be accepted as really good by everyone. Only because the playoff has been expanded to 4 teams does the Hot Link makes this list.
4. German Frankfurter - Top of the menu bias is strong for this sausage which include in its name a reference to the country known for sausages. German Frankfurter is great at recruiting flavors from both pork and beef.
Just missed out
5. Cal-abrese thought they were going to the Rose Bowl, but German Frankfurter is better at lobbying for votes in the final poll. Calabrese has a hot ingredient that may wind up doing great things at the next level, but most people are just too lazy to read to the middle of menu.
For completeness, I asked my roommates for their top 4:
So what’s the anatomy of a Top Dog. You serve a quality product in 13 varieties, but what’s the magic in it? And what’s good with that bun?
The bun is a big part of the success man. The thing that we shoot for with the bun is finding a bun that is light enough so that it doesn’t overshadow the dog, so your teeth can sink into it but you don’t have to chew the bun. You don’t want to spend most of your time chewing the bun. So instead of sourdough, we use a French Roll, which is much softer and will almost melt in your mouth.
You want to get it so that when you toast it up, it’s light and toasty on the outside, but soft on the inside, so we use sesame seeds on the exterior to allow the top to toast without burning all the way through. The sesame seeds absorb some of the heat from the toasting process.