Tastemakers: Burritt‘s Chili Cheese Sausage - Oak Grove Cabernet

Burritt’s Meat Market Chili Cheese Sausage
The “dog” is an often-overlooked essential when making chilidogs. There is this assumption that a good chili sauce will mask a lesser quality
hot dog.
Wrong. It all starts and ends with the “dog.” The best bet is a natural casing all beef hot dog from your local meat market. When making chilidogs try kicking it up a notch by using the Chili Cheese Sausage from Burritt’s Meats on Front Street in Traverse City. This sausage is excellent as is when grilled and tossed into a bun with a little ketchup and mustard. It is also the perfect foundation for a gourmet chilidog.
This is chilidog season and they make the perfect gastronomic delight for tailgate parties or when the gang is over for an afternoon of watching college football. Slowly grill the Burritt’s Chili Cheese Sausage (over low heat), make up a chorizo-chili sauce (Burritt’s has all the ingredients for this) then chop up a Vidalia onion and grate some sharp cheddar cheese.
Okay, there are two schools of preparation from here. My personal preference is the messy style. Lay the dog in a whole-wheat bun and lightly top with ketchup and mustard, then pile on the chorizo sauce, cheese and onions. The sauce will drip all over your hands and face, which adds to the experience. The less messy version is to lay the dog on top of all the ingredients.
Either way serve with a good red wine (see Bottoms Up) or Pilsner Urquell, a tasty import that handles the spices of the chorizo nicely. Burritt’s is loaded with culinary goodies and great cuts of meat. Ken and his staff are easily in the Tastemaker customer service hall of fame, as they are fast, knowledgeable and courteous and they do it all with a smile on their faces.

Oak Grove Cabernet
Sauvignon 2003 Reserve
Ken Burritt of Burritt’s Meat Market in Traverse City is always up for pairing wine with food. So I decided to challenge him a little bit and throw out a traditional beer-food pairing and ask him to pair up a wine with it. When I said “Chilidogs, (See Tastemakers) made with your chili cheese sausage, a chorizo chili sauce and topped with lots of cheese and onions,” Burritt took a second to think and smiled and walked to the back room. He came back with the Oak Grove Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 Reserve. “It just came in today.”
As usual Burritt was right on, this is the perfect bottle to enjoy with chilidogs, especially ones with a little spice to them. At $12.99 a bottle this is definitely a great all purpose Cab for the price (Burritt is currently offering it for $9.09 a bottle making it a steal).
When serving chilidogs, chicken wings or burgers for dinner a $50 dollar bottle of wine is going to be out of place on the table with these traditional beer entrees. This time of the year these entrees are actually wonderful with red wine. The Oak Grove Cab is zesty and spicy with hints of dark cherries and currants that draw out the flavors of the chilidog versus masking them as some beers might. The great thing about this wine is that it is not out of place on your table whether your serving chilidogs or rack of lamb.
The 2002 Reserve was a major winner at last years San Francisco International Wine Competition and early reviews of the 2003 Cab point to Oak Grove as having another winner. Drink now or hold a few bottles in the cellar for the next five years.-- Rick Coates
View On Our Website