A gourmand’s guide to haute dogs for the grill
Innovative butchers are digging up old family recipes and mixing exotic meats with offbeat flavourings
Olliffe’s butchers mix ground Ontario lamb from a Bruce County farm with piquant Stilton and fresh mint. $10/lb. 1097 Yonge St., 416-928-0296.
Lean, gamey pheasant is balanced with fatty Berkshire pork. Rosemary adds a piney perfume, honey lends sweetness, and a chicken demi-glace sauces it from inside. $15/lb. Cumbrae’s, 481 Church St., 416-923-5600; 1636 Bayview Ave., 416-485-5620.
Butcher Johnny Di Benedetto of Di Liso’s Fine Meats uses his family’s 80-year-old Barese recipe from the Apulian town of Bari. Ground beef, veal, lamb and pork are blended with mozzarella, Parmesan, parsley and garlic, then stuffed into natural lamb casings. $6/lb. St. Lawrence Market, 91–93 Front St. E., 416-601-9780.
Jorge Plaza Sr., at Meating on Queen, uses his mom’s recipe for hot Ecuadorian sausage to create a fiery blend of pork, beef, sweet peppers, roasted onions, garlic, cilantro and secret spices. $5/lb. 1160 Queen St. E., 416-461-7500.
An ode to the original hot dog from Denmark, the red pølser is made from double-ground organic pork and spices. Its hue comes from a splash of beet juice. $8.79/lb. The Healthy Butcher, 565 Queen St. W., 298 Eglinton Ave. W., 416-674-2642.
Lean Ontario elk is enriched with pork fat, sweetened with wild Saskatoon berries and flavoured with mustard seed, allspice and thyme. $13.40/lb. Provenance Regional Cuisine, 800 Dundas St. W., 416-504-9889.
At Medium Rare, Frank Del Gobbo blends meaty duck legs with vermouth-soaked dried cherries, roasted red peppers and fennel seed. $12/lb. 5241 Dundas St. W., 416-231-1500.
Peter Sanagan of Sanagan’s Meat Locker combines wild boar from Perth County with roasted pistachios and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo red wine. $9.99/lb. 206 Baldwin St., 416-593-9747.
