Soon, there will be another player in the Dallas sausage market. Brian Luscher is headed to White Rock Local Market every other weekend to peddle "South of Chicago" style red hots. The wieners will be available to purchase after they spend some time intimate time in Ms. Verna, Luscher's popular trailer-hitched barbecue.
A spread of condiments will be available for topping your sausages after the chef slides one into a La Francaise baked bun. Pickles, sport peppers, multiple mustards and more will all be made from scratch to top the links Luscher says resemble a smoked Polish sausage. I asked him about the coarseness of the grind and how emulsified the forcemeat was to get a better idea of what he was peddling. After a few exchanges we came up with the perfect description for the links: "It's a real fucking hot dog."
Luscher was poking fun at the cheap wieners you buy at the grocery store. Those dogs are molded instead of stuffed into natural casings, and flavored with liquid smoke instead of smoldering wood. A real hand-crafted hot dog, something akin to a German frankfurter, has a lot more character.
The real story here is the hidden potential in these little wienies. Luscher is hoping to use the market as a launching point for a stand-alone hot dog business. "I'm trying to grow this into the American dream," he said as he described his vision for a hot dog restaurant that features other casual menu items in a laid-back space. He wants to model the business after the hot dog stands that dot the blue collar neighborhoods of Chicago.
I hope Luscher talks shit when he works the grill. It could be just like the Wiener Circle.
White Rock Lake Market is held the second and fourht Saturday of each month from 8 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at the Green Spot Market and Fuels.
