proof of residence for British passport renewal

[manarak]

in the last years I have had the occasion to try many of the farang-style processed meat products available in Pattaya.

I have tried many Frankfurters/Wieners and many of the other things, such as garlic sausage, french dry salami, etc.

From my background: I worked for three different industrial processed meat producers in the past, situated in France and Germany. While I am not an expert, I know a little bit about how these products are normally made.

In Pattaya, I found products that miss the mark by a wide margin, even they are supposedly made by persons with 20 years of experience and more in making sausages in Germany and France.

I found production process errors, ingredient errors and even cooking errors, I wonder how "professionals" can do those mistakes.

But let's begin with the best products I found:

The best Frankfurters I found are sold at Foodmart over the counter - well done, whoever makes them.

Foodmart has really a nice choice of quality food products, not necessarily more expensive than the rest.

The best Wieners I found at... Tesco! name of the product is "Better Food Premium".

Another mention goes to "Bei Otto" who makes German-style processed meats, their performance is very solid, through all their range of products, well done, albeit a bit pricey.

All Leberwurst and Mettwurst available are generally ok, as well as pâté de campagne.

For people who want to eat rillettes, pâté de campagne and saucisse sèche, rosette de lyon, Big C Extra in Pattaya klang sells the Casino brand products. They are of basic quality, but are the real thing and are still enjoyable, and the price is competitive.

Now to the bad ones.

I won't name any company because I don't want the thread to be deleted, but I will describe my findings and the errors made by the producer, maybe they will recognize themselves and correct their product.

Frankfurters/Wieners:

One abysmal product really stood out - even the local Thai products that contain much meat ersatz such as soyflour taste better!

Although the company praises the taste of their product, my experience was bland, tasting the same as pork boiled in water, so I suppose they overcook them.

I don't know if they use sheep intestine as a casing as the original product, but theirs is way too narrow. To me, it seems as if they do 2 mistakes: the frankfurter is too thin, and it is not cooked/refined properly. Frankfurters are not boiled, they are "refined" in a process which combines smoking and refining in one, roughly about one hour at 68°C for typical 50g sausages. At this point I also want to say that Frankfurters should contain only pork.

(BTW, the very best Frankfurters ever are made by a company called Hans Wirth & Co Kg GmbH and sold in glasses of 6 sausages. I believe I saw some for sale in Foodland at a prohibitive price)

The same company also makes Wieners which have a very odd pink color inside? The Wieners feel very artificial, and I got the feeling that the sausage meat is cut too finely and doesn't contain enough meat and water and too much binding substance (soyflour?) - and where the heck does the pink color come from?

Then I also tasted some French-style "saucisse sèche".

Normally, this kind of product is a dry product, and the casing is normally coated with white mineral powder which is supposed to favor the drying process, while enzymes inside the dry sausage develop its taste (using up oxygen in the process) - this is a process that in France takes between one and three weeks depending on the size of the sausage (at about 18°C and 83% humidity) - which would mean if such a product is made locally, it should never ever leave the airconed area.

Now, this product found locally is sold in a vacuum package (so much for the oxygen-supported enzymation process), with no mineral powder. Judging from the taste, some enzymation took place, but not enough. Also, the product has way too much fat in it. Big C Extra sells Casino Saucisse sèche in a normal package and with mineral poweder, why not do the same?

The same company also makes garlic sausage/salami, which is globally a better product than the first one, but does also suffer from production flaws. First, the garlic tastes "cooked", and the meat looks way too white. This means the sausage was probably overcooked - this sausage too, as the Frankfurter and the Wiener should not boil, but rather refine in temperatures progressively falling from 95°C to 40°C during one hour with no heat source (Check production here:

).

Also, the producer should try to use natural pork intestine instead of the current plastic casing, because the latter does not shrink, giving the sausage a sloppy feel.

Since this post is pretty long already, I will stop here.

Let's hope some meat processing plants can setup some good production lines so we get some good products at good prices - considering the price of pork and the cost of labour in Thailand, I am really puzzled by quality and prices of many sausage products.

Edited December 4, 2012 by manarak

[Jimmyd]

Thanks for the information. I wonder what your opinion would be of the Austrian/German sausage maker on Third Road near North Pattaya Road.

[RabC]

I am deadly serious as I am an ignorant Brit but I thought Frankfurter, Weiner and Hot Dogs were all the same thing, could someone educate me?

[aliep]

Quality of processed meat products is inversely proportional to the square of the stray dog population...

[aliep]

Under the Thai advertising standards directives, the British Sausage has to be renamed to a High Fat Content Emulsified Offal Tube.

[BlackPuddingBertha]

"Now, this product found locally is sold in a vacuum package (so much for the oxygen-supported enzymation process), with no mineral powder. Judging from the taste, some enzymation took place, but not enough. Also, the product has way too much fat in it. Big C Extra sells Casino Saucisse sèche in a normal package and with mineral poweder, why not do the same?"

The BigC Casino product will be imported from Europe (normally France). The local product will not. Locally-made items tend to be done on the cheap, and they would probably want to avoid the costs associated with curing saucisson correctly. Given that the market for such products here is very small the curing costs involved would be much higher per item here than they are in France, for example, where the market is huge and competition is great.

(Hey! A topic that suits my screen name! )

Edited December 5, 2012 by BlackPuddingBertha

[manarak]

I am deadly serious as I am an ignorant Brit but I thought Frankfurter, Weiner and Hot Dogs were all the same thing, could someone educate me?

yep.

Frankfurter is a 100% pork sausage in a mutton intestine casing. This sausage has not been cooked, but rather refined and smoked at the same time. Typically, it weighs 50g for a length of 17cm and width of about 1.5cm.

To be totally correct, Frankfurters can only be made physically in Frankfurt, the other sausages are made "by Frankfurter receipe".

Frankfurters are correctly prepared by plunging them for about 8 minutes in hot water (around 80°C) - do not boil! A safe method is to boil up some water, then to stop heating it and put the frankfurters in 2 minutes later and wait.

Frankfurters are known as a sausage type since the 13th century.

The more common Wieners are a variant of the Frankfurter, developed in the 19th century in Vienna. The main difference is that they are made with a mixture of beef and pork.

"Hot dogs" are anything vaguely resembling Wieners. There are no special rules for hot dogs, they don't even have to have a casing or be smoked and can be made of any meat. The terms "boiled sausage" and "hot dog" are equivalent.

Edited December 5, 2012 by manarak

[OMGImInPattaya]

What is the permitted sodium and rat-hair count permitted for sausages/wieners/frankfurters sold in Thailand? Just the thought of eating one of these things makes me gag!

[manarak]

What is the permitted sodium and rat-hair count permitted for sausages/wieners/frankfurters sold in Thailand? Just the thought of eating one of these things makes me gag!

rat hair is yuck, but you write about sodium as if it was a bad thing?

Edited December 5, 2012 by manarak

[toenail]

I shudder when I walk into one of those small convenient stores found on every block and see a roll with a bright pink hotdog inside of it and it is able to be on a shelf (wrapped up in a cellphone package) at room temperature. Can't help but wonder how many chemicals are added to the processed meat in order for it NOT to be refrigerated.

[RandomSand]

"...the producer should try to use natural pork intestine instead of the current plastic casing..."

Plastic! ...Now we we need a new thread topic listing all the foods* that contain plastic so we can avoid them.

I would start it but don't which foods contain plastic - so hoping someone else will start this very useful thread.

*needs to be specific products.

Edited December 5, 2012 by RandomSand

[RabC]

I am deadly serious as I am an ignorant Brit but I thought Frankfurter, Weiner and Hot Dogs were all the same thing, could someone educate me?

yep.

Frankfurter is a 100% pork sausage in a mutton intestine casing. This sausage has not been cooked, but rather refined and smoked at the same time. Typically, it weighs 50g for a length of 17cm and width of about 1.5cm.

To be totally correct, Frankfurters can only be made physically in Frankfurt, the other sausages are made "by Frankfurter receipe".

Frankfurters are correctly prepared by plunging them for about 8 minutes in hot water (around 80°C) - do not boil! A safe method is to boil up some water, then to stop heating it and put the frankfurters in 2 minutes later and wait.

Frankfurters are known as a sausage type since the 13th century.

The more common Wieners are a variant of the Frankfurter, developed in the 19th century in Vienna. The main difference is that they are made with a mixture of beef and pork.

"Hot dogs" are anything vaguely resembling Wieners. There are no special rules for hot dogs, they don't even have to have a casing or be smoked and can be made of any meat. The terms "boiled sausage" and "hot dog" are equivalent.

Thank-you very much for taking the time to explain. I guess I end up treating them all the same way which is into a bun with mustard, probably breaking all gastronomic laws when I do it to a true frankfurter though.

[manarak]

Thank-you very much for taking the time to explain. I guess I end up treating them all the same way which is into a bun with mustard, probably breaking all gastronomic laws when I do it to a true frankfurter though.

A good Frankfurter is really delicate in taste.

But go ahead and eat it as you like - it's there for enjoyment and not to be put on a pedestal!

Personally, I like the first one without any bread or mustard, the next ones with German black bread and Thomy Mustard, which I consider the best mustard to go with Frankfurters.