#doc's

Thought you might like to see three new boots made by Dr Martens. They are on a musical theme. One is a Joy Division boot, then we have two New Order boots. I must say i love the Joy Division Boot!!

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures Boot

New Order - Power, Corruption and Lies Boot

Hot links are beef sausages. sort of like sausages made from hamburger meat.  Doc’s will sell you however many you want, but most folks order them by the dozen.  Traditionally, they’re eaten with Saltine crackers and with Tabasco hot sauce.

It’s an understatement to say there’s a competition in the area over who makes the best hot links.     Both Doc’s and Pittsburg have been making hot links for many years; and both have a loyal following.  

Since Doc’s is in Gilmer, and Pittsburg is about 20 miles away in Pittsburg, geography can have a lot to do with which one some people like more.    We’ve had folks in each town recommend both of them about equally.  

Since today was our first time to try hot links, and since we were driving through Gilmer after we ate at Pittsburg, I decided to make a quick stop at Doc’s and try their links too.   It was sort of a “taste test” by comparison.    After all, who could make a more fair choice of the best link than someone who doesn’t have any preference based on the restaurant’s location; and who has no preconceived notions since he was trying hot links for the very first time.  

First, some ground rules:  I’m comparing the links, and the links only.    To compare the “atmosphere” in the restaurant, or the number of side dishes, or the type of seating available just wouldn’t be fair.  In those ways, both restaurants are entirely different.  It would be like comparing apples to oranges.     I’m just comparing the links themselves. 

Here goes:      Doc’s hot links VS Pittsburg hot links.

Flavor:   Both places have delicious hot links.   The real deal is that taste-wise, they’re virtually identical.   In fact, if I’d been blindfolded and took a bite of one of each, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you which one came from Doc’s and which one came from Pittsburg based only on taste.   They tasted the same.

Consistency:  The stuffing in the links at Pittsburg seems much more finely ground than at Doc’s.   Personally, I liked the coarser meat inside the links at Doc’s much better than the more smoothly blended filler in Pittsburg’s links.  This was how I probably could have told the difference in the blindfolded test.

Casings:  Both places had casings that were still a little tough.  Again, they were both the same.    I’m reasonably sure, though, that they do that on purpose to keep from drying the links out by cooking them longer.  That juiciness was worth it.  

Grease content:   I’ve seen some comments going around that one place or the other had “greasy” links.    Neither Doc’s nor Pittsburg served up greasy links today.   Both were juicy but not greasy.  They were wonderful.

Bang for the buck:  Here’s the clincher.   The hot links at Doc’s were much larger than the hot links at Pittsburg.   And since both places priced their links individually, and since the prices were within a few cents of each other at both places; cost-wise, the hot links at Doc’s were the better buy.   

Hand painted Doc’s