Another Chicagoan here (like Pkramer and Westsider). We own the best way to eat a hot dog. It's the "garden on the bun", so it's a feast for the eyes as well as the mouth and nose. It's a mess to eat but that's part of the fun. Must be colorful to be authentic - brilliant yellow mustard, dayglo relish, tomatoes, and a long slice of pickle add to the picture. The bun must be pillow-soft, and dotted with poppy seeds or it just won't do. But most important is that the dog is not boiled, it is simmered. That way you get the pop to each bite. The linked article calls it "turgid".

http://amazingribs.com/recipes/hot_dogs_and_sausages/chicago_hot_dogs.html

I love how fiercely Chicagoans love their dogs!

Visited New York as a kid and experienced the original Nathan's from the little stand on Coney Island, so little I had to reach up to grab the hotdog... boardwalk, beach, sunshine. What a great memory. I've never eaten one from the Nathan's chain, I can tell by looking I wouldn't prefer it. Today I like Hebrew National, smoky grilled by DH, with just a little spicy mustard, and I put two in one bun.

It's been so many years since I've had a hot dog that I cannot remember, except that it was grilled outdoors at a beach (lake). OTOH, I do make corn dogs, which I much prefer to hot dogs. I won four tickets to a Dodger's game a couple of years ago and took my friends Jimmy and Maartje with me, but I made my own sandwiches to take with me. They told me I had to have a Dodger Dog with the game, but I refused. If I were at a campground or the beach, it might have been different. I do not like ball games anyway, and almost got hit twice by foul balls - I had to duck to miss one of them, and a man behind me caught it. I was sitting way too close to home plate. Baseball is just too dangerous, and I will not go to any more of those games.

I think setting/location is the most important element to eating hot dogs. I do not consider them something to serve at home, as they are more like street food, but not as good as tacos. I might consider eating one wrapped in corn tortillas instead of the traditional buns. I guess it is the buns that I object to the most. I do eat Jody Maroni sausages at Venice Beach, and guess they could be considered hot dogs.

Most hot dogs have not much substance, IMHO so are just a vehicle for the condiments. I walk a thin line between lots of flavors and indigestion. If the dog is a real vienna sausage or something like that, (I ate lots of different kinds of "wursts" in Germany) then just some mustard, but a US "hotdog" goes with just about anything.

I lived in Vienna for awhile and we loved the heisse Wurstel food carts. Choose a brat or long hot dog, hot mustard, bread or roll, stand munching it on a cold day with a beer. YUM.

I'll prefer a brat over a hot dog anyday, but every so often a plain hot dog on a white soft bun appeals to me.

Gorgeous fun and creative plating dcarch!

Funny thread. Love Kosciusko mustard. Isn't it Polish? Easily found in just about every NYC bodega/deli and cheap.

Don't care much for the NYC street cart 'dirty water dogs'. Can't argue that one. We like Brooklyn brand. Expensive but worth it since maybe twice a summer, if that, and we grill them. I prefer split then on a cast iron pan with a weight. I make my own mustards, a few. One blond style with lots of horseradish and wasabi. Another with spices and tomato powder...homemade fridge pickles, homemade sauerkraut, ...Nathan is great but only at the flagship location ConeyIsland. I do the mustard/ketchup swirl. Sauerkraut. Decent junk.

On the grill at home we leave whole and cook crispy.

A friend does dogs wrapped (smooched?) in ground round, then a lattice patterned bacon wrapping...lol. Grilled, then sliced. Crazy. 4th of July tradition. Slices go on a toasted bun, dressed to liking, usually like a burger with lettuce and tomato. (i prefer all those items separate but it is devoured).

Cherry powder, sleevendog? How interesting.

I know i'm exhausted from being over-worked...cherry powder? lol. Is that somewhere in my post? (tomato powder)

I do have a cherry tree. Never thought to make cherry powder. Sounds really good!

It's in the Brooklyn hot dog list of ingredients. I'm trying to think of what note that would add.

Cherry sausage is found here in MI in tart cherry land too.

If it bothers you, watch out for "Pink slime", chicken slime and pork slime in hot dogs you buy.

I don't care. Not a frequent hot dog eater.

dcarch

Bacon turtle hot dogs!

What's that stuff peeking from inside the turtle shell? Or is it just part of the bacon? It looks like ground up something. (I'm almost afraid to think.) But I still want to know.

Hamburger. Here's a link to one of many recipes.

I love hot dogs, and I had two this week from Rally's. Onion chopped and mustard, but sometimes I will have them with ketchup too. I like relish at times, I like cheese and I like kraut. Steak and Shake has a variety of foot long ones I like. I especially like the one with coleslaw. I will eat a hot dog most any way. If home grilled, I like a lot of black on mine :)

Sue

LOL! Cute. How do you serve them?

Cherry powder might be for color. A lot of people are wary of "natural color". Notice that everything else on the ingredients list sounds like food too. Ah. The website says: They set out to reinvent a healthier version of the well-known street
food by avoiding nitrates or fillers and by using quality,
antibiotic-free meats and natural casings. Cherry powder is almost certainly for that red, hot dog color, and if it carries a bit of sweetness, that's common in hot dogs as well. :)

I don't eat hot dogs much these days - not often sure what's in them. I never cared for the buns, so if I do find that's what's available at a backyard grill, I'll take mine bun-less and dip in mustard - preferably Koscuisko or Dijon, but I'll settle on type.

Growing up, we'd eat them boiled or from the grill. Back then I didn't know I could decline the bun. I never cared for ketchup, so my main go to was mustard. I also liked chili dogs, but we only saw those out. At home or at friends it was mustard, maybe also melted cheddar, diced onion. NO sweet relish - that falls into the ketchup category for me. (I just never got into "sweet" in condiments.)

PS, I don't like either condiment on my burgers, either. Or mayo. But it doesn't bother me to see others enjoy then.

Today's news:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37700495

dcarch

Artemis_ma - try kosher hot dogs, so you don't have a mystery-meat issue. (I'm not advertising Hebrew National hot dogs in particular; any kosher dog will follow the dietary restrictions).

I'd buy Hebrew National if they weren't overwhelmingly garlicky!

Only W.B. Beans Red Snappers from Maine for me! Steamed just to the "snap" point, light dijon mustard, loads of finely chopped vidalia onions & Wickles dill relish. Sauerkraut if I happen to have some on hand. Great...now I am dying for a hotdog!!

I LOVE hot dogs...any way, any style, any kind of toppings but my regular go to toppings are mustard and sweet pickle relish!

Enablers all of you....... Kosher dogs on the BBQ along with homemade fries on the menu for dinner.

Cherry powder might be for color.

Good thought, plllog. Thanks!

Hadn't had a hot dog in years, but I found a Kosher deli that has Hebrew National. I have one there once in a while.

I remember when I was a kid, my mother made something called hot dog goulash. It was cut of pieces of hot dogs, a lot of onions and potatoes. It was good.

cacocobird - I still make that on occasion & that's exactly what I call it!

Oh my, Dcarch! That had some good laughs. I actually get the point of not certifying food halal if it's named after something not halal, hence calling "pretzel dogs" "pretzel sausages", even though it's funny. This reported Facebook post cracked me up, however: "Pet shops please rename your dogs as sausages."

Grilled or pan-fried until charred and crispy. Onions, chopped tomatoes if I have them, and sliced dill pickle. Mustard and relish. No ketchup

I couldn't take it anymore, had chilidogs for din-din just now.

I just remembered from 40 years ago, well almost. My then teenage son used the hand crank meat grinder to make "mushy dogs". Added onion and 1/2 slice of bread in the grinder, some relish too. Put it between two pieces of American cheese. Now that is a strange hot dog IMO.

Whatever dressings and condiments you use, the meat goes on last to keep the stuff from dripping out.

Friedajune, thanks. But I wasn't aware that only the front half of the cow is kosher? Or is that simply the only part that that company uses?

If you don't mind me chiming in, technically, the rear part of the cow can be butchered in a kosher manner, but doing so includes removing the sciatic nerve (I think that's it) in a particular way, which cuts everything up along with it. Very few butchers even train to do it, especially in North America (I've heard that it's as few as none here). Where meat is more scarce, especially non-diseased and otherwise passable, they might do it rather than selling off the rear part.

Yes, to what Plllog said - unless the sciatic nerve is removed from the hind quarter of the cow, the hind quarter of the cow is not kosher. If it is removed then the hind quarter becomes kosher. It takes a highly skilled shochet (trained butcher) to remove it so it's not done much in the U.S., only in areas where there is a large population of kosher eaters, so that the time needed for that specialty butchering is worthwhile cause there'll be enough of a market for it.

I found this explanation online for why the sciatic nerve is forbidden: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/784896/jewish/Why-dont-we-eat-the-sciatic-nerve.htm

Whoa. That's interesting. Thanks.

I never know what I'm going to learn on the GW forums. I offer up this - Hot dogs must be renamed in Malaysia...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37700495

I miss the Hippos hot dog restaurant in Schaumburg, Illinois. The best ever.

I haven't been able to eat a hot dog (even tho I limit my intake to organic, uncured meat) since this report came out. It just grosses me out to imagine what I am eating:

Human DNA found in hot dogs

Olychick-don't even look at scrapple ;-)

You know, I don't understand why there aren't hot dog fast food restaurants. There are a million burger places but no hot dog places--in my area at least. When I was growing up in the Chicago area there was a chain of hot dog places--I can't remember the name (maybe Dogs 'N Suds?). But I love a good brat or hotdog and the only place to get one that's not a sit down restaurant is the corner SuperAmerica, where the way they are exposed and turn all day on the grill is downright scary. . .

Do hot dog fast food restaurants exist?

In SoCal we have a chain called de wienerschnitzel. I liked it when I was really young.

Do hot dog fast food restaurants exist?

Yes, we have Nathan's as a chain down here, and there are other places, like Checkers or Steak 'N' Shake, that also have them on the menu, if not as the featured item.

Costco's hot dog and a drink and split a large fry. Chopped onions, mustard and relish.

Yup, lots of dog choices in NY. NY dogs

Some Artisan one owner, and a few chains. Have not had a ShakeShack dog yet but i bet it is good...

SHAKE SHACK: You're all tired of us yammering on about the beauty of a ShackBurger, but Shake Shack's hot dogs might best even their tastiest double-pattied offerings. A Shack-Cago Dog comes flat-topped, split in half and smothered with, relish, onion, cucumbers, pickles, tomatoes, salt, pepper and mustard, so you can pretend you're eating a salad instead of a giant meat stick. You can also opt for a DogMeister, which comes covered in cheddar and American cheese sauce, a regular hot dog or a Chicken Dog, made with chicken, apple and sage sausage. Note that before Shake Shack was the King of Burgers And Lines, it was naught but a mere hot dog stand. My, how the times have changed.

"Do hot dog fast food restaurants exist?"

There's one in Melbourne Australia

Nancyinnc, my grandmother used to grind big pieces of bologna, the ones cut from a roll, and grind it, then mix it with pickles and mayo for sandwich spread. The bread or crackers were run through after the bologna to "clean" the meat grinder!

Cassandra, we used to have a hot dog chain here called "Weiner King". (grin) Yeah, really. I liked their "special", which had chili, cheese, onions, mustard, coleslaw, bun was buttered and grilled and the dog was 1/4 pound. We also had a "Dog and Suds", which was a root beer stand, and now Burger King sells hot dogs here too. A&W here is still a drive in where they bring the tray to your car and set it on the window, and they have the best chili dogs, although the place across the street which used to be a Dairy Queen and now is independent, gives them a run for their money. The Sam's Club here serves Nathan's Famous and Elery and I stopped in Ohio on a trip just to have a dog at Tony Packo's because he was a fan of "Klinger" on "MASH".

We also have a lot of small independent hot dog places, from "Coney" dogs to Greek style chili dogs.

Annie

I'm loving this thread. Most of the time, I have no idea what you're all talking about LOL

Olychick,

I read your link and the article implies that the company making the claim may have used substandard collection procedures and that the DNA may have been from the collection staff themselves. It was a great headline though.

Lucille, I know...I just can't get over wondering if it's that or if it's something else. It's pretty easy to not eat hot dogs whichever it is!