Hebrew National, the only hot dog you should eat.

That's what I used to buy.

I was thinking Applegate might be good, and they make hickory smoked beef and pork hot dogs plus turkey hot dogs, which Kevin would eat, and I think they would be better than chicken. I can buy these at Sprouts, providing they have them in inventory. The turkey hot dogs are available at a lot more markets, such as Whole Foods, Vons, and Pavillions - none of which we have visited recently, except perhaps for Whole Foods.

We can't have pork or beef so we buy Selects Natural Turkey dogs. Instead of the mess of deep frying corn dogs I baked them in cornbread. My grands ought is was hilarious and still slathered them with mustard like the ones on a stick. I suppose you could bake them with the stick in them but mark the tops where you should cut. Here is where I got the recipe though I used my own cornbread mix instead of Jiffy and doubled the recipe for 9x13 pan: Cornbread Stuffed Hot Dogs

Applegate sounds like a good choice. I don't often eat hotdogs, but get them for a household member who likes them and occasionally do. Applegate is superior.

From corndogs, I only know on the eating side (I do like corndogs) rather than the making, but what seems important to me is that the coating remains solid and not cracky or crumbly, nor particularly oily but more fluffy, and the hotdog shouldn't shrink to the point where it's wallowing around in a cornbread tire, but rather remains pretty snug. That would mean a low moisture hotdog, I'd think. Additionally, no casing would be ideal, because the time one doesn't want that snap is in a corndog!

Good luck!

Hebrew National....no question!
As to your corn mix?...grind your corn finer.....and use a ratio of more flour and less corn meal....I like 1 1/4 cups flour to 3/4 cups corn meal.... and I add chili powder to the corn bread mix....or sometimes a good teaspoon ful of Colemans dry mustard.

My coating did remain solid (and fluffy) and the hot dog did not shrink, as far as I could tell.

I might try baking them in cornbread, but if I do, I will use my own cornbread recipe and maybe add jalapeños to it. I may have to get a corn stick pan for this.

I will try grinding my corn finer, but I will keep my cornmeal to flour ratio and see if the finer grind will get the results I want. When I make cornbread, it has no flour in it whatsoever - that is the traditional Texas style, and it's what I'm used to. I also use zero sugar in it. Adding dry mustard sounds like a good idea.

When I make the next batch, I can fry a couple of them and then decide whether the batter needs to have more flour added to it. I fry them in a wok, and I can only get two in at a time anyway. I got rid of my deep fryer, as it did not maintain the temperature that it was supposed to, and now I have a very good frying thermometer, plus a wok adapter for my range that locks in place and holds the wok perfectly.

I will probably try Applegate's turkey hot dogs next. I prefer to avoid "all beef", and I was interested in trying something with a mixture of beef and pork. If I were just making hot dogs, I might go back to Hebrew National, but for corndogs, I think they might come out a bit dry. The chicken corndogs were not dry and my only complaint is the flavor of the hot dogs.

Nancy, I do something similar, but I bake slices of hot dogs in corn muffins, the grandkids love them.

I like Koegel's Vienna sausages, and they are available in a chicken "variety" which I've never tried. Because they are available only in Michigan, with a few items going to Toledo, Ohio, I'll have to see if I can get my hands on some for Lars' visit.

In the event Koegel is not available I'd either get Nathan's Famous or Hebrew National. My Mother, however, likes Ball Park Franks, but only cold out of the refrigerator with no condiments or bun.

Annie

Sorry, Lars, it was the afternoon doldrums and I wasn't clear. What I meant was that not all hotdogs make for good corn dogs. Some are too dry, some are too greasy, some are too watery, etc., and they affect the coating. But I couldn't tell you which and how.

Some of the makers of beef/pork hot dogs have changed to one of the meats being turkey, so read labels. :)

My Mother, however, likes Ball Park Franks, but only cold out of the refrigerator with no condiments or bun.

Yikes, Mother!

Applegate's all beef organic dogs are really good. Aldi also sells organic all beef hot dogs here, and they're comparable to Applegate's, but Applegate also makes a 'stadium' style that is fatter and a bit larger.