Prompted by a stray comment in the executive chef thread…
My mom boiled our hot dogs, my wife’s mom did the same. I adopted the practice until I realized I wasn’t bound by tradition and throwing them in a skillet is faster, uses less energy, and produces an indistinguishable product.
Was this a midwest thing?
No, it was a learned to cook in the 50s thing. My Mom and many others of that generation also boiled hotdogs.
Broiled or grilled is far superior.
Oh, NYC/NJ
I grew up in a Serbian family. Boiled weiners (the long, old-world version) were sometimes on the menu.
As an adult, I moved from Canada to the Czech Republic – this dish (usually served with mustard) is a common quick meal here.
A very weak, plain, and bland dish if you ask me. I recall having at least one migraine as a kid after eating this.
We had a nifty little gadget called the Presto Hot Dogger. You impaled the weenies on two spikes and electrocuted them.
Sometimes I’m in the mood for the boiled version; possibly because that’s what I grew up with.
Boiled hot dogs were the norm growing up. As an adult I now have access to a grill which provides better flavor, but if in a hurry, or there’s inclement weather, I still on occasion will boil them.
When I was growing up hot dogs prepared at home were either microwaved or grilled. It didn’t occur to me that people boiled hot dogs until I saw them being heated in water at a hot dog cart as an adult. Nowadays I normally broil them in the toaster oven if I’m not grilling them.
Hot dogs should be steamed, not boiled. Grilling should be done over an open fire or hot coals.
I saw that comment too and I was baffled that the commenter was baffled at the idea of boiled hot dogs.
I grew up in Ohio in the 80s and we most definitely boiled our hot dogs, even after we got a microwave. The microwave just dries them out.
I had a kids party about a decade ago and one of the things I served was hot dogs. I got a huge pack from GFS and boiled them in my stock pot.
I’m pretty sure that’s how hot dog vendors do it, too, as @scabpicker says.
You could build your own pretty easily. You just needed a piece of plywood, several nails, an old extension cord, and a complete disregard for your own safety.
We ate boiled hotdogs growing up. The biggest advantage was the ease of cooking a lot at a time, and required no attention beyond setting a timer.
If you’re drying out your hot dogs in the microwave, it sounds like you’re cooking them too long. 20 or 30 seconds is plenty, in my experience.
And yes, I grew up with boiled hot dogs.
I boil them and then put them in the broiler for a few minutes to finish them.
Yep, also grew up with boiled. I either pan-fry or use my Oscar Mayer hot dog roller grill (usually the latter, if I’m honest) nowadays.
Boiled was the default way that hot dogs were cooked in my childhood, as well, if there wasn’t a grill involved/available. (Midwestern US, 1970s.)
We didn’t have a microwave oven until the early '80s. We did have a Presto Hot Dogger, which I used regularly for a while to make myself snacks, when I was a teenager and putting away a huge number of calories a day.
They were always boiled until our family got our first microwave. After that, it was stick the cold wiener in the bun, wrap it in a paper towel, and zap it for 45 seconds.
Agree with this. “Learned to cook in the 50s” sums it up well: back then, if you didn’t bake it, you boiled it. So, we had boiled hot dogs in our house.
Grilling or broiling is far superior, but the thought back then was that boiling is so much simpler and easier. Which it is, but it just heats the dog; it doesn’t really bring out much flavour.
I think this may to do with how they are bought, in the UK you’d typically buy them in jars or cans with a brine, and you’d boil them in this brine. To just boil them in normal water it would lose a lot of taste I’d think. Recently I’ve grilled them (broiled in american term), and find it easier, maybe a bit tastier.
You can buy hot dogs in the fridge, in packets with little brine to boil in. Those ones I’d do under the grill (broiler).
I bought one at a thrift store last year, great condition, neat period box graphics, $5. Excited, I then bought some hot dogs and buns, both very cheap. Was it an old Boy Scout book that described a similar DIY cooker with steel nails?
I impaled a pair of weenies, slid the spike tray into the tunnel, and booted up the machine. Like 15 seconds later, the smell made itself known, then the visible smoke whisps over a pathetic whimpering sound. Good heavens, what a terrible stench, like burning hair and ozone and wet, overheating industrial protein. It honestly turned my stomach already but I let them heat through. No matter, I couldn’t even get a single bite down, I was gagging, the taste and smell were just too far. And cleaning was a chore after only two hot dogs. For sale, $5!
Yes boiled but I like them blackened so
I actually ate one from the package once, I think.
In the 1960s, there was always some weirdo family on the block who would split their dogs and grill the non-skin sides on a pan.