That sounds right. Help me here, because through the years I seem to have come to believe the following things: a) A New York dog is fairly basic: mustard and sauerkraut, b) A Coney dog may contain a meatless chili and, c) A Chicago dog has EVERYTHING except ketchup. Years ago I think Cecil had a column about how a Chicago dog is “dragged through the garden.”
I’m sure you’re probably correct. I grew up in NE Ohio and that’s were I got my view of it. I’ve only been to Coney Island once in my life and that was in 1959.
Many years ago I toured a chicken processing plant. Downstairs, a tube hung down from the ceiling. Gloop fell from the tube into a plastic drum. A worker replaced full drums with empty ones. That was the stuff that was going to be chicken hot dogs. After touring the plant I couldn’t eat chicken for a year or so. To this day I cannot eat a chicken dog.
You’re bringing back memory of the Otto von Bismark quote:
“Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.”
I once bought Niman Ranch dogs at San Francisco’s farmers market, and I have to say they were spectacular. I really didn’t think there would be much difference in hot dogs, but the NR dogs were much yummier than my former favorite, Hebrew National.
I also buy franks from a German deli here on the peninsula, Dittmer’s. These are also head and shoulders above any grocery store dogs. They have real casings, are made of veal, pork and beef, and are smoked at Dittmer’s. My husband goes wild for them, and it’s a special treat at our house when it’s a “Dittmer’s dog” night.
That’s gross. Then again, there is a long tradition of aggregating the disgusting bits and pieces of animals into food products that no longer resemble the disgusting bits and pieces. (Head cheese; various Italian salumi; sausages generally.) And these other things, which used to be peasant food, are now haute cuisine.
I figure the hot dog is the unpretentious version of these things.
I actually prefer the Shofar brand of kosher hot dogs to Hebrew National, although the latter are quite good. The wife prefers Nathan’s.
I like hotdogs with the natural casing still on. Something about the “snap” as I bite in.
The original Hot Dog as we know it was “invented” and popularized by Johann Georg Lahner, who was trained as a butcher in Frankfurt but opened up shop in Vienna and sold his Frankfurt Würstel there to great acclaim. Hence, the Frankfurter/Wiener connection and variable naming convention.
Here is a translated recipe from the linked wikipedia article for real Frankfurters from the German *“Wurst- und Fleischerhandbuch”(1950) * . As you can see they are quite a simple sausage and I would think these Frankfurters would be quite a surprise and pleasure to eat in their original form and not at all like the hot dogs we know today. The recipe calls for only lean pork- so if you think you’ll miss the snoots, tits, hearts and cornsyrup then a real Hot Dog probably isn’t for you.
Frankfurt Würstel
(makes 10 pairs of sausage)
1.5kg (3.3lbs.) of lean pork
1kg (2.2lbs) of fatty pork belly or bacon
65g (1/3 cup) salt
5g (1 heaping teaspoon) sugar
1g (1/4 tsp.) saltpeter (potassium nitrate)
6g (1 and 1/4 teaspoons) pepper
2.5g (1/2 teaspoon) ground ginger
3.5g (1 teaspoon) ground coriander
Cut the lean pork into coarse chunks and mix with the salt, sugar, and saltpeter. Let sit overnight refrigerated. The next day, grind the lean pork mixture very finely with a bit of water and the remaining spices. Add the finely ground pork belly or bacon to the rest of the mixture and grind all together several times until a very smooth mixture. It is advisable to let the mixture stand overnight so that the sausages are a beautiful red color. Fill the mixture into pig intestines, twist off into pairs of 125g (3.5 ozs). Predry them in a warm spot, then smoke them till a beautiful golden yellow.
Just one more vote for Hebrew National
My brother-in-law just introduced us to Schweigert natural casing wieners. I like hot dogs, but I don’t usually get all fired up about them. I must say these were very, very good. (So good, I ate two leftover hot dogs, sans bun, for breakfast the next day!)