But what I want to know is, why? Somehow I doubt it has anything to do with the flavouring. So far, the only explanation I can come up with is that the casings are dense enough that steam can’t escape from the frank. The only supporting evidence I have for this is anecdotal. As a child I was told that I should make little slices in hot dogs when I microwaved them so that they wouldn’t explode.
NB: I no longer microwave hot dogs.
Most things expand when they get hot. This is no different. If you boil the franks, you’ve got the added factor that they undoubtedly absorb some water in the process, increasing their size yet more.
PS - I’ve never seen a frank “explode”, and since they are not air-tight, I’d imagine this may be hyperbole.
Enjpy…
IMHO, that casing constricts when it reaches it’s appropriate temp, thus it pulls the “meat” inwards and upwards. This could also be due to moisture lost in the casing which causes this reformation. Something might make the “meat” expand, but I have no idea what it could be.
When I microwaved them without slicing them, they tore usually only on one side. No explosion.
A typical sausage consists of ground meat that’s combined with fat, flavorings, and preservatives, and then stuffed into a casing and twisted at intervals to make links. Pork is most commonly used, but butchers also use beef, lamb, veal, turkey, chicken, or game, and some also use fillers like oatmeal and rice to stretch the meat a bit. Casings vary too–in addition to intestines or artificial casings, butchers sometimes use stomachs, feet, skins, or they do away with casings altogether and sell the sausage in bulk. After assembling a sausage, a butcher can either sell it as fresh sausage, or else cure, dry, or precook it in some way.
meat it shrinks when it cooks because it loses water but if a sausage has fillers then perhaps those expand when cooked in water or from the juices given off by the meat.
So we have a vote for the casing constricting enough from either end to kinda sqoosh it in the middle, and another for maybe internal expansion, possibly from fillers.
Not one of the great questions of our times, I suppose, but I’ve been curious for a while. If I ate hot dogs much anymore, I’d just buy a package and do some experiments on my own.
And no, I’ve never had a hot dog explode on me either. I was a conscientious little girl and I stuck holes in them first. In hindsight, that probably didn’t make any difference.
Thanks for taking a swing at it.
Un-perfed franks don’t really explode when you nuke 'em. However, they’ll split or get big, funny-looking blisters from the suddenly expanding steam.