Why is there no ketchup on a properly made hot dog?
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_095.html
Wowsers! Ketchup isn’t good enough to be a standard part of a sandwich consisting of a tube of various bits and pieces of animal parts that we normally wouldn’t even consider eating?
I hadn’t eaten a hotdog in 2 decades, until my first child came along. When in rome…
But I tell you, if it weren’t for Ketchup there is simply no WAY I could eat the things. (This coming from someone that thoroughly enjoys ‘tasting’ food, all kinds of it. I’m not one to mask what I eat myself, normally)
Personally, I believe the masking power of Ketchup is the only suitable detractant for the heavy load of nitrates that come along with a lovely ole tubesteak.
But hey, if some people want to continue to believe there is anything even remotely gourmet about said afformentioned food attrocity, all the power to them.
Good lord. First there’s a pizza thread in Cafe Society and now this. I guess today is the day to defend the Chicago Way of Eating.
Ketchup is nothing more than spoiled tomato paste mixed with vinegar. It may be acceptable to smear rotten vegitable matter on your food if you’re trying to cover the plasticine taste of a (shudder) Oscar Meyer Cheeze Dog, but that’s as far as I’ll bend.
If you want tomato on your dog, go with fresh slices, along with a pickle spear, celery salt, good mustard, onions and make sure you’re buying kosher beef hotdogs, like David Berg’s or Kosher’s Best, and help yourself out and get some poppy seed buns.
You know, there are hot dog stands here that will throw you out if you even ask for ketchup?
See, the idea is, though, that you bother to get a hot dog that’s not an abomination - so that Cecil’s analogy to a good sausage or brat holds.
If you’ve got a hot dog where you want to taste that beefy squirt when you break through the just-resistant-enough casing, and further enjoy the meat therein, then ya wants a flavor enhancer, not a masker.
Maybe it’s because we have good hot dogs in Chicago.
About the only thing ketchup is good for is french fries. It’s not a substance you want on regular food. I’ve grilled up some steaks before, and my guest asked for ketchup to put on them. I refused… I would compromise and give them “steak sauce”, but would not let them desecrate a fine cut of meat with that stuff…
The whole thing is stupid. Ketchup/Catsup is just fine on a hot dog, if that’s the way you like it. I have hot dogs however I feel like it at the time, although if I’m home I’d have to go out and buy some if I wanted catsup.
I’m not a catsup fan especially and can’t remember the last time I used any. I do seem to remember having catsup and sauerkraut together on a hot dog in times past.
I can’t imagine trying to eat a hamburger without it. The abomination for hamburgers is “special sauce,” or its cousin, mayonaise.
As to hot dogs, I like a bit of ketchup on them, at times, and I demanded it as a kid. These days, I usually I just go for light mustard. I don’t think ketchup is the worst thing you can do to a hot dog. The thing I hate is steamed buns.
Here in Houston we have an outfit call James Coney Island. Total crap hot dogs, about the size of your pinky. There’s nothing you can do to make them worse. They ruin ketchup. I’m told you can get a good dog there, but they’re off-menu. WTF?
What about coneys/chili dogs? I favor a minimalist construction: frank, chili, maybe some raw onion on the top. But once, when I was a kid, my father took me to Orange Julius & I got a chili dog–I had no idea they would put all this extraneous crap on it–relish? mustard? Hey, it’s a chili dog! If I asked for “the works” I could imagine onions & jalapeños, maybe chives or raw tomatoes,[sup]*[/sup] but no, I repeat no, liquified condiments, they’re stepping on the chili’s toes!!
Not that I’ve ever had a coney like this, but it would make something resembling rational sense to me.
Well there ain’t nothin’ meaner
Than a wiener from Pasadena
At Karl’s Disco Wiener Teener Haven
They sizzle, they grizzle
You step up to the griddle
At Karl’s Disco Wiener Haven
You tell me and I’ll fetch up
Karl’s Disco Wiener Teener Haven
K-A-R-L’S
Disco Wiener Haven
Salsa y ketchup
Salsa y ketchup
Salsa y ketchup…
Hey, it’s your hot dog, put whatever you want on it-who cares what’s “proper”?
I personally like ketchup on my 'dog, along with mustard, minced onions and cheese.
However, if it’s not Heinz Ketchup, then that’s just nasty.
Having been a long time ketchup eater, I gave a shot at dressing my dog like the column says. Not bad, though I dunno if it’s entirely worth the added effort here at home. Maybe if I’m ever in Chicago I’ll see what all the fuss is about.
Mostly what it made me wonder was this: Do you all up there have some freakishly huge buns or something? With what we have down here, putting all that stuff on a dog is surefire way to turn it into a sandwich, with a discrete piece of bread on each side of the wiener.
[hijack]You’re in H-Town too, eh? Awesome. I figured that even given the obviously low IQ of the average Houstonian, the city’s sheer size would dictate that I’d bump into another Doper or two. You are the first.
The nastiest thing on the James Coney Island Menu, by far, is the “Philly Cheese Steak,” which is grilled to gray, chewy perfection and served on a hot dog bun. Eww. [/hijack]
In response to the OP, I think Cecil’s point (and I agree) is that if you think hot dogs taste fine with ketchup, or better with ketchup, it’s probably because you haven’t had a really good hot dog.
