# I ate a hot dog with ketchup yesterday **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 5, 2016, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565 "2016-06-05T12:04:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/21 "2016-06-05T17:38:15Z")
Ketchup on a Hot Dog is an Abomination. Period. Ask Clint Eastwood. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/22 "2016-06-05T17:41:27Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > My late husband (God bless him) ate hot dogs with mayonnaise. Other than that, he was a great guy. This is an oft overlooked and underrated condiment choice for hot dogs. One of the things I like about getting a hot dog at Five Guys is that I can get mayo on it without anyone treating me like a freak. To my face. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/23 "2016-06-05T17:56:49Z")
The bit I can’t understand: The region of the world where ketchup is considered such an abomination is also the same region where they habitually bury their dogs under so much salad that you can’t even find the meat. I mean, I could understand a hot dog purist, who liked them plain, or with only one or two specific condiments. But if you’re dumping the entire garden on it, what difference does one more topping make? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/24 "2016-06-05T17:59:32Z")
Chicagoan reporting in, and I am here to state that the entire “no ketchup on hot dogs” taboo is a running joke that got out of hand. Growing up, I ate at dozens of Chicago hot dog stands, and had ordered hot dogs with just ketchup and mustard, and nobody batted an eye. It wasn’t until years later, sometime in the late eighties I think, that this culinary quirk sprang into being. The now defunct Harry’s Hot Dogs on Franklin and Randolph was a Chicago institution for over fifty years, and a hot dog there with everything automatically included ketchup. If you didn’t want ketchup, you had to tell them to leave it off. They weren’t the only place in town doing that. If you want ketchup, ask for it. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/25 "2016-06-05T18:04:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The bit I can’t understand: The region of the world where ketchup is considered such an abomination is also the same region where they habitually bury their dogs under so much salad that you can’t even find the meat. I mean, I could understand a hot dog purist, who liked them plain, or with only one or two specific condiments. But if you’re dumping the entire garden on it, what difference does one more topping make? They don’t dump sugar on it. Also, purist is not minimalist. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/26 "2016-06-05T18:11:03Z")
When I was little, I used to love hot dogs slathered with Cheez-Whiz and Kraft Sandwich spread. Then when I was eight or so, I had two for lunch with a bowl of cream of mushroom soup, and everything came back up in about ten minutes. I remember running out of the diner and puking my guts out in the parking lot. Don’t think I’ve had hot dogs like that since. For plain (i.e., jumbo all-beef ball park) hot dogs, I like ketchup and green relish, though I can be persuaded to add a dash of mustard or two. For chili cheese dogs, French’s mustard and chopped raw onion. For pronto pups, just French’s mustard, please. The best hot dogs in the world, IMHO, are Chicago-style, made with Vienna franks. Kosher dogs that snap when you bite them waaaay outclass your average supermarket variety. :o ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/27 "2016-06-05T18:14:45Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > The now defunct Harry’s Hot Dogs on Franklin and Randolph was a Chicago institution for over fifty years, and a hot dog there with everything automatically included ketchup. If you didn’t want ketchup, you had to tell them to leave it off. They weren’t the only place in town doing that. I’ve had many a hot dog at the original Coney Island Nathan’s, where dogs are prepared with “da woiks.” This includes ketchup. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/28 "2016-06-05T18:47:17Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Burger King (which now sells hot dogs) puts both ketchup and mustard on their dogs, along with chopped onions and relish. It’s not bad. The dog itself is good, too. All beef, nice smoky flavor, has that snap when you bite into it. Much better than the Wienerschnitzel variety. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/29 "2016-06-05T19:00:02Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Chicagoan reporting in, and I am here to state that the entire “no ketchup on hot dogs” taboo is a running joke that got out of hand. > > Growing up, I ate at dozens of Chicago hot dog stands, and had ordered hot dogs with just ketchup and mustard, and nobody batted an eye. It wasn’t until years later, sometime in the late eighties I think, that this culinary quirk sprang into being. You know, this sounds about right to me. I lived in the Chicago area in the mid-80s, and don’t remember there being any issue with putting ketchup on hot dogs at the time. I think my present antipathy to putting ketchup on hot dogs originates from Cecil’s 1991 column that I linked to above. It evidently made quite an impression on me. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/30 "2016-06-05T19:05:13Z")
I like ketchup on MY hot dogs and I don’t give a shit who has a problem with it. Ketchup, mustard and onions, sometimes cheese. Dammit, now I want a hot dog. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/31 "2016-06-05T19:09:14Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > Ketchup is for French fries. Keep your tomatoey mitts away from my hot dog! 😃 **shudder** Why would anyone desecrate fries by putting anything other than salt on them? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/32 "2016-06-05T19:14:08Z")
You’ve never had cheese fries? (There’s a restaurant here in Pittsburgh that makes fries with cheddar, provolone and bacon bits. It’s so freaking bad for you, but so good) ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/33 "2016-06-05T19:39:08Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > For chili cheese dogs, French’s mustard and chopped raw onion. > > The best hot dogs in the world, IMHO, are Chicago-style, made with Vienna franks. Kosher dogs that snap when you bite them waaaay outclass your average supermarket variety. :o I was never a fan of “old-fashioned” (with thick skin) hot dogs. As for chili cheese dogs with mustard…so _you’re_ the guy that talked Rally’s/Checkers into making them that way. In my mind (and Wienerschnitzel’s), a “chili cheese dog” is just that - a hot dog with just chili and cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/34 "2016-06-05T19:50:09Z")
Hot dog snobs deserve to be laughed at by everybody. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/35 "2016-06-05T20:29:07Z")
Really good French fries are best with nothing but salt and optionally some malt vinegar. But typical French fries, such as one might get from most fast-food places, are best with ketchup. And chili cheese fries, poutine, etc. are in a category all their own. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/36 "2016-06-05T21:02:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Really good French fries are best with nothing but salt and optionally some malt vinegar. But typical French fries, such as one might get from most fast-food places, are best with ketchup. When I lived in Czechoslovakia, Friday evenings were for going to The Black Stallion and having dark beer and French fries with tartar sauce. Yum-O! :o ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/37 "2016-06-05T21:32:19Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I like them with mustard \*\*and \*\*ketchup, I always thought that was the norm, in the US that is. > [@](#): > > onions and relish. I don’t want to miss out on anything. Oh, yeah! There are few foods that onions don’t improve. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/38 "2016-06-05T21:36:15Z")
Hot dogs with ketchup and finely diced onions. Yum! **Never** mustard. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/39 "2016-06-05T21:52:14Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > It was brought to me already prepared. I was hungry. I had few options. > > Here’s the thing: it was a damn tasty dog. Who knew? > > I will no longer arch my eyebrows at anyone who professes enjoyment from such a sandwich. > > It’s not going to be my default, but I acknowledge that I learned something from the experience. > mmm The hotdog is no sandwich, sir. How dare you. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565/40 "2016-06-05T22:32:47Z")
I like ketchup on the cheap ones that taste like cheap bologna because that’s what I put on bologna. Folks what ain’t from 'round these parts, or other parts with a strong sausage-making tradition, may not know what a GOOD frankfurter tastes like and can be forgiven their tastes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ate-a-hot-dog-with-ketchup-yesterday/756565.md?page=3)