What are the differences exactly, between a non kosher hot dog and a kosher hot dog?
I understand the kosher dog has been blessed by a rabbi and the cow was slaughtered in a particular manner, but are you getting better cuts of meat? Fewer lips and anuses (ani?)?
;j ;j ;j
I don’t think there’s much difference in the lips and assholes quotient, but one major difference is that most non-kosher hotdogs are made of pork. There are, of course, non-kosher all-beef or turkey dogs, but those are a fairly small subset of all hot dogs.
The Kosher appellation also controls how the food animal is slaughtered and the environment it happens in.
Nitpicking perhaps but the rabbi only ensures that the ingredients conform to jewish dietary laws. This means that meats come from kosher animals and have been slaughtered in the appropriate way. Also dairy products, and their derivatives, are not mixed with meat products. There are no blessings or other religious rituals performed.
If you’re a vegan and a product says pareve - it doesn’t contain any meat or dairy ingredients or byproducts. As an example some non-dairy creamers contain caesin a milk derivative.
Welcome aboard(s), adirondack_mike!
Nice informative post.
CrazyCatLady:
Well, a kosher hot dog wouldn’t contain any assholes, at least. The entire back end of kosher cattle is not consumed by kosher-observant Jews, because the sciatic nerve is a forbidden part of the animal and it is extremely difficult and non-cost-effective to remove.
Aside from blessed vs non-blessed, and appropriate slaughter methods, kosher dogs are generally better quality all around.
Personally, I don’t care if it’s kosher or kumquats. They just taste better and I don’t get unpleasant after-effects like I often do from some of the non-kosher ones.
As for the sciatic nerve - now i’m really curious. What’s the issue about not eating it?
Well, eggs and fish are both non-meat and non-dairy, but non-vegan as well, so I wouldn’t advise vegans to judge food strictly on their pareveness.
Totally unrelated, but the person doing the supervising doesn’t have to be a rabbi; they must be an observant Jewish person who has studied the kosher-related laws.
The issue derives from Genesis 32:33, which says (after a description of Jacob’s wrestling with an angel as he’s fleeing from his father-in-law’s house): “Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew of the vein which is upon the hollow of the thigh to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh [while wrestling] in the sinew of the vein,” causing Jacob to limp. In the US, where meat is relatively cheap, it’s not cost-effective to pay for specialists to remove the sciatic nerve, which is a painstaking, exacting process, so the entire hindquarters of the cow is sold to non-kosher meat processors. In Israel, however, meat’s very expensive, and it’s economically worth it to do the removal, so you can get kosher cuts of meat there that aren’t available in America.
I often buy kosher meats because I figure the handing conditions might be better.
Just like I’d rather eat a chicken I killed myself than something from the store.
Cleanliness is next to godliness, at least when it comes to chow.
So, how could you actually tell if an asshole is one of the ingredients? It’s a hole. An opening into or thru something. It has no substance. I think if a manufacturer is telling you ‘nah, there ain’t no assholes in MY meat’, hee hee, yeah there is. 
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oa/pubs/focushotdog.htm
USDA requirements for hot dogs.
If I read it correctly, and I’m not sure I am, if the label says 100% Beef your are getting only muscle meat cuts, no lips or anii.
Anus is a 2nd declension masculine noun; the Latin plural is ani. =)
For anyone who’s interested in knowing which multi-billion-dollar conglomerate their purchases are enriching the stockholders of, Hebrew National, a leading manufacturer of kosher hot dogs, answers to the higher authority of ConAgra Foods. I’ve always been shocked at the huge number of brands that are owned by a few large corporations like ConAgra and Philip Morris. (Their hot dogs are indeed kosher, though; their website explains the process in great detail.)
Anyone know if kosher hot dogs contain less nitrite than non-kosher ones? That might be why the “unpleasant after-effects” are reduced.
Your real question seems to have been pretty well fielded. FWIW, if you want more information on Judaism for laymen, I recommend Wouk’s This Is My God. Good read.
As to the anus question, none of my dictionaries include a plural for it at all. The Bantam Medical Dictionary doesn’t, either. Miriam-Webster’s abridged online dictionary has no plural. Dictionary.com lists “anuses” as the plural form, but that’s only one out of six.
Anyone have an OED and too much spare time?
None of the leading national brands of hot dogs (Oscar Mayer, Hormel, Swift, Armour, etc.) in the U.S. contain beef or pork byproducts. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture requires that all the meat in products labeled simply “hot dogs” or “frankfurters” be from skeletal muscle only. The U.S.D.A. requires that if the hot dog or frankfurter does contain meat byproducts, that it be labeled “Hot Dogs with Byproducts” or “Frankfurters with Byproducts”. The phrase “with Byproducts” must be in a typeface the same size as the “hot dogs” or “frankfurters”.
quothz: The OED doesn’t list the plural either. It was first attested in 1658, and none of the examples are in the plural. The etymology is given as [L.] – from Latin. So you can use the Latin plural, ani, or the English plural, anuses. The Latin dictionary I looked it up in defined anus, -i. m. as “the fundament”. I’m sure penis was defined as “tail, the membrum virilis”… =)
I’ll have to check the Hebrew National web site. There’s an ongoing debate about the kashrut status of HN prepared meats, because the company lost their Orthodox Union kashrut certification (the (U) symbol on foodstuffs and food-related implements).
BTW, Roches, nice reuse of HN’s marketing phrase!
Boy, Mom, that was delicious! Can I have some more byproducts?
Frankfurters with byproducts? Serious ugh factor there! I cam’t imagine anyone wanting to actually buy that at the grocery store. What does the USDA have to say on operations such as carnivals or county fairs? Can they buy the byproduct version and not have to advertise such?
When I read the title of this thread I thought it was going to be about Chinese food ingedients.