# Listen, unless you know what's in a hotdog, shut the hell up. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 21, 2001, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691 "2001-06-21T21:24:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/21 "2001-06-22T17:32:55Z")
Ha! There was, on the news recently, a man who had won the hot-dog eating contest. I think he ate 18 or 19 of em in 2 minutes. He’s alive! ---
**Author:** ![DJScherr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@DJScherr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJScherr)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/22 "2001-06-22T18:06:16Z")
Doesn’t everyone know what is in hot dogs? Lips and a-holes Am I the only one that learns things from John Candy movies? ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/23 "2001-06-22T18:47:51Z")
USDA is very strict at Oscar Mayer. Oscar Mayer does have a website, but I will look tonight while I am at work. I do know that anything that does not make the grade goes to the Purina factory down the street from us. ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/24 "2001-06-22T19:48:33Z")
Hot dogs do **NOT** contain lips and assholes. They are saved to make Scrapple. :D:D:D ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2001, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/25 "2001-06-22T22:53:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spritle \* > \*\*Hot dogs do **NOT** contain lips and assholes. > > They are saved to make Scrapple. :D:D:D > > \*\* “Scrapple: Made from the stuff we were afraid to put into SPAM” Catchy slogan, dontcha think? ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/26 "2001-06-23T01:03:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SuaSponte \* > **"Scrapple: Made from the stuff we were afraid to put into SPAM"** Oh boy, I saw this thread and I was going to gross everyone out with Scrapple, but you beat me to it. My late Grandfather was a big fan of Scrapple, and he was a meat inspector for the USDA. I can’t believe he ate it, and he KNEW what was in it! He used to watch them make it! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/27 "2001-06-23T01:07:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PosterChild \* > \*\*Cecil dealt with why it’s called [Spam](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_229.html) > > Spiced HAM > > PC \*\* Look up seven posts from your own. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/28 "2001-06-23T01:25:54Z")
I thought hotdogs were “icky” because of nitrates? I don’t care if they put everything but the squeal in there–I thought it was the other stuff, the additives, that were the stuff to avoid. I kept hot dogs out of my kid’s diet for 15 months. Then we were at a family reunion and he snagged one off a cousin’s plate. Instant Love Affair with hotdogs. Since he was a picky eater and hard to wean, I agonized over this, wanting to say “never again” but desperate to add something to his diet. Someone told me to buy all-beef kosher dogs and I’d be limiting the worst of the crap. Then one day Mr. Cranky did the shopping and bought the cheapo kinds. Cranky Jr. tasted those and then refused the kosher ones. Sigh. As for me, one summer I ate a hotdog with sauerkraut, mustard, and melted swiss every day for breaskfast. Every single day, all summer. Yum. ---
**Author:** ![dopetalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@dopetalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dopetalker)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/29 "2001-06-23T03:32:48Z")
I’m with Thinksnow on this one. What is or isn’t in hotdogs really doesn’t matter. The point is there’s a reason things are what they are and that we’re the ones with the animals and plants at our access and not the other way around. The air is perfectly created in the way of gas, for us to breathe in, our breathing out carbon dioxide for it to be amazingly recycled back to oxygen-valuable air again, for eternity. The sun, a nuclear reaction in space that’s been going on forever, gives us life. We use, excrete, grow, things get absorbed, recycled, and some species eat and/or symbiotically relate to others but yet in the limits, margins and boundaries that have been set there is randomness, our ability to do whatever the hell we want to do, accidents, coincidences, etc. The number of and variety of edible plants, animals, etc. is stunning, each with a flavor, sweetness and/or texture obviously meant for us (look at chicken and look at oranges). Look at the amount, number and variety of nutritive, mineral, and energy resources that were built in in this planet and these random “discoveries” that oh-by-the-way-as-a-side- result just happened to change the lives of everyone in the entire world for the better (like that famous, casual kite-flying stroll through a storm one day with a metal key on the string). Divine design. What I’m getting at is that some things that are ugly or brutal are unnecessary. But others have their brutal, mean side and they’re hard to look at sometimes but they’re what’s right and what’s meant to be and to ignore or dispute it or any or all of the accompanying associated evidence is to deprive yourself of what was purposefully laid out for your growth and enjoyment and maybe do the same to others. And the answer to that is DON’T! ---
**Author:** ![dopetalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@dopetalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dopetalker)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/30 "2001-06-23T03:50:48Z")
In case you haven’t guessed, the above tirade addresses vegetarianism and the want these days to make a big deal out of and get scared of every ingredient and to take the fats, lipids, nitrates, cholesterol, salt, sugar, water, calories, substance, flavor and everything else that originally comes in products out of products like hot dogs, milk, and cheese. There are reasons and designs behind animals and their byproducts being created like they are and having the substances and qualities they do. We can exercise. We can limit the quantity of certain things we eat. But those fats and calories are part and parcel to us. Why the hell else would our human bodies even require the things that are in them or be able to use them in growth and development? Let’s have some three-dimensional thinking here! ---
**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 23, 2001, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/31 "2001-06-23T05:04:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CrankyAsAnOldMan \* > **1. he was … hard to wean > 2. Someone told me to buy all-beef kosher dogs and I’d be limiting the worst of the crap.** 1. So he traded sucking on a boobie like a good, respectable, heterosexual guy for biting on a long, slender sausage and this was PROGRESS? 😉 2. Kosher dogs are wonderful and (reasonably) healthy. Good, clean beef, not too fatty, with a rabbi dousing them with holy water and doing the Sign of the Cross over the vat or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/32 "2001-06-23T10:43:06Z")
I won’t let my kids eat hotdogs raw because of the additives in them. But otherwise yes folks, they are perfectly safe and USDA approved. ---
**Author:** ![Akatsukami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/33 "2001-06-23T18:51:05Z")
**CrankyAsAnOldMan** is apparently boasting when she says: > [@](#): > > I kept hot dogs out of my kid’s diet for 15 months. despite the fact **vanilla** had already written: > [@](#): > > Well, gee, I thought my reference to hot dogs would be gotten as a humorous reference to (my favorite human being)Ralph Nader, who KNOWS whats in hot dogs and hasn’t eaten one in manny years. Force-feed the rugrat a frankfurter every day, sweets. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2001, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/34 "2001-06-23T19:05:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SuaSponte \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Spritle \* > > \*\*Hot dogs do **NOT** contain lips and assholes. > > > > They are saved to make Scrapple. :D:D:D > > > > \*\* > > “Scrapple: Made from the stuff we were afraid to put into SPAM” > > Catchy slogan, dontcha think? \*\* Scrapple isn’t even the bottom of the pig meat product food chain – that honor belongs to souse. You can’t find souse in too many places, but you can get it in Pennsylvania and probably in other areas with Amish/Mennonite populations. Souse is made from pigs feet, and you can buy it in blocks. It’s supposed to be served cold. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vanilla \* > Well, gee, I thought my reference to hot dogs would be gotten as a humorous reference to (my favorite human being)Ralph Nader, who KNOWS whats in hot dogs and hasn’t eaten one in **manny** years. Exactly how long is a manny year? The length of time between **manhattan** ’s flirt posts in MPSIMS? ---
**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 24, 2001, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/35 "2001-06-24T02:16:16Z")
Scrapple? Souse? Get ready for the NEXT STEP in Disgusting Pork Recipes…HEAD CHEESE! Take one pig’s head and boil it until the meat is falling off the skull… ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/36 "2001-06-24T14:58:40Z")
**JeffB** wrote: > [@](#): > > Scrapple isn’t even the bottom of the pig meat product food chain – that honor belongs to souse. Souse is made from pigs feet, and you can buy it in blocks. Not even close. The bottom\*\* of the pig meat product line is indubitably [chitterlings (chitlins)](http://www.teamgwailo.com/goggles/chitterlings.html). Yep, good ol’ hog intestines. And let me tell you, no matter how much they’ve been scrubbed, you can’t wash that _smell_ out. ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2001, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691/37 "2001-06-24T16:19:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JeffB \* > **Scrapple isn’t even the bottom of the pig meat product food chain – that honor belongs to souse. You can’t find souse in too many places, but you can get it in Pennsylvania and probably in other areas with Amish/Mennonite populations. Souse is made from pigs feet, and you can buy it in blocks. It’s supposed to be served cold.** Yeah, I live in a heavily Amish area and I assure you that souse is not the worst product I see on the grocery store shelves. My least favorite stuff is pigs skin. Big stacks of 4 inch squares of pig skin about 4 or 5mm thick, hair and all. The ears are pretty awful too. I don’t know what they make out of this stuff, and I definitely don’t want to know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/listen-unless-you-know-whats-in-a-hotdog-shut-the-hell-up/69691.md?page=1)