There’s a place in Chicago that doesn’t have ketchup for their hot dogs, and asking for it will get you ejected from the store. It’s just wrong (unless you’re under 5).
I’m a mustard, onion and pickle girl, myself.
Oh yeah. Just for starters.
Ketchup (of course, I have no idea what the big deal is, you put ketchup on a burger right?)
Mustard (a must)
Tomatoes
Pickle relish
A slice of dill pickle
Hot peppers (these are important)
Diced onion.
At this point you sort of run out of room. But a bit of kraut or cheese, works too.
It’s actually not bad, once you get past the idea of chili AND slaw on a dog.
You wanna talk about gross… I used to work with a guy that would put Mayo on his hot dogs!
blecchhh!
I can deal w/ kethcup, and even a slaw-dog; but the way i really like is cheese, yellow mustard, and pickle relish. mmmm
I usually put both mustard and ketchup on a dog, plus sweet relish and chopped onion. If I have chili, I leave out the ketchup and relish. To each his own!
YES! YES! This is what I was talking about when you order All The Way in the South. This, my fellow Americans, is the best hotdog on the planet. You have to have a squishy steamed bun, greasy chili, pungent onions, yellow mustard, and mayo based slaw chopped fine with no carrots.
My host last night did not have any of these things for our Sabretts dogs, so I put brown mustard and Duke’s mayo on mine. Deal! 
Brit chirping in here.
Hot English mustard and onions is the only stuff to put on a hot dog, maybe some chilli but ketchup :eek: no fank you.
FWIW the best hot dogs I ever had were in Chicago at a place called “Hot Diggety Dog” on N. Lincoln Ave.
I also had them at Wrigley Field and they were pretty good, unlike the game of rounders I endured 
I was raised with the ketchup/mustard/relish trinity.
I went on to chili dogs with onions, and DW “Super Dogs” adorned with mustard,onion, pickles,and a tomato slice.
Today my preference is kraut, spicy mustard, and a dill spear. I save the ketchup for my fries.
My garage band had a song called “Don’t Spare The Mustard” that detailed the construction of the ultimate hot dog.
Ahh, the perennial ketchup & hotdog thread. Might as well participate in at least one during my stay. (An aside: nearly every poster spelled it as ketchup, with a very small minority spelling it catsup. Has the ketchup always dominated, or am I witnessing the tail-end of a shift in English?)
When I ate animal-derived dogs, I didn’t do ketchup. Not that I think it’s a culinary travesty, but I found hot dogs to already be sweet in flavor (yes, including purist, kosher, and “connoisseur” brands), so adding more sweetness in the form of ketchup made the whole thing too sugary for my taste. I imagine someone whose palate detects less sweetness might enjoy some ketchup.
My basic dog consisted of just mustard, though I enjoyed most topping combinations that omit cucumber- or cabbage-based toppings. Chili/coney sauce, cheese, yellow and brown mustards, celery salt, tomatoes, fresh or cooked onions? Yum. For corn dogs, a puddle of mustard for dipping.
Now, I’m vegetarian, so I eat veggie dogs… which are great approximations of standard weiners (which, frankly, never tasted like meat to begin with). Haven’t found a veggie chili that approximates that great canned hot dog chili.
Oh, grasshopper, you have much to learn of the ways of hot dog condiments. Order a fully dressed dog in Chicago and you get this.
Note the complete lack of ketchup.
Sweet Mother of Mercy!!! :eek:
Is that an ENTIRE pickle spear atop said hotdog???
Now we’re throwing MAYO into the mix??? I’m dizzy I tells ya! DIZZY!!
I should add that I’m more fascinated by the differences than actually disgusted by what you guys are putting ON the hotdog. It’s like a sociological experiment, but with wieners!! 
NSFW! Did you see what that pepper was doing to that soft, sweet innocent virgin tomato! :eek:
Just yellow mustard for me and perhaps a bit of relish, although there’s a lot to be said for a Chicago dog. Spicy mustard is for brats and Polish. The Ms. puts ketchup on many things, but she’s a sugar freak, so that explains it: ketchup is loaded with the stuff. I personally can’t stand the sweetness of it.
Meet the Brazilian hot dog, this one containing mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, peas, corn, carrots, onions, potato sticks, and parmesan cheese.
Anyhow, “fully dressed” in Chicago has different meanings depending on the stand. I would say the vast majority of hot dog stands don’t follow the Vienna beef guidelines for a Chicago hot dog. (Vienna beef says a Chicago hot dog is mustard, neon green relish, onions, pickle spear, tomato, optional sport peppers, and celery salt on a poppy seed bun.)
The usual condiments (in my experience) are mustard, non-neon green relish, onions, and sometimes pickle spear served on a regular (non poppy seed) bun.
And then there is the Marseilles hot dog. I had one of these while there on a business trip. They heat the bun by jambing it onto a heated spike. Then a thin wiener and pommes frites are inserted into the bun. It’s actually quite good.
“Ketchup” is the way it is spelled by Heinz, which is the ONLY ketchup to put on anything. “Catsup” is an inferior condiment. It tastes funny and has an inferior consistancy and should not be within sniffing distance of anyone’s hot dog.
I don’t usually eat my hot dogs with just mustard, because I find it too much of a one-note experience. S’gotta have something else: onions, dill relish or sweet, sometimes ketchup, sometimes kraut, sometimes chili.
I once had a nice dog with some rhubarb chutney on it. Mmmm, good.
I can’t believe we got to 78 posts without:
sobs
I can’t buy those wonderful kosher dogs any more, for some reason our local Costco doesn’t carry them.
And, it is true that ketchup on a hot dog is an abomination. It’s in the scriptures. The passage reads: “And lo, when the child becometh a man he putteth behind him childish things, yea, verily, he no longer coateth his weiner with sweet red sauce but rather with the strong and virtuous sauce compounded of the mustard seed gathered in the fields of the righteous, blended therein with sweet honey from the hives of the holy and vin aigre from the land where the turtledove roosteth in the olive tree.”
Ordinary “hot dog mustard” is just fine, though. The fancy mustards, as someone pointed out, are overkill on what is, after all, a Common Food.