# Third hot dog topic in a week--Do you put ketchup on hot dogs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801 "2014-09-07T22:39:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/61 "2014-09-08T16:16:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Well, yes. (And I personally am not complaining about people who put ketchup on hot dogs in this thread.) I grew up a Cubs fan in South Side Chicago. I got a lot of shit for that. But, you know what, nobody really cared. I never took it seriously. Is this how you float through life? Never taking anythings seriously? A hot dog without mustard, onions, dill relish and KETCHUP is not worth eating! It’s people like you, **pulykamell** … ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/62 "2014-09-08T16:19:55Z")
I typically do, but I can follow the native ketchup haters if I feel it’s best. I really like ketchup on a sandwich with bacon and pickles, and other stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/63 "2014-09-08T16:23:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Well, yes. That’s, uh, that’s a disappointing response. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/64 "2014-09-08T16:31:13Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > That’s, uh, that’s a disappointing response. Well, sorry to disappoint you. > [@QuickSilver](#): > > Is this how you float through life? Never taking anythings seriously? > > A hot dog without mustard, onions, dill relish and KETCHUP is not worth eating! > > It’s people like you, **pulykamell** … 🙂 Exactly. It’s this sort of highly opinionated banter that I enjoy from time to time. I myself have tried for the last decade or so to keep my food opinions very diplomatic on this board, but among friends, we tease each other about all sorts of shit all the time. The Cubs-Sox banter is usually the most lively. To this day, I have friends that will greet me with “Hi Pete. Cubs still suck!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/65 "2014-09-08T16:51:42Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > 🙂 Exactly. It’s this sort of highly opinionated banter that I enjoy from time to time. Except when thelurkinghorror does it? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/66 "2014-09-08T16:59:41Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Except when thelurkinghorror does it? Not sure what you’re reading. I’m just addressing how seriously we take the ketchup bit. I enjoyed the Chicago pizza riposte. We get shit for that all the time. It’s perfectly okay. Just clarifying in case there is a misconception that all we eat is deep dish. (And I tend to side with the anti-deep dish crowd.) As I said in the end, I said “go for it” when it came to putting ketchup on a hot dog. Nobody cares what you put on a hot dog, and nobody cares what pizza you eat. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/67 "2014-09-08T18:02:53Z")
Never. My kids like hot dogs and since they are young, they’ll often give me uneaten portions of their meals. But I can’t eat their hot dogs - they put ketchup on them. I like ketchup on some things, but it’s too cloyingly sweet for dogs. I’m also the only one in the family who doesn’t put it on eggs. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/68 "2014-09-08T20:14:45Z")
Exclusively – well, back when I actually ate hot dogs. –G! Those who enjoy politics or hot dogs should never endeavor to understand what goes into them.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/69 "2014-09-08T20:31:38Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Never. My kids like hot dogs and since they are young, they’ll often give me uneaten portions of their meals. But I can’t eat their hot dogs - they put ketchup on them. I like ketchup on some things, but it’s too cloyingly sweet for dogs. I’m also the only one in the family who doesn’t put it on eggs. I don’t either. I use Paul Newman Salsa. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/70 "2014-09-08T20:35:55Z")
Ketchup was first called “Alternative” by an indie foodie mag back in 1979. What thread am I in again? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/71 "2014-09-08T20:38:06Z")
In a word: Blech. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/72 "2014-09-08T21:07:48Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > What’s so heinous about ketchup? (spoken by someone who puts ketchup on steak) I like ketchup. It’s not just for kids or insane adults, yanno. 🙂 Somebody already posted Cecil’s answer, but I’ll expand upon it a bit. Hot dogs, like all sausages, contain more than just meat. They also contain various seasonings. So the sugar in ketchup isn’t simply covering up the taste of the meat; it’s also overwhelming the seasonings _in_ the meat. The seasonings in hot dogs tend to be somewhat subtle, and thus are easily overpowered by the sweetness of ketchup. Mustard, OTOH, while having its own strong flavor, tends to blend with the dog’s seasonings, rather than cover them up. This is similar to my reasons for preferring my sandwiches on white bread. Whole-grain breads tend to have a strong (and bitter) flavor of their own that, for me, overwhelms the flavors of my sandwich fillings. The only exception I make is to use rye bread (and mustard) for a corned beef or pastrami sandwich - meats that have their own strong flavors. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/73 "2014-09-08T21:58:49Z")
I use ketchup on burgers, fries and meatloaf only. If yellow mustard is all they have I’ll begrudgingly use that. Otherwise I use a mild spicy brown mustard like Gulden’s. A stronger mustard is too much for a hot dog. A nice strong German or Polish mustard is a must with bratwurst. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/74 "2014-09-08T22:37:14Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > The REAL answer. [Why is there no ketchup on a properly made hot dog? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/679/why-is-there-no-ketchup-on-a-properly-made-hot-dog) An article in “West,” a magazine supplement that came with the Sunday L. A. \* Times \* in the late 1960s, reviewed hot dogs from all over the L. A. area. One was a tomato dog “called ‘hobo’; should be ‘bum.’ Anyone who’d put tomato on a hot dog would put sugar in Scotch.” ---
**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:** [September 9, 2014, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/75 "2014-09-09T07:00:17Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > i’m kinkier that the next guy. > > but that, no never. I’m kinkier than you. I ALWAYS use ketchup (with either sauerkraut or grilled onions). ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801/76 "2014-09-09T12:11:20Z")
I stopped when I was 8. I still remember the moment: roller skating rink snack bar, counting out the money my mom had dropped off with me, getting my lunch. And I got my usual hot dog, but suddenly couldn’t ask for ketchup on it like I’d done dozens of times before. It just was suddenly gross, and all I could think of was a nasty pink, soggy, sweet hot dog bun. My mom even commented later on how suddenly my tastes had shifted (I think she was kind of ticked, since she had a bottle of ketchup in the fridge she’d just bought for me, and suddenly I wouldn’t eat it.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-hot-dog-topic-in-a-week-do-you-put-ketchup-on-hot-dogs/697801.md?page=3)