I also don’t like ketchup. Maybe I’d put it on a fish stick, since I dislike fish more than I dislike ketchup.
You either put Michigan sauce and chopped onions on your hot dog or you do it the wrong way.
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. 
I prefer a Chicago style “garden” dog, but that’s an awful lot of work for a quick nosh at home. So if I’m out, it’s got all the usual suspects on it, but at home, it’s ketchup and if I’m feeling energetic, mustard and pickle relish - the ketchup gives it the sweetness and tang of the missing tomato slices and onion.
And yes, I’m a Chicagoan and no, I don’t care what you put on your hot dog. I will joke about it, but I really don’t care.
(But Giordano’s is not good pizza, and that’s no joke.)
“Always” was as close as I could come in the poll.
I do my hot dogs with ketchup only — with one exception: when I’m at a Cleveland Indians baseball game.
In that case, I use Bertman’s Stadium Mustard — which I’ve been doing since I was a kid at the old Municipal Stadium.
When one of the main hallmarks of a product named after your city is required to not have ketchup, then I’d say it is part of the culture, like it or not. You can talk about how giant burritos are also popular outside of SF or not everybody in Philadelphia likes cheese steak or or puts Cheez Whiz on it, but the association is strong and not without some precedent.
Yeah, I do, but who gives a fuck? It’s my hot dog.
This is the only place I’ve ever been told I’m eating my hot dog wrong. Not only do I squirt my condiment in the wrong place, I’m not even squirting the right one on the bun. I like my hot dogs with ketchup and sharp cheddar cheese and sweet pickle relish. Sometimes I like it with ranch and bacon bits. Sometimes I like it with barbecue sauce and mayo. But never, ever do I like it with mustard. I LOVE mustard, but not on my hot dog. Especially not a thick line of it on a place where it won’t soak into the bun. But that’s just me.
No. Not because of some snobbery, but because ketchup is just so dadblasted sweet and overpowering. It didn’t seem to be that bad when I was younger, but now it is. You put it on a hot dog, and you’re eating something that tastes like ketchup but with a meat-like texture. French fries have the same problem. Even adding ketchup to sauces can overpower everything.
You can somewhat get it on a burger without overpowering everything, but you have to be very sparing with it, and keep it on top where you’re tongue will touch everything else first.
I would so love to find a less sweet version of ketchup. There are times where I want the flavor I remember on something, add the ketchup, and then get reminded that’s it’s so much sweeter than I remember from childhood.
Sure. They’re just hot dogs.
I once stupidly bought a case of hot dogs - they were cheap - dollar a ten-pack. 120 altogether. I ate them every style imaginable.
I put ketchup on my pizza.
(not really. I only put whipped cream and vegemite on pizza)
Ketchup and sweet relish, mmmmmmmmmmm! :o
Count me as irrelevant too because I don’t put ketchup on anything. In fact, the only time I even eat ketchup is when I get a Whopper Jr. from Burger King. Really.
And yet like clockwork, it shows up in every thread. That’s rather unusual if no one really cares.
I put ketchup on hot dogs. Hot dogs are cheap and not the most flavorful of meat products. Now, brats, brats I like with some sauerkraut and a nice mustard. Ketchup is too much for those.
It’s just silly good-natured, ribbing/hazing whatever you want to call it. Plenty of non-Chicagoans (like silenus) are even taking objection to ketchup. And Dirty Harry. It’s certainly not a Chicago-only thing. I’m telling you, nobody actually gives a shit what you put on your hot dog. Just like food discussions about beans and chili, or other contentious food/music/art topics. People take these topics far too seriously and sincerely.
So, when you complain about putting ketchup on hot dogs, that’s ribbing, but when I complain about being ridiculed for putting ketchup on hot dogs, that’s taking things too seriously. Gotcha.
Yes, it is part of the culture. Nobody is arguing that. What I am arguing is that nobody really cares. A hot dog, as served in Chicago, does not generally come with ketchup if you ask for it “everything on it.” It may or may not come with tomatoes. It may or may not be served on a poppy seed bun. There are exceptions, though. There are a few places in Chicago where you do have to say “everything, no ketchup,” as some hot dog places will put it on there for you.
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.