Every school child in Chicago knows the formula for an authentic, canonical, bona fide Chicago-style hot dog: an all-beef, natural casing hot dog, a steamed poppyseed bun, yellow mustard, neon-green pickle relish, chopped onions, a coupla tomato wedges, one dill pickle spear, three or four sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt. (Did I miss anything? I haven’t been a school child in a long time.) I love 'em that way myself.
My question is: where did this recipe come from? It seems mighty intricate to have evolved naturally, yet it also seems too universally followed to have been invented by somebody’s marketing department. Does anyone know? Or is the origin lost in the mists of antiquity?
(Today happens to be National Hot Dog Day, which is why the question is on my mind.)
Good question. Went to Chicago with the in-laws not too long ago and had a few Chicago dogs. I had to inform the in-laws that ketchup was strictly verboten, I was shocked that they didn’t know already. And I thought a jalapeno was required. . . sport peppers?
As far as I know, the canonical recipe with the neon-green relish developed some time in the 70s. I believe it was Vienna Beef who standardized it (no doubt in part to sell more of their own relish.) You can read here about the history. If you go around Chicago visiting random hot dog stands, you might find that there is a good bit of variation for what a “fully dressed dog” is. In my neighborhood, the fully dressed dogs did not include tomato. Buns were not poppyseed, and celery salt was by request. The dogs were basically in the style of such iconic Chicago (area) hot dog joints like Gene('s) & Jude’s and Jimmy’s.
Now, the general idea of a salad-on-a-dog goes back much farther, going back to the Great Depression, as a quick “all-in-one” meal. That said, the standard Chicago dog is not exactly salad-a-rific. The only only real salad ingredient it has on it is tomato. You can find some true “garden dog” type styles out there, like at a place called Byron’s, where they will put lettuce, green bell peppers, and fresh cucumber slices on your dog if you want. Now that is “dragged through the garden.” A canonical Vienna beef style Chicago hot dog? Not so much.
They’re closer to serranos than wax peppers. (But usually smaller than serranos. Maybe even similar to a Thai bird chili, but not as hot.) And they’re green, not yellow.
Thanks for the link! And indeed, I was at Byron’s today. When you order a dog, they ask if you want, “Everything? Or Chicago-style?” as if the Chicago-style is their idea of minimalism!
I LOVED the Byron’s on Halstead, which disappeared, like ten years ago? Do you mean to tell me there is another Byron’s???
Ukulele Lady is a Chicago native, but has never been very forward about the great cultural advantages of her hometown. (I’d been visiting the city for nearly ten years before someone said, “Hey, shouldn’t we get this guy an Italian Beef?”)
Not telling me that Byron’s still existed sounds like just the sort of shit she’d pull.
I bought a jar of sport peppers during a Chicago trip about two years ago. It’s sitting unopened in a cabinet along with other bizarre regional condiments I’ve acquired. Trying to make a Chi hot dog with Brooklyn ingredients…I dunno. If I tried to put neon green relish on a Nathan’s frank it might rear up in protest.
I got a Chicago-style dog in Buffalo Grove back in 2000, and there were no peppers on it at all. And no poppyseed bun, either. Are those de rigeur?
It was good, but the color of the relish puts me off. Would prefer regular ol’ unsaturated green dill relish (must be dill for me, though a lot of people do sweet relish). Next time through Chicago, I’ll ask them to hold the relish and get the dill flavor from the pickle spear.
The usual way for this kind of tradition to start is one restaurant uses the ingredients it has on hand, their version becomes popular, people come to expect that food item to be served that way, and other restaurants follow.
For example, there’s Buffalo chicken wings and blue cheese dressing. They’re paired together because the Anchor Bar happened to have a lot of blue cheese dressing on hand. If thousand island dressing had been the house dressing, maybe we’d all be dipping our hot wings in that instead.
In the case of Chicago style hot dogs, it appears that Fluky’s began serving a hot dog with that combination of condiments back in 1929. The combination caught on and people began ordering it other places.
Sport peppers are always optional. If you’re following the Vienna Beef blueprint then, yes, poppyseed is part of it. That said, there is much variation within the city. If you go to the iconic hot dog places in Chicago, chances are you will get something a little bit different than the to-spec Vienna Beef Chicago dog. Many places don’t use the neon green shit (even the chain Portillo’s, who does do a very reasonable Chicago dog, does not use neon greet relish). Some don’t use poppyseed buns. Some have additional ingredients. Some have fewer ingredients. Many use skinless dogs (sacrilege!)
For example, as mentioned above, Gene('s) and Jude’s and Jimmy’s, two iconic Chicago area dog spots, just do relish, onion, mustard on their fully dressed dog. No poppyseed bun. No tomatoes. (Though I think Jimmy’s might do the pickle spear. No matter, I eat the pickle spear separate, anyway.) The gone-but-not-forgotten Demon Dogs was similar. As is Redhot Ranch. Superdawg doesn’t do regular tomato (instead, a pickled green tomato.) Byron’s adds all sorts of weird shit as mentioned above. Portillo’s doesn’t do neon green relish. While there is an agreed-up “standard” of what is a “Chicago style hot dog,” actual fully dressed hot dogs in Chicago and Chicago area establishments vary greatly.
