Everyone has eaten a hot dog at some point in their life. It is unthinkable to live your life without having had one. The same goes for cheeseburgers, by the way. But let’s be real. The hot dog was here long before. It has decades of history behind it and it is difficult to dethrone ‘the dog’. We all know that they are the best thing since sliced bread. But do you know what makes them even better? if you put them us sliced bread!
There are many different types of names for the hot dog. Some people call them red sausages, but others call them wieners (although this name is more suitable for thicker sausages). Some people call them for what they are: weiners! I personally think hot dogs deserve to be called that! And would you believe that at some point that very name used to be an insult?
It’s been over a hundred years since the first dogs were sold in Coney Island, New York. At one point, this tasty sausage snack was being sold in other places around the country, and the competition got bigger and bigger. Various cities competed with each other when it came to who sold the best dog.
At one point, comic book writer Tad Dorgan decided he was going to fire up the original New York hot dog. So he wrote a comic in which he rudely implied that Coney Island sausages on a bun contained dog meat. And thus the name ‘hot dog’ was born. It used to be a slur, before it became the name of the snack everyone loves to eat at baseball games!
It was considered to be such an insult that the name was outlawed by none other than the chamber of commerce. And it remained an illegal term for a long time. It wasn’t until a few decades later that ‘hot dog’ became the name of choice for a sausage in a bun. And we’ve been calling them that ever since.
If you have a good hot dog, you can be sure that it will not contain dog meat. Not unless you’re living in China, that is. But I don’t think China eats a lot of hot dogs. The dogs of the good old United States are made mostly of pork or beef. Sometimes a combination. But the cheapest dogs are sometimes made from chicken or turkey. These are not the real dogs as they were meant to be. But if you’re on a budget and willing to put up with a smaller dog…
Beef and pork is still the best ingredient for a good dog. And I stand by that comment! Of the two, beef is definitely the best. It’s a matter of taste, I know. But I am a firm believer that beef gives you a richer, more solid flavor.
But it’s not all about the type of meat. A good sausage should be casing, which means it has a little skin around it that is made from sheep intestines. Sure, it sounds kind of gross. But if you’ve ever had a sausage, 9 times out of 10 it was a case. Which means you’ve had sheep intestines before and you didn’t throw away the biscuits!
It is the carcass of a dog that gives it that touch when you sink your teeth into it. This is what makes the tasty juices gush out and give you that satisfying feeling of eating a good dog.
In addition to the type of meat and casing, it is also worth thinking about what seasoning you want for your dog. You can choose garlic, salt, or any other type of herb that you personally prefer. Everything is a matter of taste. There are plenty of suggestions that can be found on the internet. Explore if you haven’t decided on your favorite hot dog seasoning yet!
You can make hot dogs in a million ways. And by a million I actually mean half a dozen ways. You can grill them, you can cook them. You can boil them, you can roast them. You can fry them, you can steam them.
And the last one, the steamer, just happens to be my personal favourite. IMHO, there’s nothing like a dog on a steamed bun. Don’t you love to see a dog steaming when you hold it in your hand? That’s the kind of genuine dog from the game of baseball that made America the great country it is today!
Nowadays, you don’t even need to leave the comfort of your own home to enjoy a good dog. You can simply steam them at home with a homemade hot dog steamer. These are plentiful on Amazon these days and you can get them for a handful of pennies. Even if you’re only a moderate dog lover, it’s a pretty good investment if you ask me!