Nothing beats a classic American hotdog

Why slave in the kitchen when you can have a hot dog. What are the best ways to cook hotdogs? Here’s what you need to do in order to have a good easy hotdog meal.

Ingredients
Start with good meats such as all beef, all pork or a combination of beef and pork and poultry. Look for the shortest list of ingredients and avoid anything that lists 'parts' or anything that looks like soy or cereal filler. Notice that all hotdogs are pre-cooked, so you are only warming them up.

Other kinds
Other kinds of hotdogs such as cheddar cheese, bratwurst, and sausage are available.
The Latin American varieties are the Che Guevara, The Fidel, and the César Chávez. These hotdogs promise a lot of flavor, but typically fail to deliver and are very expensive. The Nordic varieties are from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland.

Grilling
Where you place the hotdog is very important. You should have medium heat, and preferably on the upper rack if you have one. If you put the dog on the lower rack with high temperature, it will not cook on the inside and burn on the outside. Be sure to rotate the dog so it cooks evenly. Do not puncture hotdogs when cooking because the juices will run out. The resulting wiener will be tough, dry and unappetizing.

Steaming
If you want to try steaming use a commercial steam cabinet, a bamboo steamer or a Dutch oven fitted with a steamer rack. Fill the pan with water (beef or chick broth can be substituted to add flavor), but turn down the heat so the liquid doesn’t bubble up onto the hotdogs. Cover and steam for 5-7 minutes or until hotdogs are thoroughly heated.

Boiling
Flavor the liquid if you want to boil the hotdogs. Adding beer or beef stock will add flavor, but wine is not recommended.

Buns
The basic choices are top loading, a favorite in New England and the side loading method which is preferred in the South and Midwest. The top loader holds the hotdog securely. They are generally baked side by side and torn apart as needed. This will leave a flat side surface for grilling. Side loader buns are best if you like a lot of bread with your hotdog because they are more likely to sop up all the juices from your condiments without falling apart.

Standard condiments
Chili, cheese, onions, sauerkraut, classic yellow mustard, spicy brown mustard, red tomato ketchup and varieties of relish are the standard toppings.

Ultimate condiments
Select from an extensive array of ketchups such as roasted garlic and pepper ketchup, hot and mild curry ketchups, and jalapeño ketchup. Try the excitement of honey mustard and horseradish mustard condiments.

Be adventurous
Grill with a roll of bacon around the hotdog, a cheese slice on top on a toasted bun with minimum condiments.

Yes it’s true. You have to be hungry to eat a hotdog. Unlike great Chinese or Italian dishes, hotdogs are fast food for the heart and stomach. But don’t settle for the quick satisfaction of just any meat and bread. Get a good tasting hotdog!

For more of the best ways to cook hot dogs:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,types_of_hot_dogs,FF.html
By Matt Williamson

Kayem Old Tyme Beef Franks With Natural Casing

October 23rd, 2007

I picked up a package of Kayem Old Tyme Beef Franks with Natural Casing, Deli Style, today at a local Hannaford’s market. They have the typical assortment of hot dogs and a few brands that are not typical of the Mid Hudson Valley of New York. I mentioned in my Nathan’s survey that I would like to try the Old Neighborhood dogs next but the line at the Deli was too long so I picked up the Kayem Deli Style instead

This is my first time trying Kayem brand. I broiled two in the oven and yes, one popped and sizzled. Once again… no chili. I know it’s easy to stop by the canned food aisle but all that stuff tastes the same and there is nothing wrong with mustard on a dog!!

The hot dogs are a bit milder than Nathan’s and Sabrett but not as mild as a Beef and Pork dog. The casing was just right and held in the flavor during cooking, even after popping!

I would recommend these to anyone that enjoys a good beef natural casing hot dog. For best results, I would recommend cooking them on a flat griddle or flame broiler.


The one on the right had a big knot, must have been the last one to fill the casing.

Hot Dogs

 WHO COOKED THAT UP?

J.J. wonders...

How did a hot dog become a hot dog?  What is a weiner?  What is a frankfurter?  Did you know that July is National Hot Dog month?  The answers to all these questions and more can be found on the World Wide Web because the  hot dog is not so much a recipe as an institution.

A hot dog is first and foremost a kind of sausage, and the sausage has been around at least  since the ancient Greeks.   By the middle ages every region in Europe had its own version of a sausage, but in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, in the late 1600's, a butcher named Johann Georghehner developed what became called the Frankfurter sausage or just plain "frankfurter."  Meanwhile, in Austria, Viennese butchers had an idea for a similar sausage and it was named after their city.  Vienna is "Wien" in German and so we have Weiner sausages or "weiners" that originated in Wien (the city we call Vienna), and "frankfurters" that originated in Frankfurt.  Some people noticed the shape of these sausages and called them "dachshund sausages" because they looked like the little German breed of dog used for hunting badgers. Badger is "dachs" in German, dog or hound is "hund;" hence dachs-hund.      Today, both frankfurter and weiner are names still used for this kind of sausage. In fact, the Oscar Mayer Company created what they call "weinermobiles," which travel the country calling attention to their products.

In the 1860's German immigrants were calling them "dachshund sausages" which they sold from pushcarts in New York City, often placing them in a milk bun with a serving of sauerkraut and mustard on top. In 1871 a German butcher named Charles Feltman began selling them at his Coney Island restaurant.

In the midwest, sausages -- without a roll or bun -- were sold at The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where they were a big hit.  When the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair Louisiana Purchase Exposition opened, there were weiners or frankfurters sold there, too.

The fact that hot dogs come already cooked, or smoked, and only need warming, makes them an easy choice for a picnic, a ball park or a fair, but, for the record, here are

Four Ways to Prepare a Hot Dog

  1.  The Classic:  Bring a pot of water to the boiling point.  Turn off the heat.  Place hot dogs in the water for 10 minutes.  Remove and place in a hot dog bun.  Serve with a variety of condiments (mustard or ketchup, chopped onion or pickle  relish, or sauerkraut).

2.  The Gourmet:  Heat  an outdoor grill.  Make several gashes in the hot dog and grill until grill marks appear on the hot dog.  Gourmets have suggested inserting cheddar cheese, garlic butter and parsley, or blue cheese and grated onion into the gashes, or wrapping the hot dog in a bacon strip before grilling.

3.  The Comfort Food:  You can eliminate the bun by "butterflying" hot dogs (slicing them part way through lengthwise and spreading them open), then covering them with leftover mashed potatoes and grated cheddar cheese. Place under the broiler until the cheese melts.

 4.  The Modern Convenience: You can make three or four half-inch slashes in a  hot dog, and heat it in a microwave oven for 40 seconds.  Place the bun in the microwave for 10 seconds, then add condiments (mustard or ketchup, pickle relish or chopped onions)  and enjoy.

 Hot dogs gained an international reputation when President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mrs. Roosevelt    served hot dogs to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of England (the parents of the current Queen Elizabeth II) on their tour to the United  States in 1939.
 

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council of the American Meat Institute has more legends and stories about hot dogs.  Click here to go to their web site, where you will also find links to recipes, facts and trivia, and where you can learn how a hot dog is made.

  Finally, because July is National Hot Dog Month and many of us celebrate the Fourth of July with a hot dog, you might want to enjoy some fireworks online while you eat (or think about eating) a hot dog.  Click here or on the 4th of July firecracker above and use your mouse to become your own pyrotechnician in Bill Hysmith's magnificent fireworks design of Lady Liberty and the night sky over New York City.

sales@doogiedogs.com 

Doogie Dogs a GoGo

2513 Viny ct
Tampa Florida 33618

813-961-4661 



doogiedogs.com