hot dogs
A hot dog is an American version of a sausage in a special bread roll. It consists of a type of sausage called a “wiener“, that is served hot in a long, purpose-made roll, with toppings applied to the wiener. Hot dogs are both made at home, and purchased as a fast food when out. They are often sold from purpose-built hot dog carts as a street food.
A hot dog is a wiener plus a roll
Sometimes people use the word “hot dog” to refer to the wiener itself. When they say they bought a pack of 10 hot dogs, they’ll mean the wieners. But if they bought a hot dog at a hot dog stand and were presented with just a wiener, they would be displeased, as their expectation would clearly be to get a roll with it.
A hot dog is meant to be eaten out of hand, not with utensils.
The rolls can be room temperature, toasted in an oven, steamed, or in the case of New England style rolls, fried.
One of the annoyances home cooks face is that wieners are sold 10 or 12 to a pack, and the rolls for them are sold 8 to a pack in North America. Apparently the reason for this is that the baking pans used are made in clusters of four designed to make eight rolls, and the challenge of getting the wiener makers to talk to the bun makers seems insurmountable.
Some people regard hot dogs as a seasonal summer food, eaten between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Others see them as year round food, and sales figures back them up: 62% of wiener sales occur outside that time period. [1]Fredrix, Emily. Hot dog sales sizzle as makers Ball Park Franks and Oscar Mayer embroiled in suit. Milwaukee: Associated Press. 22 May 2009.
New York City Hot Dog Carts
As of 2009, the most lucrative hot dog cart spot in New York City was outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Locations such as this, designated as park area, are rented out yearly by the New York City Department of Parks. The yearly rent is set by auction, and paid monthly. In 2009, a spot on the south side of the entrance went for $362,201 US a year; a spot on the north side went for $280,500. Vendors outside park areas, just in regular street spots, only have to pay $200 a year for a cart permit. But because the number of permits is limited to 3,100 a year, there is a resale black market on these permits. [2]Simons, Meredith. The Half-Million-Dollar Wiener. Slate Magazine. 12 August 2009.
The New York City Parks Department fixes the food prices that licenced hot dog vendors are required to charge on parks property, perhaps in order to keep the value of the rental slots up. There are also many “black market” hot dog vendors who sneak onto parks property and charge less. [3]Belenkaya, Veronika and Samuel Goldsmith. New job for hot dog vendor booted by Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York Daily News. 9 August 2009.
Hot Dog Toppings
Hot dog snobs say that no one over the age of 18 puts ketchup on a hot dog.
“You know what makes me really sick to my stomach? It’s watching you stuff your face with those hot dogs! Nobody – I mean nobody puts ketchup on a hot dog!” — Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry in “Sudden Impact” (1983)
There are regional preferences for hot dog toppings throughout North America. These aren’t set in stone, because North America has a mobile population, but in general, they hold:
- New York: Sauerkraut, steamed onions, and pale yellow spicy mustard;
- Chicago: “Dragged through the garden.” Served in a poppy seed bun; many toppings. See separate entry on Chicago Hot Dogs;
- American South: Coleslaw, chili, onion, mustard. Bun might be steamed, or toasted;
- Toronto: Hot dog carts serve yellowish buns with poppy seeds on them. They all seem to come from the same supplier. Hot dog carts are not allowed to offer cheese or mayonnaise [4]”Grated cheese, squeeze cheese and mayonnaise are hazardous dairy products that require refrigeration and are not allowed.” Toronto Public Health Requirements for hot dog Carts http://www.toronto.ca/health/he/hd_index.htm, but otherwise a large variety of toppings, including ketchup, is offered, and there is no standard combination;
- Montreal: Steamed top-slit buns, boiled wiener, topped with vinegar coleslaw, mustard and onion. See separate entry on Montreal Steamies;
Some people like to put their toppings in the roll first, and then the wiener, because that way, the wiener helps to trap the toppings in. Others say this is either heresy or a sign of underdeveloped fine motor skills.
Ultimately, though, the best and most recommended hot dog toppings seem to be the ones that people grew up with.
Cooking Tips
When grilling wieners, use tongs. Piercing with a fork can dry them out. To steam the hot dog rolls, put them in a colander over the pot of boiling water at the same time as the wieners go into the water. Cover the colander with a large enough pot lid to capture the steam. The rolls will be ready when the wieners are. This is an energy efficient way of warming the rolls.
History Notes
What a hot dog is called, and what it consists of, evolved slowly over several decades in the 1800s, finally slowly reaching a fixed definition about 1900 to 1915. As immigrants from different parts of Germany hit America in the late 1800’s, likely all the different kinds of street sausage, all the different names for the sausages, and what they were served in, got merged together in the consumer’s mind.
The evolving threads to watch are:
- (1) The competition between weinerwurst and Frankfurter as the name for this emerging dish, with the ultimate winner of “hot dog” coming out of street slang to be the winner, and
- (2) the tussle over whether the meat would be served between two slices of bread, a generic bread roll, or a purpose-made roll.
In the 1860s – 1890s, in the U.S. the phrase “hot dog days” is used to describe very hot summer days, as in, hot “dog days of summer”: “…when the hot dog-days of next August come around…” (Dog Poisoner column. Palo Alto Reporter. Emmetsburg, Iowa. 23 April 1881. Page 4.)
In 1852, the “Frankfurter” sausage introduced was by the butcher’s guild in Frankfurt, Germany. It was spiced, smoked and had a thin skin.
In the 1860s, German immigrants sold sausage on a roll in parts of New York City.
In 1867 a Charles Feltman (1841 – 1910) started supplying sausages in a roll on Coney Island. He was a German immigrant. This was an addition to his business; he was already supplying meat pies to refreshment places along the beach.
In 1878, the word “wienerwurst” is known in America:
“He was walking briskly down Central Avenue, with head down, buried in thought, looking neither to the right nor left, with eyes bent in an absent stare upon the pavement. Suddenly he gave a start, a quicky cry, and jumped backward several feet, upsetting a fat woman who was hurrying home with several links of “wienerwurst,” which flew out of her hand and lodged around the neck of a shop-girl hurrying by, who screamed, “the horrid things!” — A Little Rumpus. In Aiken Courier Journal. Aiken, South Carolina. 24 January 1878. Page 1.
Note three things about the following (longish) newspaper piece: (a) The sausages are sold between two pieces of bread, (b) they are already referred to as a “dog” at this point but it is a disparaging term, and (c), the word wiener has already been shortened to “weeny.” We reproduce it in its entirety because it captures the story of early hot dog vendors:
1887 – THE WIENERWURST. THE MAN WHO SELLS THE DELICIOUS MORSEL TO THE OWLS. Wienerwurst Man as Much a Mystery Are the Ingredients of the Delicacy He Dispenses — Extent of His Trade. When day merges into night the fakirs of day, as if they were a race of ephemera, disappear or are metamorphosed and an entirely new set of characters are found scattered along the street down town. They come out when the electric lights begin to buzz and sputter just like the swarms of insects which besiege the white globes and fall to the sidewalk, where they crackle under the feet of the pedestrian. Conspicuous among these people of the night is the wienerwurst man. He is invariably German, and as much a mystery as are the ingredients of the delicacy he dispenses. He is at times a stationary institution, though more often peripatetic, for he cannot long occupy any corner without attracting rivals to his place to destroy his business. The traveler by night runs across him in all kinds of dark places, tramping through dark alleys with the light under big can flashing on the stones or the walls on either side.
Then, again, he is found posted at a corner with his steaming can upon his big basket and ever and anon giving vent to a lugubrious cry, “Hot veeny,” or perhaps he’ll vary it by rasping out, “Hot veeny ver-r-r-rrst,” with a sound as though he was tearing the shirt off his back or running his hand down the movable slats of a window shutter. He answers indifferently to the name “Chorgh” or “Owgoost,” or anything else bestowed upon him by his customers in their humor, and he’ll say in reply to a question as to his price, “one,” or maybe “two fr-r-r a niggle.” When the lucer [Ed: lucre; money] is forthcoming he opens his can with his knife, dips his fork down through a cloud of steam and draws forth the ruddy and odorous sausage red hot. Then he shuts the can, pries open the lid of his big oval basket and whips out two slices of bread and a square bottle. With his knife he spreads out some horseradish on one of the slices, deposits thereon the wurst and then slaps on top of it the other slice of bread and hands it over, a kind of a sandwich, with the ends of the wurst sticking out like amputated fingers and the horseradish oozing out all around under the pressure. It is eaten just like a sandwich, with much spluttering, because it is very hot, but it is a delicious morsel to the man who is filled up with beer or something stronger.
He sells, perhaps, 100 in a night, providing the hoodlums don’t kick over his can or steal it from him, or fill it up with beer or play some other pranks upon him. Where he obtains his wurst no one knows. His stock for a night costs him maybe ten or fifteen cents, and his sales when business is good may net him $1. When sold out, he just turns out the little jet of gasoline burning under his can, thrusts his arm through the basket handle and boards an owl car with one wurst as a kind of offering to the driver in lieu of his fare. Occasionally the gasoline tank on his can explodes and he loses all his stock, but a dollar or so will fit him out again all right. His life is not a happy one, for his customers are mostly gay young men who are “out for a time,” and they guy him or take his goods and refuse to pay, or otherwise treat him badly. He is uncomplaining, however, and he cherishes no ill will toward those who pester him.
But one thing ruffles his temper, and that is to speak disparagingly of his wurst. When a purchaser, holding out a nickel, remarks, “Gimme some dog“, a shade of sadness passes over his face. When he has a rush he can turn out the wursts as rapidly as a cook flips pancakes and his face is a perfect picture of enjoyment as he watches a crowd around burying their faces in their worsts and rolling the hot morsels in their mouths to prevent their being burnt. He pays tribute to the policeman on his beat and to the various night barkeepers. From the former he receives protection when he don’t particularly need it, for the policeman isn’t around when the gang bothers him. From the barkeeper he receives a glass of beer in exchange for a wurst, and in winter is allowed to warm himself at the stove. He makes his rounds two and three times in a night, and can be heard calling out his wurst in the darkness where he can’t be seen. He is never visible in the day time; he sleeps until night, and then he’s out with his can and his basket, and his cry “Hot veeny” or “Veeny ver-r-r-rst.” — Globe-Democrat. Warren Ledger. Warren, Pennsylvania. 15 July 1887. Page 6.
By 1887, hot dogs are expected as normal fare at seaside retreats and their absence is noted; they are also referred to as “are being called “Frankfurters”:
“At the Seaside. Sketches of Life at Asbury Park [Ed: New Jersey] and Ocean Grove. The place is simply the summer house of thousands upon thousands of nice, “homey” sort of girls. There isn’t anything else here but girls — no carousals, no merry go rounds, no rifle galleries, no roller coasters, no pony carts, no automatic weighing machines, no observatories, no Frankfurter sausage stands…” — The Fitchburg Sentinel. 10 August 1887. Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Page 1.
Again at Asbury Park, New Jersey the vendors are referred to as “frankfurter sausage peddlers”, though the (unnamed) writer acknowledges the colloquial term of “hot dog peddlers.”
1893 – “ASBURY PARK, May 19.—The frankfurter sausage peddler must go. This is the edict that has gone forth from the mayor and council of Asbury Park, and an ordinance has been adopted forbidding these peddlers within the confines of this resort by the sea. These “hot dog” peddlers, as they are familiarly called, have carried on their business uninterrupted with as much persistence and tact as their fellow merchants on Coney island. Standing in front of the hotels and on the street comers, with their cries of “All hot,” they have been a familiar sight to thousands of summer visitors. Now this will be changed.” — How New Jersey Breaks the Monotony of Life: The Frankfurter man expelled from Asbury Park. New Brunswick, New Jersey: New Brunswick Daily Times. 20 May 1893. Page 1.”
In 1893, a man named Samuel Ladany sold hot dogs from a push cart at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He would later be a co-founder of the Vienna Beef ® company in Chicago, which to this day, some argue, sells the definitive beef wiener needed for a Chicago-style hot dog.
Cartoon myth origin of hot dog name
All over the Internet, you will see people copying the story that it was a cartoonist in 1902 (or 1901 or 1906) who invented the term “hot dog” in a cartoon. The problem with this story is that there does not seem to be any such cartoon extant. But it doesn’t matter: the term “dog” and “hot dog” had already been in use previously anyway, as you have seen above. The tall tale, a favourite of newspaper food writers owing to its brevity, goes like this:
Harry Mozley Stevens sold hot dogs at the New York Polo Grounds in 1902. He reputedly had his staff take them around shouting “They’re red hot! Get your dachshund sausages while they’re red hot!” A newspaper cartoonist for the New York Evening Journal, T.A. “Tad” Dorgan (1877 – 1929), reputedly drew a picture of the sausage in a bun as looking like a dachshund, and captioned it, “hot dog”, and the word “hot dog” was born.
Dubious meat in hot dog wieners?
Americans were always somewhat suspect of the meat that went into “hot dogs.”
To this day, people make jokes about the meat in hot dog wieners, and think they have just made the most original wise-crack in history. But they have been beaten to the post — by a long shot.
A reference to “dog” as the meat occurs in an 1895 Ohio joke:
“Mr Crimsonbeak — Here, waiter! I found some feathers in this frankfurter!
Waiter — Yes, sir; I guess it was made out of a bird dog, sir.”
— The Marion Star. Marion, Ohio. 4 November 1895. Page 1.
Another reference to dog as the meat, in 1897 in New York City:
“Here you was,” they yelled, “frankfurters smoking hot, two for five cents. Mit Sauerkraut, five cents apiece.” A large crowd of office and messenger boys gathered and in one mighty shout rang out the chorus: “Bow-wow, bow-wow, bow-wow!” The vendors smiled, but it was an uneasy smile, as they saw the boys edging in. “Say, mister,” asked a freckled-faced, messenger, “are those dogs or are they old ear horses from Newtown Creek?” “Why, them’s dogs,” said his companion, “It’s roast beef they make out of old nags. Say, boss, can you sell us a Spitz? I like them Dutch dogs. They’re clean.”
— Frankfurter Men Fled. New York: The World. 9 March 1897. Page 9.
Another dog joke from 1897:
She— “What is dog in German?”
He—”frankfurter, I believe.”
— The Sheboygan Times. Sheboygan, Wisconsin. 3 July 1897. Page 6.
In 1897, a newspaper joked that the meat came from human body parts:
“Wienerwurst has advanced in price. Cause — the abatement [Ed: closure] of a medical college.” The Fort Wayne Daily Gazette. Fort Wayne, Indiana. 22 October 1879. Page 4.
In 1906, there was a temporary slump in hot dog sales, caused by a book again implying that the wieners had human meat in them. In Upton Sinclair’s novel published that year, “The Jungle”, Sinclair wrote about factory workers falling into vats and being ground into hot dog wieners. He’d meant to be dramatic to get the public to focus on the plight of workers — instead, they focussed on what they were eating, and sales of hot dogs plummeted for a time.
“Coney’s “Hot Dogs” Tabooed. Has Upton Sinclair’s iconoclastic book, “The Jungle,” succeeded in breaking down another idol? The “hot dog” has been tabooed in his very stronghold, Coney Island, and is succeed by the Hamburger steak and onion. Immediately after Mr. Sinclair’s book came out, frequenters of Coney Island became wary of the frankfurter and roll, and the consumption quickly fell off until many small “hot dog” men were forced to retire from business.” — Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Fitchburg Daily Sentinel. 24 April 1909. Page 1.
The following 1910 dog meat story was reported in many papers; in some in much greater detail than the short blurb below. A separate investigation, if possible, would be required to determine the truthfulness of the story, but even so it could not have done the reputation of hot dog wieners any good. [Ed: Note that other stories revealed that the diner took the dog licence tag to the city licencing office, and there the match was made with the owner.]
DINER EATS WIENERWURST; TASTES FAMILIAR DOG TAG. Los Angeles Man Recognizes Trace of Young Woman’s Pet, and Starts a Riot. LOS ANGELES, California, Feb. 15.— G. E. Sewright of this city ate a Wienerwurst, commonly known as a ‘hot dog,’ in a restaurant here today, and at the same time solved the mystery of the disappearance of Miss Anna Bell’s female Scotch terrier. In the wienerwurst that Sewright was masticating with great pleasure was the tag of Miss Bell’s dog, No. 4,413.
Sewright was amazed when one of his molars crunched something metallic. He pulled the little piece of metal from his month and saw it was a dog license tag. Then he started to clean out the place. Police quelled the riot. Miss Bell said she lost her dog three weeks ago.
Sewright has foresworn ‘wieners’ and Miss Bell has cancelled the reward she offered for her dog.” — The Indianapolis Star. Indianapolis, Indiana. 16 February 1910. Page 1.
Wieners sold in buns / rolls (as opposed to on their own, or in slices of bread)
In 1880, there is a reference that CooksInfo.com found to wiener sausages being sold with slices of bread:
Wienerwurst” is a common street cry in Cincinnati, being used by venders of Vienna sausage’. These men have little stands at the street corners, provided with a vessel for keeping the sausage hot by means of steam, a box for German rye bread and a jar for horseradish. For five cents they sell a steaming link of sausage, resting on a slice of bread, with horseradish sprinkled over it. The sausage is made of three parts of beef to one of pork.” — Miscellaneous column. Waterloo Courier. Waterloo, Iowa. 1 December 1880. Page 1.
Ed: it’s interesting to note that the condiment is horseradish.
In 1880, Antonoine Feuchtwanger was a German street vendor in St Louis, Missouri. His wife suggested selling sausages in a long roll. He got his brother-in-law to make the long rolls for him. He called his “red hots.” (Some food writers say that before this, he gave his customers glove to wear while eating the hot sausages, but serious hot dog historians dismiss that notion, if only because every other street sausage vendor in the country at the time had figured out selling a sausage with bread slices as a holder.)
In 1886, the writer H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956), according to his recollections had “hot dogs” in Baltimore at the age of 6, sold on “German Wecke” (Ed: a Kummelweck Roll?)
This short 1889 piece from the New York Times shows the use of rolls, as opposed to slices of bread, for the wieners. It also shows the confusion between the word “roll” versus “bun” (continuing to this day.) It also implies that the Italians may have muscled in on the original German immigrant sausage-vendor territory:
1889 – FRANKFURTERS ON STREET STANDS. The fascinating and ferruginous frankfurter has enlarged its sphere of pernicious activity this Winter and may now be daily seen exposed for sale along the busy thoroughfares away down town. Snugly tucked in an oblate spheroidal [Ed: round but flattened] roll, with its rich brown breast showing against the crisp yellow crust, it can be bought for from 1 to 5 cents, according to the location of the stand, the greenness of the vendor, or the number of pennies actually possessed by the intending purchaser.
The Italian contingent that was successively deprived of its monkey and hand organ is responsible for the influx of sausage stands, and it hopes, by treating the frankfurter tenderly, and keeping out of the clutches of the Society or the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, to earn enough American coin to repay it for the loss imposed by the recent decision of the unmusical Board of Aldermen.
The tempting and filling brown-skinned delicacies may be procured either fried, baked, or broiled, and they are cooked to order before the eyes of the reckless customers.” — The New York Times. New York. 6 December 1889. Page 8.
In 1893, wieners on a roll were the hit of the Columbian exposition in Chicago; the idea caught on through wide publicity, and they started showing up at baseball parks in St Louis.
Up until 1904, it seems any old roll was used, and it seems that the roll weren’t always long enough for the wiener. At the “Louisiana Purchase Exposition” in St Louis, a vendor had his baker brother-in-law cook purpose-made rolls that would be soft and long enough to fit the wiener completely in. And again, the idea caught on.
In this brief note, the wiener is associated with a bun. We don’t have anything explaining the allocation of two wieners to a bun:
1904 – “Friday evening the Epworth League will have a Wienerwurst roast at Riverside park. There will be a bonfire and hot buttered buns, roast apples and coffee will be served. One bun and two wieners will be sold at ten cents, two roasted apples for five cents, a cup of coffee for five cents.” — The Daily Review. Decatur, Illinois. 17 October 1904. Page 3.
Wiener associated with a bun. Note, it’s referred to as a “sandwich” in the first piece:
1911 – PITTSBURG WOMEN TO SERVE PENNY LUNCHES: The Pittsburg Council of Jewish Women has started a penny luncheon scheme for school children in that city. The plan will be worked at a school in the poorest part of Pittsburg. For 1 cent a child can have a warm meat sandwich or a Wienerwurst sandwich made of a bun. In addition there will be mashed and baked potatoes. More elaborate meals will be served for from 2 to 4 cents. ” — The Post-Standard. Syracuse, New York. 7 January 1911. Page 19.
“Chaperoned by Mrs. J. E. Heath, party of twenty boys and girls, inclining Mrs. Heath’s Loyal Soldier class of the Christian Church Sunday school, had a hay-ride to Puddingstone canyon on Thursday evening. When they arrived at their destination the boys built a fire and a feast of roasted weinerwurst and buns proved very appetizing.” — Local Events column. Covina Argus. Covina, California. 8 April 1911. Page 5.
Hot dogs as unhealthy food
In 1903, hot dogs are a favourite of Harvard Students, in this report of a doctor saying that the students are eating too much fast food:
“The annual report of Dr Bailey, the medical advisor of Harvard, which was published a few days ago, showed conclusively that the Crimson students, in spite of their athletics, suffer in large numbers from the diseases which are common to mankind. Some of the figures were startling, as, for instance, 100 headaches were reported, 16 cases of insomnia, and 372 cases of indigestion. but of all the figures none caused more surprise to the general public than the last, on indigestion.
There was one class of persons who did not wonder that Harvard students had indigestion. They were the restaurant-keepers in and about Harvard Square. they are the ones who supply food to the collegians between meals and in the small hours of the morning. Although there is a constant kick against the food served at the big dining halls, Memorial and Randall, still it is as a rule of a healthful nature, although not always appetizing. It is, in the opinion of Dr Bailey, what the men eat between meals that causes the trouble.
“I don’t wonder that they have indigestion,” said Butler, the jovial hot dog merchant at the Harvard Union, when asked if he could explain the reason for so many complaints. “You out to see,” he went on to say, “the stuff some of the men eat. Such mixtures as would make an ordinary man sick to think of. And, besides, the quantity that some fellows get outside of is a caution. I believe it would keep a steam engine running. For example, I know one man who has three square meals a day, and as regular as the nights come around he is here at about 10 o’clock for a lunch.
“Here’s what he has: Two hot-dogs to start with… When a man drinks a soda lemonade, a glass of milk, and a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream, besides eclairs and frankfurters, I don’t wonder he has indigestion.”
— Why Harvard Men Get Indigestion. Hot Dog Seems to be a favourite dish. New York: The World. 16 March 1903. Page 4.
Snobbism about hot dogs
A minor hot dog controversy occurred in 1939. In that year, King George V and Elizabeth were on their famous 1939 North American tour, making sure that when the coming war inevitably came, Canada and the U.S. would show up at some point. Eleanor Roosevelt decided to be down to earth and that she and her husband, Franklin, would treat them to a picnic at their Hyde Park estate with authentic American foods.
The picnic was held on 11 June 1939. She served them Virginia Ham, turkey, salads, rolls — and hot dogs.
The New York Herald food writer Clementine Paddleford noted the type of wieners served:
“The variety of frankfurters sold at the World’s Fair were also served to the royalty, according to Miss Paddleford, who suggested that Mrs. Roosevelt could have given the vendor spiel that is the popular one at the fair, “Ho-ot dogs a dime! Boneless, skinless, harmless, homeless, who’ll have a dog?” — Social Newsbits. Manhattan, Kansas: The Morning Chronicle. Friday, 30th June 1939. Page 5, col. 1.
Many American columnists were scandalized that hot dogs were served to the Royals, but it worked out well. King George apparently liked his hot dog so much, he had a second one.
“On the second day of the visit, Franklin asked George and Elizabeth (familiarity made formal titles ridiculous) to come to a picnic at Hill top Cottage, the house he had designed and constructed for his own use nearby the Val-Kill furniture factory. Symbolic hot dogs were on the groaning board amidst the lavish layout of turkeys, hams and salads. “I thought I would give them everything American,” Eleanor decided, “and for dessert I had strawberry shortcake. I found out later that every place they had been in Canada and in the United States, they were served strawberries in some form!” [5]Steinberg, Alfred. The Life of Eleanor Roosevelt. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons. 1958. Page 265.
In the mid-1940s, there was continuing snobbism about hot dogs. Merriam Webster’s and Thorndike’s Century dictionaries still listed the very term “hot dog” as slang:
” Merriam Webster’s and Thorndike’s Century list hot dog, giving it, however, the slanderous designation of “slang.” To regard as slang a term that is accepted and held in affectionate esteem by 140 million Americans is so unrealistic as to verge on the fantastic. Someone ought to tell our dictionaries that the hot dog is here to stay.” — Colby, Frank. What’s the Origin column? Oakland, California: Oakland Tribune. 23 May 1946. Page 7.
Literature & Lore
Julia Child loved the hot dogs at Costco:
“While living in Santa Barbara, the couple [Ed: Caroline & Ken Bates] were invited to a dinner cooked by celebrity chef Julia Child, who had a home there. “There were six of us, and she did everything,” says Ken. “She would come out of the kitchen with this big tray with all the dishes on it.” He also recalls how Child sat under the umbrellas at Costco in Santa Barbara, devouring the discount store’s hot dogs. “She was so very unphony,” says Caroline.” — Henry, Bonnie. Critic for now-gone Gourmet magazine savors the memories. Tuscson, Arizona: Arizona Daily Star. Monday, 28 December 2009.
Language Notes
Aka hotdogs (all one word.)
Sources
Doran, James. Spitzer serves up hot dog fine and with relish. London: The Times. 24 November 2004.
Goodman, Walter. Much Maligned but Still the Champ: hot dogs. New York Times. 29 June 1999.
Piper, Andy. Hot dog vendor relishes his role. Dubuque, Iowa: Telegraph Herald. 28 September 2009.
Witt, Stephen. Kosher hot dog eating contest comes to Brooklyn. New York Post. 30 September 2009.
Stanton, Jeffrey. Coney Island – Food & Dining. 1997. Retrieved September 2010 from http://www.westland.net/coneyisland/articles/food.htm
Hot dogs and Food Safety. Retrieved September 2010 from http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/Hot_Dogs/index.asp
Types of hot dogs
Chicago Hot Dogs
Coney Island Hot Dogs
Corn Dogs
Hot Wieners
Hot-Dog du Lac
Michigan Hot Dogs
Montreal Steamies
Pronto Pups
Rutt's Hot Dogs
Sonoran Hot Dogs
References
↑1 | Fredrix, Emily. Hot dog sales sizzle as makers Ball Park Franks and Oscar Mayer embroiled in suit. Milwaukee: Associated Press. 22 May 2009. |
---|---|
↑2 | Simons, Meredith. The Half-Million-Dollar Wiener. Slate Magazine. 12 August 2009. |
↑3 | Belenkaya, Veronika and Samuel Goldsmith. New job for hot dog vendor booted by Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York Daily News. 9 August 2009. |
↑4 | ”Grated cheese, squeeze cheese and mayonnaise are hazardous dairy products that require refrigeration and are not allowed.” Toronto Public Health Requirements for hot dog Carts http://www.toronto.ca/health/he/hd_index.htm |
↑5 | Steinberg, Alfred. The Life of Eleanor Roosevelt. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons. 1958. Page 265. |