New (and really delicious) Takes on Hot Dogs

[stevie pierson]

Any chefs or restaurants come to mind? Any successful, inventive recipes? I know Richard Blais is a pioneer in Atlanta - anyone else? Thanks!

[Querencia]

I just got a blurb in my Inbox showing a hot dog inserted into a split chocolate eclair filled with creamy goo.

[gingershelley]

The 'Seattle Dog' - all-beef hot dog griddle'd up, topped with cream cheese and raw chopped onions. Should be served in a bialy stick, but most times just a regular hot dog bun. Been around for 15 years give or take - served all around downtown at carts, and at the Mariner's stadium.

Sounds wierd, but tastes delish!

[iL Divo]

ginger, had 1 at a food truck several months ago, it was wonderful.

[KaimukiMan]

we have a place called Hank's Haute Dogs. On Friday they have a Lobster Sausage and on Saturday a Duck and Foiegras sausage.

the friday lobster you can also get as a 'fatboy' meaning it is bacon wrapped.

monday is italian beef, tuesday is wild boar, wed is wild card, thurs is buffalo and beef sausage.
other specialties include portuguese sausage, chorizo, andoulie, chicken, and bacon wrapped.

http://www.hankshautedogs.com/menu.html

[Sra. Swanky]

George Duran has a great recipe for the Venezuelan hot dog - onion, shredded cabbage, potato chips, mustard, mayo and ketchup. Sounds strange, but it works soooo well! :o)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ge...

[johnb]

Certainly Hot Doug's in Chicago qualifies.......

http://www.hotdougs.com/specials.htm

Has been featured by nearly every food network and travel channel show by now. Love those duck fat fries.

[iL Divo]

had my first duck fat fries in June, oh my goodness...

[westaust]

Had a really good hotdog at a restaurant yesterday, beef hot dog sausage topped with bacon jam, pesto aioli, cheddar cheese, fresh diced tomato and avocado slices, all served in a nice toasty bread.

Really good and different

[iL Divo]

west- "where" do you live? I want one of those.

[Veggo]

I like non-traditional toppings - chorizo, chimichurri, kimchi.

[alkapal]

i just saw a new butcher in the area that is doing mortadella dogs. gotta try those!

[cayjohan]

Alkapal, I really did not need to know this! (Yes, yes I did...) In fact, I didn't need to know this so much that I had to go a-googling. No way such delights would show up in my neck of the woods, but I did find some available mail order. Another thing I do not need to know! (Yes, yes I do.)
*sigh*
I would love to know, in any case, what you think when you try them! I'm half hoping these won't be delicious, so as to save myself. (No, no I'm not.)

[alkapal]

ironic thing is, cayjohan, i cannot find the bookmark i THOUGHT i made for the place! arrggghhh -- he had so many different kinds of sausages, too! ;-((.

anyone in d.c. area know the place? i saw it in d.c. eater. i guess i'll email them.

[alkapal]

RED APRON BUTCHERY -- sold at Planet Wine!

""Products include Bresaola, Wild Boar Salami, Spek, ‘Nduja, Coppa, Sopressata, Biraldo, Pastrami Short Ribs, Summer Sausage, Salami Toscano, Lonza, Pate de Champagne, Chiccoli, Prosciutto de Marva, Pepperoni, Mortadella, Salami Picante and more. Available at area Farmer’s Market and Planet Wine Shop in Del Ray""""

[alkapal]

just to whet your appetite:

[cayjohan]

Oh. My. (Derailed by errant hot dog thought.)

Anyway, since I think mortadella hotdogs are not showing up anywhere near me anytime soon, I did find this mail order link. http://www.boccalone.com/products/Mor... It's for Boccolone, the Chris Cosentino concern. At forty bucks for three eight ounce packages, I'm torn...the price is right on the cusp of my foolishness-tolerance.

But they sound so good. Can't wait to hear if you try them. It may tip my foolishness-tolerance meter.

[Will Owen]

I live in an area with a lot of Armenians, both early arrivals (pre-WW2) and the more recent ex-Soviet ones, and some Russians as well. They've established several cured meat and sausage establishments, showing a knack for producing just about any meat mixture in any form including hot dogs, which are sold in both large Armenian-tilted supermarkets and the many smaller neighborhood ones. I believe I saw some labelled "Mortadella" - I may have to go look to make sure. There's a chance I could be disappointed; some of those outfits have one set of spices and flavorings that they use for everything. I got some Russian headcheese once when I was experimenting with making scrapple; it was okay, but it tasted like hot dogs!

[iL Divo]

Alka, love mortadella. used to order it as one of the 3 meats on my Torpedo Italian sandwich back in the day.....oh the memories

[mucho gordo]

I like to steam my dogs in a Japanese Plum Wine. It makes a nice glaze.

[Will Owen]

Come to think of it, now I'm remembering that this was a popular '50s food item, probably from a recipe placed by some food-industry PR group in Better Homes & Gardens or Women's Day. You split the dogs lengthwise, not quite all the way through, and insert long slivers of cheese, then wrap each one with a strip of bacon and pin into place with toothpicks. Set into a baking pan and cook in a preheated oven. Added voice of experience: be prepared to mop up all the melted cheese from the bottom of the pan and attempt to get it back onto the dogs somehow …

My mom used to stuff wieners with mashed potato and bake them. I think mashed potato would work here better than cheese.

[eclecticsynergy]

Yep, I remember bacon-wrapped cheese dogs in the 1960s. And the ever-popular mac & cheese topped dog.

How about a fondue dog on a crispy toasted bun for another retro cheese dog variant?

[Sharuf]

The dog, cheese and bacon thing is a Girl Scout Cuisine classic. It dates back at least to the fifties,

[JMF]

The special Crif Dog menu at the cocktail bar PDT in NYC. Top chefs from around NYC will design a Crif Dog specifically for PDT. Crif Dogs by the way are deep fried.

David Chang does a Chang Dog.
http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/39941/

Chef Daniel Humm did a Humm Dog, bacon-wrapped, deep-fried dog topped with celery relish, melted Gruyere cheese, and black truffle mayo.

Chef Wylie Dufresne did a Wylie Dog
http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/46632/

Chef Phillip Kirschen-clark did the Van Dog
http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/03/pdt_unveils_the_van_dog.html

Cocktail designer John Deragon created the John-John Deragon which has cream cheese, scallions, and everything bagel seeds.

There's the Choptank Dog a deep-fried hot dog topped with crab dip, crushed Old Bay chips and pickled jalapeños, with a slice of cheddar cheese tucked underneath.

Here is the regular Crif Dog menu.
http://www.grubhub.com/nyc/crif-dogs-...

[mrbigshotno.1]

Go Sonoran, instant addiction.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXaXy4...

[Heidi cooks and bakes]

OK, so you got me on the bacon wrapped part of the dog!!

How would you wrap bacon around a hot dog, and cook it in a home kitchen? It's on my list now!

[Will Owen]

Here in Los Angeles County, the bacon-wrapped hot dog is sold in packages, ready to cook. The label says, "Como en la calle!" The funny thing about that is that bacon dogs are specifically forbidden here as street food, because if you grill it just for the dog the bacon is undercooked by Health Department rules; if you grill it enough to cook the bacon, the dogs are burnt to a frazzle. At home you can just do them in the oven, or microwave (not so good), and if the bacon isn't cooked crisp nobody's going to bust you.

[boogiebaby]

You can still get bacon dogs at street carts... It's just that the cart has to be approved to sell them by the health dept. I just had one last month at a cart in front of the Convention Center. It was a legit cart too - he had his yellow health dept sticker displayed prominently. And there are bacon dogs galore in the Fashion District, although I only saw 1 cart with the yellow sticker on it!

[Will Owen]

The policy seems to have changed, then, which is dandy with me. I used to have chats with the health dept. inspector at a street market we were running in Nashville; his pet peeve was the blanket approval of any preparation method for hot dogs, because they are cooked already. Any uncooked meat added to the dogs, however, would change the category. The same explanation was expressed in a newspaper story I read after moving to LA County, the gist of which was that the cooking requirements for bacon made these dogs impossible to be both legal and palatable. However they've gotten past that, I'm in favor of it. Those things are delightful.

[iL Divo]

guy those sound good WO.
I'd probably try them with presumptive success in my convection toaster oven.
oooh, I'll have to try that when this dang fast is o-vuh.

[boogiebaby]

Try it LA style! An LA street dog is a bacon wrapped dog cooked on a griddle then topped with sautéed onions and bell peppers, tomatoes, pickled jalapeños (either sliced or a whole one), mayo, ketchup and sometimes mustard. I always get no tomato. So good!

My son loves bacon wrapped dogs topped with chili and cheese. Just take a slice of bacon and spiral wrap it around the dog, then grill.

[iL Divo]

thanks boogie- either way > I'm sold

[mrbigshotno.1]

Toothpicks

http://www.orble.com/images/bacon-wra...

[Heidi cooks and bakes]

ooh, they look good! I see bacon dogs on the grill in our future!

[eclecticsynergy]

Monte Cristo dogs are a real departure from the norm. Inventive and tasty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3xymA2BP30

simplified recipe here:
http://www.grouprecipes.com/121890/mo...

Iron Barley's also does a Reuben dog that sounds pretty darn good.