Need Recipes for The Greatest Chicago Hot Dog

Hi,
I am looking for the best recipe for an authentic Chicago Hot Dog. All I know so far is that the basic includes an all beef Frankfurter and poppy seed bun. I've heard that mustard, relish, tomato, cheese, onions and dill pickles are most common, but the list goes on.

Are all these ingredients added to the hot dog or are these the options? A friend of mine from Chicago who always brags about their hot dogs is coming for a visit and I really want to impress her.

Please send suggestions.

Thanks

straight from skokie illinois

and these are applied on the dog not the bun, mustard, neon green relish, onion, tomatoe,pickle,sport peppers ( sorano ) and a dash of celery salt on a steamed poppy seed bun. go to vienna hot dogs website for further info or products needed

If you really want to impress her, you'll do the classic depression dog, wrapped up in paper with french fries ala Gene and Jude's.

The ingredients are mustard, onions, relish, sport peppers and fresh cut French fries placed on top.

NO CHEESE PLEASE.

NO KETCHUP OR SAUERKRAUT!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5JIpT4GkyM

Indeed, no cheese on a Chicago dog. Unfortunately, no ketchup either. This is why I live in the 'burbs.

Would have thought Hammond would have had a hand in this

"Don't let anyone tell you ketchup can't go on hot dogs"
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertain ... full.story

I have to admit, ever since college - when I shared a meal with someone who insisted on pouring ketchup on everything - I've had an aversion to the stuff. I realize it's completely unfair and more than a little nuts, but ketchup is now ingrained into my head as something for people who don't like to taste their food.

Yeah! Ketchup is the new foam.

I ordered this poster a few weeks ago to hang in my office.

Poster describing a Chicago Dog

The Relish HAS to be the super green sweet relish (often called neon relish). You can order it online along with the pickle spears from The Puckered Pickle Co.

Here is a link to website that explains in detail how to assemble a Chicago Style Dog http://www.hotdogchicagostyle.com/chicagodog.php

Yes, for a to-Vienna-Beef-spec Chicago style hot dog, neon green relish is required. I, however, don't like my food in colors more glowing than an Ed Paschke painting, so avoid it (as do, thankfully, most hot dog stands I've been to.)

As something of a relish connoisseur, the "real" Chicago neon relish comes from Vienna, or more properly their subsidiaary Chipico (Chicago Pickle Company). It's readily available at Jewel and at the Vienna factory store at Fullerton and Elston.

I have found very few substitutes -- most other deeply-colored relishes do not have that sweet-sour balance.
However, I've found one naturally-colored relish I'm willing to try (once I run down my current stash):
"That Pickle Guy" had a relish at the Mt Prospect farmer's market that had a very similar flavor profile.
(note: I just went to their website, and my virus scanner whined about it -- so I'm not listing the link here. travel at your own risk)

JoelF wrote:As something of a relish connoisseur, the "real" Chicago neon relish comes from Vienna, or more properly their subsidiaary Chipico (Chicago Pickle Company). It's readily available at Jewel and at the Vienna factory store at Fullerton and Elston.

I didn't know ChiPiCo was a division of Vienna. Makes sense. That Puckered Pickle Co. claims that their food service division (which they don't actually name on their retail site) is a major supplier of hotdog relish for Chicago. I wonder if it is also ChiPiCo? That would make sense. There is some kind of relationship between them and Vienna (all their links tie back to Vienna, and the retail jars of relish are the same shape as Vienna's). For instance, I think that Chicago Style Hot Dog site, is actually a front for Vienna (I could do a 'whois', but I am too lazy). Anyhow, I have a jar of Puckered Pickle's retail relish, and it is pretty close to the real thing (with that proper sweet/sour balance JoelF mentions). The relish is also not quite as flourescent as some of the others. I am not really a big fan of relish, but I agree that a Chicago Red Hot is not complete without it. The problem is that some of the "neon" relishes are over-the-top candy-sweet.

Anyhow, I would say "true" Chicago Hot Dogs are made with S. Rosen "Mary Ann" sesame buns and Plochman's yellow mustard, but I am not sure about the brand of relish, peppers and pickles. Naturally Vienna pushes their own brand (which is actually headquartered in Florida), but I like Il Primo sport peppers and Claussen Pickle Spears (which interestingly, was founded in 1870 but bought out by Oscar Meyer in 1970, and is currently owned by Kraft). Some people swear by Vlasic pickles. Maybe we should organize a blind Chicago Hot Dog ingredient tasting competition to determine the actual composition of "The Greatest Chicago Hot Dog". We could test several brands of sausages, mustards, peppers and pickles. Maybe the LTH picnic would be a good place to hold the event.

d4v3 wrote: S. Rosen "Mary Ann" sesame buns

I know you meant poppy seed, but.. poppy seed!

gleam wrote:

d4v3 wrote: S. Rosen "Mary Ann" sesame buns

I know you meant poppy seed, but.. poppy seed!

Duh. Poppy seed, of course. I guess McDonald's has warped my brain with that stupid Big Mac rhyme.

Ballpark Vendor
Plain or mustard

Depression
Mustard, chopped onion, green relish (often neon), sport peppers

Traditional
Depression plus
Pickle spear, tomato slice, celery salt

Salad
Traditional plus
Lettuce, cucumber, green pepper

Panther in the Den wrote:Salad
Traditional plus
Lettuce, cucumber, green pepper

Never once saw this or experienced this in Chicago, do you do this yourself?

Cathy2 wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:Salad
Traditional plus
Lettuce, cucumber, green pepper

Never once saw this or experienced this in Chicago, do you do this yourself?

A plain hot dog is a naked dog. A Chicago style dog is often referred to as a "salad on a bun." Adding cucumbers to the Chicago style dog is a south side thing. Adding additional veggies was the norm at Tastee Hastee on Milwaukee Ave in Chicago and Tasty Pup in Niles on Milwaukee Ave and Ballard.

CSD

Panther in the Den wrote:
Depression
Mustard, chopped onion, green relish (often neon), sport peppers

What hot dog stands serve this style with neon relish? The only ones I can think of use standard green.

For what it's worth, I never cared for the term Depression Dog to describe this set of condiments. I'm not at all sure sport peppers were a common addition in the 1930s.

chicagostyledog wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:
Salad
Traditional plus
Lettuce, cucumber, green pepper

Never once saw this or experienced this in Chicago, do you do this yourself?

A plain hot dog is a naked dog. A Chicago style dog is often referred to as a "salad on a bun." Adding cucumbers to the Chicago style dog is a south side thing. Adding additional veggies was the norm at Tastee Hastee on Milwaukee Ave in Chicago and Tasty Pup in Niles on Milwaukee Ave and Ballard.

Byron's is known for this elaborate style. Where else? Most sellers of the garden-on-a-bun style (to use Bowen & Fay's term; I like Salad Dog too) have gone out of business. That includes Tast-e Hast-e and Tasty Pup (Niles, then Park Ridge), as well as Tasty Dog in Oak Park.

Rich Bowen and Dick Fay, Hot Dog Chicago: A Native's Dining Guide, Chicago Review Press, 1983.

Another term for the depression dog is "the classic." This is a hot dog on a plain bun with mustard, relish, onions. The relish is called sweet pickle relish or natural relish. Baby boomers call it piccalilli. It was before poppy seed buns, neon green relish, and sport peppers. The classic today at those stands that serve it, include the sport peppers.

CSD

Cathy2 wrote:

Panther in the Den wrote:Salad
Traditional plus
Lettuce, cucumber, green pepper

Never once saw this or experienced this in Chicago, do you do this yourself?

Yeah, as mentioned above, Byron's. I once ordered an "everything on it" dog there, not knowing I'll get the true "dragged through the garden" treatment.

I didn't realize cukes on a dog were a South Side thing, but they definitely do show up instead of or in addition to the pickle spear. Jr's hot dogs (which used to have a number of outposts here in the south/southwest side area, but now I think is only in Oak Lawn --not to be confused with Jr's Red Hots) does the cukes instead of pickle spear for their fully dressed Chicago dog. (They are also a bit odd as their classic dog is a beef and pork mix, skinless, but I get the craving for it from time to time. They also have an all-beef option.) Murphy's Red Hots up on the north side (now defunct, but they've had pop-ups at Schuba's) does/did cucumbers in addition to pickle spear on their "everything on it" hot dog.

I have to admit, I prefer cucumbers as a topping if I'm in the mood for a "fully dressed" dog-- I always take the pickle spear out and eat it separately, whether I'm eating a dog.

But adding lettuce and green pepper is a bit too much. As for the sport peppers, when and where I grew up (80s, Midway area), that was always an option, never assumed. If I specified a hot dog with everything, the person would always ask "hot peppers?" So I've been conditioned to order a "hot dog, everything, hot/sport peppers." Quite often, celery salt would also be asked for as an option, not assumed.

OMG! Hastee-Tastee Dog, "Garden on a bun"! This was "our" place to go when I was growing up. Our mother would "get a taste for a hot dog" and us kids would 'hooray'!

I knew my childhood was over when they finally closed.

They would pile so much salad stuff on top that you had to pick most of it off with your fingers and eat it piece by piece before you could legitimately attack the dog.


Thanks for the memories! --Joy

One variation I've seen that I do like, but I cannot for the life of me remember where -- perhaps someone here will know -- is I've had the pickle served not as a spear, but sliced not quite into chips, but kind of on the bias, and maybe in half after that. Something like that. At any rate, it blended in with the dog better than this random pickle spear sitting on top of it, but, then again, if you've already got (cucumber-based) relish, why add pickle, too? (Which is the reason I always eat the pickle spear separately -- that bit of the Chicago dog never made much sense to me. I know they're different types of pickle, one more sweet-and-sour, the other kosher, but how much pickled stuff do you need on a dog? )

Susie's Drive Thru hot dogs have cucumber and bell pepper but not the lettuce.

Binko wrote:I always take the pickle spear out and eat it separately, whether I'm eating a dog.

I went through a couple weeks long DIY hot dog phase this summer. I experimented with two dill pickle things.

First was buying small 'baby dills' from the grocery store bulk brine barrel. Then, I cut them into little wedges, not more than 1/4", and laid them along the bottom of the bun (with the onions and mustard, another part of the experimentation). This is great and what I'd recommend. The small babies are tender and easily bitten off and brimming with dill pickle flavor. Dilly-dilly!

The other was to mix the usual sweet relish with dill relish. Not like I was measuring but they're about equal parts. This was perhaps not quite as great as the baby dill wedges but still very good and also wonderful on burgers.

Binko wrote:One variation I've seen that I do like, but I cannot for the life of me remember where -- perhaps someone here will know -- is I've had the pickle served not as a spear, but sliced not quite into chips, but kind of on the bias, and maybe in half after that. Something like that. At any rate, it blended in with the dog better than this random pickle spear sitting on top of it, but, then again, if you've already got (cucumber-based) relish, why add pickle, too? (Which is the reason I always eat the pickle spear separately -- that bit of the Chicago dog never made much sense to me. I know they're different types of pickle, one more sweet-and-sour, the other kosher, but how much pickled stuff do you need on a dog? )

Binko, the pickle that you referred to is known as a plank. It's flat with rounded corners and long. The planks, made by Vienna Beef (Chipico) are a foodservice item, available in 2 and 5 gallon pails. We also make a sweet and zesty chip that works well with BBQ and pulled pork.

CSD

Binko, the pickle that you referred to is known as a plank. It's flat with rounded corners and long. The planks, made by Vienna Beef (Chipico) are a foodservice item, available in 2 and 5 gallon pails. We also make a sweet and zesty chip that works well with BBQ and pulled pork.

CSD

If it's what's in this picture, it may very well be it, but a trimmed-down version of a plank (like if you took a plank and cut it in half lengthwise, and then in half crosswise). It wasn't the whole section like that. Or maybe it was a blank then cut into smaller slices on the bias. This is going to bug me, as I know I had this rather recently somewhere, and I just can't for the life of me remember where.

Binko wrote:

Binko, the pickle that you referred to is known as a plank. It's flat with rounded corners and long. The planks, made by Vienna Beef (Chipico) are a foodservice item, available in 2 and 5 gallon pails. We also make a sweet and zesty chip that works well with BBQ and pulled pork.

CSD

If it's what's in this picture, it may very well be it, but a trimmed-down version of a plank (like if you took a plank and cut it in half lengthwise, and then in half crosswise). It wasn't the whole section like that. Or maybe it was a blank then cut into smaller slices on the bias. This is going to bug me, as I know I had this rather recently somewhere, and I just can't for the life of me remember where.

That's the plank! There are vendors that recut pickles and it sounds like you may have had a plank that was recut. If you want to try something really delicious, dice some beef boloney, dice some pickles, and mix them with real mayo. Spread this on toast and give me your thoughts. My eastern European grandmother used to make this for me when I was a wee one.

CSD

chicagostyledog wrote:That's the plank! There are vendors that recut pickles and it sounds like you may have had a plank that was recut. If you want to try something really delicious, dice some beef boloney, dice some pickles, and mix them with real mayo. Spread this on toast and give me your thoughts. My eastern European grandmother used to make this for me when I was a wee one.

CSD

That sounds great to me! My folks are Polish, so you're speaking my culinary language. We haven't had anything exactly like that when I was growing up, but it sure sounds like something we would.