Sausage on a bun wherever they may be

Hi,

I'm interested in learning regional variations of sausage on a bun, such as:

Chicago-style hotdogs
Maxwell Street Polish with mustard and grilled onions
Corn dogs, whether they originated in Springfield, IL, Texas, Oregon or Evanston, IL
Coney Dog (hotdog with chili)
Bratwurst from Wisconsin
Perhaps the variation of Mother-in-Law with tamales topped with chili on a hotdog bun could be included.

I'm not only interested in the styles. I am also interested in regional producers like Usingers, Vienna et al.

Thanks!

Regards,

Texas Weiners in NJ - deep fried hot dog (preferably starting to rip open) with chili on top)

...or just the plain old NJ ripper (just the fried dog, no chili)

There's the East Coast ball park style, which is a hot dog with mustard and sauerkraut.

A CT shore dog is fried then griddled (sometimes split first though I'm not a fan of this style as it ruins the snap) with mustard & bacon and either grilled onion, kraut, or cheese on a butter toasted split top bun.... mmmm...memories!

One or two of these with an order of whole bellies, Maine style chowder (thin white with a layer of butter on top and stocked full of shellfish), and a few dark and stormies is the perfect end to a day on the water for me. Man I might have to head back for a visit soon!

When i spent a vacation in upstate New York in my 20s, the big local thing there were "white hots", which were pale sausages (i remember them being mild) that were often served with simple boiled small white potatoes that were covered in butter.

this is around Lake Canadaigua and Rochester.

that was the best vacation -- I stayed with a friend at their family house on the lake -- I must have spent 4 days in my bathing suit and hung around doing nothing but cooking, eating, drinking, reading and playing with jigsaw puzzles.

<sigh>

Stagger, I'm a little surprised you forgot to mention Speed's in Boston. Speed is an 80-something year old guy who's been serving dogs out of his cart for the past few decades. It's a large, half-pound, all-beef dog from Pearl Meats, that's marinated in apple juice (?) I think, before getting charred on the grill. The bun is also grilled, and grilled rather aggressively. He makes all his condiments (mustard, sweet relish, beef chili, etc) from scratch, but of particular note is the "barbecue sauce" which apparently consists of orange zest and grape jelly among many other ingredients. I quite frankly can't remember the taste of the sauce, but do remember it being quite unique. Hopefully others might be able to better describe it. Speed comes out to work when he wants, which is highly unpredictable, and he takes his sweet ol' time to get your dog ready, a process which you do not want to rush.

There's the south eastern (Carolinas, I think) with slaw and chili.
If nobody has seen that "hot dog" special on pbs, or is not familiar with this phenomenon, I did a quick web search for "hot dogs cole slaw chili"
which yielded plenty of hits. I also think this style of dressing a dog is popular in Mississippi as well.

"A true West Virginia hot dog is a heavenly creation that begins with a wiener on a soft steamed bun. Add mustard, a chili-like sauce and top it off with coleslaw and chopped onions and you have a symphony of taste that quite possibly is the reason that many transplanted West Virginians can never really be happy living anywhere else. Different parts of West Virginia have variations on the theme but the common elements are sweet, creamy coleslaw and chili. Anything else is just not a true West Virginia hot dog!"

Bleccch! They lost me at sweet, creamy coleslaw. I'm going to assume that they are really referring to that sugar laden Orval Kent style garbage. I can see slaw with real mayo, perhaps, but that sugary concoction that many people have replaced real cole slaw with is just vile in my opinion.

The program on PBS was a documentary titled "A hot dog program"
They run it a few times every year, and I watch it almost every time. They also run it on the history channel too. It does branch out across the country, and show most of the major regional styles including those eastern "rippers," and "splitters," chicago style, a few NY styles, Pink's in LA with the avocado and chili etc.

I did an impromptu tour of WV hot dog country. I can confirm that, apart from Chicago and possibly parts of NJ and upstate NY (the Rochester/Buffalo whites upthread), no region has more hot dog pride. The condiments work; the bland, porky Southern-style franks don't.

Speed's is indeed one of the best places to eat in Boston. I just wanted to nominate the sausage of my youth (insert bad joke here ) as Boston was merely my adopted temp home. IMHO, as great as Speeds is for the Boston market, for those used to Hot Dougs, it probably won't be as much of a revelation as it is in Boston. Chicago is just more of a sausage town than Boston is. That said, if you are in Boston and can get to Haymarket Square, don't miss Boston Speeds!

Cincinnati has two I can think of that are noteworthy - one is the "Cheese Coney" made famous by Skyline chili: a surprisingly tiny hot dog in a steamed bun topped with mustard, Cincinnati chili, chopped raw onions, and finely shredded cheese.

The other comes out at food festivals: a ghostly-looking white, ramrod-straight "bratwurst" on a hotdog bun with sauerkraut. There is also something called mettwurst, served similarly but reddish (I don't remember it well - other Cincinnati ex-pats?)

I'm here to witness for a couple of wursts I've found in Plattsburgh NY, of all places.

First, is Zweigle's white hots, which are a mild sausage not unlike a bockwurst, but without the chives. They can be had in the deli section of the Plattsburgh Price Chopper, and, indeed, in most of the Price Choppers in this part of upstate NY. They are very tasty, in a bockwurst-y sort of way, with a nice natural casing. Certainly better than any European sausage available in Montreal, which is sorely lacking in wurst-things.

Second, there's the local "michigan", which is a version--or so I'm told--of Texas red hots. Served with an interesting meat sauce. Some of my Quebecker buddies admit to having their cars swerve onto the exit when they go by Plattsburgh on I-87, the swerve ending up at the red hot joint. Tasty concoction.

Geo

http://www.zweigles.com/

http://northcountryfolklore.org/rvsp/clarecarl.html

PS. Take a look at the "RSVP Criteria" on this last website. If those aren't the abiding criteria, the soul and essence of LTH, then, folks, we're souless!

Geo,

Any Kansas sausage in a bun variants to report?

Regards,

Hi C2!

Good question. Used to be that Ragan's Meat Market in KC KS had the best veal brat § in these here United States, but they closed two years ago when the kids decided that they didn't want to work that hard...

But not all hope is lost. Waaaay out in Deepest Kansas is Wilson, the Czech Capital o' Kansas, where you can buy some excellent sausage, and get it on a bun during the Fest.

Kansas City, during the heyday of Gilbert and Robertson (who went from Houlihan's into cosmic-scale franchising), was surely the universal ground zero of the chili dog. A more recent comer, Chili Shack, has got some good ink/buzz, which, given that it's owned/operated by one of the genuine old time restaurant families in KC, isn't unexpected. Haven't been there myself, but some folks I trust have been.

Sorry there's nothing more I can think of at the moment. Sure miss those Ragan brats.... :^(

Geo

http://skyways.lib.ks.us/towns/Wilson/

http://www.chilishack.com/About_Us.htm


§Second best--now first--remains Continental Sausage in Denver. They deliver:

http://www.continentalsausage.com/

Cathy,

Don't forget about this thread that discusses Brazillian hot dogs.

Best,
Michael

Stagger wrote:Chicago is just more of a sausage town than Boston is.

True, but the sausage and pepper carts on Yawkey Way outside of Fenway are nothing to sneeze at . . .

True but my hear sank when I found out that the Sausage Guy cart closed up shop (assuming its still out of order). That was about as close as Boston had to a sausage savant. Spikes tries too hard and uses the same sausages for each type of dog. But, yes, I do love a sausage and peppers after a Bo Sox game (they taste much better 12 games up on the Yankees too )

Don't forget the Sonoran dogo that is a specialty of Nogales and South Tucson. It consists of a hotdog wrapped in mesquite smoked bacon that is either grilled or fried in bacon grease. It is served in one of those soft pointy buns (bolillos?) over a layer of beans. The toppings vary by vendor, but usually include tomatoes, onions, yellow mustard, mayo, salsa, pickled jalapeños and grated (or melted) yellow cheese. Some vendors offer guacamole, grilled peppers and onions, mushrooms, or crispy fried chorizo as topping options, and sometimes even ketchup. I heard that some places offer a fried egg as a topping choice, but I have never seen that.

Here is a link to a thread about one of the most popular purveyors of dogos in South Tucson, El Guerro Canelo.

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=2841

Nebraska is home of the Runza. Look at this link and tell me if this is a bit of a stretch or perhaps a variation on the sausage in a bun tradition:

http://www.runza.com/whatzarunza.htm

Regards,

C2--

I've got friends I frequently visit in Lincoln, so I've had a whole bunch of runzas. I think it would be a stretch to try to put it under "hot dog" taxonomy.

It's more of a "hamburg" variant, methinks.

Geo

Cathy2 wrote: Look at this link and tell me if this is a bit of a stretch or perhaps a variation on the sausage in a bun tradition:

If you include the Runza, there are a bunch of similar meat-pie type things that would have to be included. It does raise an interesting point. What are the defining characteristics of a sausage on a bun? Is a chevapcici a sausage? Are Uncle's kifta kebabs on Assyrian bread? What about a pig in a blanket? It is a sausage but is the crescent roll a bun?

What about a salami, mortadella, and sopressatta sandwich? A banh mi with head cheese, pate and that white pork loaf? Italian sausage sandwich, sure, but what about a meatball sandwich? Spam on a taro roll?

Whole sausage, in casing? That might be a reasonable limit.

Do bagel dogs count?

re: Runzas, yeah that seems to open it up to empanadas as well as tamales. yeah, that's a stretch.

Colombian chorizo & longaniza are often eaten with an arepa, but not in an arepa.

Cathy2 wrote:I'm interested in learning regional variations of sausage on a bun

A few weeks ago I stopped at America's Dog in the Loop (26 E Randolph). On the wall is an interesting hot dog-based map of the US.

seebee wrote:There's the south eastern (Carolinas, I think) with slaw and chili.

At America's Dog I ordered a Charleston dog because it was something I was completely unfamiliar with. It came dressed with chili, mustard, diced onion and cole slaw, not an inspired combination but not as awful as I feared. I could actually see it working with different chili and slaw.

JeffB wrote:Italian sausage sandwich, sure . . .

. . . but what about that regional variation within Chicago, the Freddy? Or is an Italian sausage patty getting into burger territory?

ReneG,

Is really possible to try all the regional variations of a hot dog at this place? This is really quite a find. Especially to try the Charleston variation that I never heard of until this thread.

BTW - what changes to the coleslaw and chili do you think might work better?

Thanks!

Regards,

Stagger wrote:A CT shore dog is fried then griddled (sometimes split first though I'm not a fan of this style as it ruins the snap) with mustard & bacon and either grilled onion, kraut, or cheese on a butter toasted split top bun.... mmmm...memories!

One or two of these with an order of whole bellies, Maine style chowder (thin white with a layer of butter on top and stocked full of shellfish), and a few dark and stormies is the perfect end to a day on the water for me. Man I might have to head back for a visit soon!

Seeing as I'm going to be spending considerable time along the CT shore in the next 4 years, I'd be most appreciative if you would reveal your sources. (I've never encountered this style of dog around Stamford or up toward New Milford and Litchfield.)

BTW, what is a "dark and stormy"? Is it the same thing as a "Black and Tan"?

Josephine wrote:

Stagger wrote:A CT shore dog is fried then griddled (sometimes split first though I'm not a fan of this style as it ruins the snap) with mustard & bacon and either grilled onion, kraut, or cheese on a butter toasted split top bun.... mmmm...memories!

One or two of these with an order of whole bellies, Maine style chowder (thin white with a layer of butter on top and stocked full of shellfish), and a few dark and stormies is the perfect end to a day on the water for me. Man I might have to head back for a visit soon!

Seeing as I'm going to be spending considerable time along the CT shore in the next 4 years, I'd be most appreciative if you would reveal your sources. (I've never encountered this style of dog around Stamford or up toward New Milford and Litchfield.)

BTW, what is a "dark and stormy"? Is it the same thing as a "Black and Tan"?

I was born and raised near Litchfield and you won't find that type of dog there. It's definitely an old vacation-down the shore-fun on the beach type of food.

Josephine wrote:BTW, what is a "dark and stormy"? Is it the same thing as a "Black and Tan"?

Whenever I've had a Dark and Stormy, (usually in Bermuda) it was a mix of Ginger Beer and Gosling's Black Rum.

nr706 wrote:Whenever I've had a Dark and Stormy, (usually in Bermuda) it was a mix of Ginger Beer and Gosling's Black Rum.

Thanks, Tom. If the ginger beer were of the Reed's (hot & spicy) type, I think I'd go for a short one. Sounds like a sailor's drink; I'll ask the seafaring brother-in-law.

Cathy2 wrote:Nebraska is home of the Runza. Look at this link and tell me if this is a bit of a stretch or perhaps a variation on the sausage in a bun tradition:

http://www.runza.com/whatzarunza.htm

Regards,

There is no way that the Runza is a hot dog. It is a lot closer to what is sold at Sam's Club as a "Hot Pocket".

In a state that has some great cuisine, the Runza is one of the worst things that I ate in 2006.