Regional hot dog tastes live!

There’s a pretty interesting discussion of why there is no large, successful national hot dog chain in
Erik Zorn’s (Trib columnist) blog.

The take-away (if you’ll pardon the pun) for me is that hot dog tastes are still genuinely regional, which is encouraging in this world of standardization and homogenization. And I do love the Chicago dog and have since I was a little girl.

When I was a wee lad, Burger King served hot dogs. I vaguely recall (or had reinforced by family retelling) that I actually insisted on hot dogs there for quite some time, and we went there instead of McDonald's because they had them.

germuska wrote:When I was a wee lad, Burger King served hot dogs. I vaguely recall (or had reinforced by family retelling) that I actually insisted on hot dogs there for quite some time, and we went there instead of McDonald's because they had them.

I don't recall hot dogs at Burger King, but I remember Henry's Hamburgers having hot dogs during the 60's. We preferred Henry's over McDonalds partly for that reason and also because Henry's put onions on their hamburgers and McDonalds did not. My standard order was a hamburger, cheeseburger, hot dog and fries. When I was a kid, Henry's was bigger than McDonalds in the Chicago area.

I'm too lazy to search, but was there a place that opened here in the last year or two where the owners set out to serve as many of the regional dogs as possible after going on some sort of Hot Dog Road Trip ? There was a big article about it in the Tribune.

tem wrote:I'm too lazy to search, but was there a place that opened here in the last year or two where the owners set out to serve as many of the regional dogs as possible after going on some sort of Hot Dog Road Trip ? There was a big article about it in the Tribune.

America's Dog

Menu and locations

I haven't got a clue why America's Dog call it "The Kansas City Dog". I *like* hot dogs and there's not a good hot dog joint IMHO and IIRC in the whole town, except for the couple of places serving Chicago-style dogs!

Geo
PS. Montréal is a good hot dog town: always steamed, always good quality, and sometimes you can even find a 'Michigan'.

Are those really regional dogs, or are those just hot dogs with regional names? Some of those seem legit, others, like the KC dog or Charleston dog, I suspect are just made-up monikers for funnily dressed dogs, but perhaps I'm mistaken.

Yes, my understanding of the America's Dog concept was that while there are several legitimate regional dogs, many are somewhat stereotypical attempts at creating new "regional" dogs by dressing them up in ingredients associated with those areas.

I still can't understand why, after taking the time to make up "regional" dogs a-plenty, America's Dog still doesn't have a Detroit-style coney on their menu.

Unbelievable.

Binko wrote:Are those really regional dogs, or are those just hot dogs with regional names? Some of those seem legit, others, like the KC dog or Charleston dog, I suspect are just made-up monikers for funnily dressed dogs, but perhaps I'm mistaken.

The Charleston dog is for real. That's Charleston WV, not Charleston SC. Have a look at this very impressive webpage concerned with Charleston WV hot dogs.

The Buffalo hot dog is a silly fantasy. Buffalo NY has a long tradition of excellent hot dogs: Sahlen's has been making hot dogs since 1869 and Ted's has been grilling them up since 1927. Blue cheese and celery salt have nothing to do with it.

At America's Dog I found the concept clever but the execution weak. They simply take a small set of ingredients, including a mediocre skinless hot dog, and assemble them in various combinations. Things like chili, cole slaw and especially the hot dogs vary regionally so AD's approach is doomed to fail.

Rene G wrote:The Charleston dog is for real. That's Charleston WV, not Charleston SC. Have a look at this very impressive webpage concerned with Charleston WV hot dogs.

That is some website--very serious about their hot dogs (or "weenies," as they like to call them). For the WV hot dog lover, it's all about the chili and cole slaw toppings. The sausage itself is secondary, as they say, "Unlike New Yorkers or Chicago hot dog lovers, the WVHD connoisseur is not overly concerned with the taste of the wiener. A good weenie will make a better dog to be sure, but even a lackluster weenie can sit on a great WVHD if the chili and slaw work together properly."

Like most Montréalers, I do some shopping in Plattsburgh NY, exactly 103 km south of the Pont Champlain. There's a fine, fine supermarket there, Price Chopper, which does four or five hot dog/'weiner' type sausages. Two are especially good: Zweigle's from Rochester, who make natural casing German-style 'white hots' (as they're called in Plattsburgh) which are pretty darn close to your actual bockwurst; the other is a Buffalo-based, Tyson-owned brand called Deutschmacher, which does both reds and whites, the latter in the German style.

All of these dogs have excellent *pop* in their natural casing, and some awfully good flavor. Add the Plattsburgh offerings to what I can get locally, and I've got to say that Montréal is a great place for a hot dog lover!

Geo

Man, talk about your regional hot dog! Check out this Wiki entry on the Michigan. And there's recipes for the sauce all over the net. Who knew? I certainly didn't! I just eat 'em, not study their history...

Geo

Geo wrote: . . . Tyson-owned brand called Deutschmacher, which does both reds and whites, the latter in the German style.

Growing up, Deutschmacher was a common hot dog found at Connecticut barbeques. I'm not a huge fan - I always viewed Deutschmacher as the generic, inferior choice to Mucke's, which I was practically raised on (my grandfather, especially, was fiercely loyal to their natural casing dogs). Mucke's are pretty elusive these days (they don't even have a website), but are largely sold in the deli of independent grocery stores in CT. Grote and Weigel was another popular brand.

Mucke's natural casing dogs were staples for us, first, because my grandpa insisted, but later, because my crazy-eatin' bro decided he didn't like skin on his dogs. But he didn't like skinless dogs, either. So he insisted on natural casing dogs so that he would be able to meticulously peel off the casing, exposing the ugly under-sausage, which he then deemed suitable for eating. [To be fair, he has grown up into a healthy, open-minded eater, but that didn't start for him until college. So for those out there with fussy kids - there's hope!]

Rene G wrote:

Binko wrote:Are those really regional dogs, or are those just hot dogs with regional names? Some of those seem legit, others, like the KC dog or Charleston dog, I suspect are just made-up monikers for funnily dressed dogs, but perhaps I'm mistaken.

The Charleston dog is for real. That's Charleston WV, not Charleston SC. Have a look at this very impressive webpage concerned with Charleston WV hot dogs.

Interesting! Thanks for the information. (And, yes, I was assuming South Carolina.)

The Buffalo hot dog is a silly fantasy. Buffalo NY has a long tradition of excellent hot dogs: Sahlen's has been making hot dogs since 1869 and Ted's has been grilling them up since 1927. Blue cheese and celery salt have nothing to do with it.

Yeah, having been to Buffalo, that's another one of those that raised my eyebrows.

I came across this article and found it quite interesting. The link for the slaw map was pretty cool too.

http://www.mountainstatematters.com/200 ... f-society/

Cool site, and I can imagine eating a hot dog with the W. Va. toppings. I can't imagine eating a wiener as anemic-looking as this one, though.

aschie30 wrote:

Geo wrote: . . . Tyson-owned brand called Deutschmacher, which does both reds and whites, the latter in the German style.

Growing up, Deutschmacher was a common hot dog found at Connecticut barbeques. I'm not a huge fan - I always viewed Deutschmacher as the generic, inferior choice to Mucke's, which I was practically raised on (my grandfather, especially, was fiercely loyal to their natural casing dogs). Mucke's are pretty elusive these days (they don't even have a website), but are largely sold in the deli of independent grocery stores in CT.

aschie30-

Price Chopper carries Mucke's (at least in Vernon, CT).

I saw this thread after I visited Harry's Place in Colchester yesterday and cursorily took a picture of the Mucke's sign just for good measure. Cursorily = caddywampus in this case. You will be glad to know that Mucke's are proudly served at Harry's Place. Just be warned: Harry's is open seasonally. If I had known what I was missing, I might have broken down and ordered a dog.

The West Virginaia Dog is quite similar to the Carolina Slaw Dog that one might find at the local drugstore of a place like Sandy's in a college/government town like Columbia.

The Carolina slaw dog is a steamed pork (think Oscar Meyer) dog served on a steamed bun with add-ons in this particular order: 1) Hot dog chili, all beef, no beans. 2) Squirt of mustard, 3) a dollop of creamy coleslaw. 3)minced fresh onions.

The picture below is a close representation. Ketchup, which somehow made it on the displayed dog is not allowed, and the mustard appears to have been put on top for display.