Hot dogs – gotta love ’em. Your classic dog is, of course, straight up in a bun with some fried onions and a bit of ketchup and American mustard. You probably don’t need a recipe for that.
However, ‘gourmet hot dogs’ are booming – as anyone who has been to a festival in the last 5 years will know.
The possibilities are endless, so this article is a round up of interesting recipes found elsewhere and a few comments on whether they are worth trying.
The Basics
First things first though, make an effort with the basics. Here are some tips:
- Avoid cheap jarred or tinned dogs. I strongly recommend you find a high quality all-beef dog (M&S ‘posh dogs’ or Costco do good ‘proper’ American ones.
- You can boil, steam, microwave (submerged in water) or grill the dog, but the best way is to score them in a criss-cross pattern and chuck them on the BBQ. A cheap disposable one will provide enough juice to get the job done.
- Find a quality bun, I have found the M&S ‘posh hot dog bun’ to be probably the best around, but any brioche based one is probably good.
- My final tip is to flick a few drops of water on the bun and microwave it for a few seconds before constructing your dog, this gives it a lovely, soft, ‘steamed’ texture.
Grilled Pineapple Salsa
The first one I tried to make, and still Mrs. Frank’s fave. From the DJ BBQ book, the recipe for the salsa is not online on its own, but is about halfway down the page here:
- ITV – just reading that I suspect the pulled pork would not be a bad addition to your dog either!
Grilled Mango Salsa
Now, I’m not the biggest fan of the mango, but this was a winner. You just make a basic salsa, a bit like this – except I fired up one of those cheap disposable BBQs and griddled the bits of mango. As the mango grills, the sugars start to caramelise – make sure you get a few burned bits in there – and when mixed with the sharpness of the red onion and lime, and the heat of the chilli it was fantastic. Little bit of ketchup topped it off perfectly.
Buffalo Blue Cheese
If you love buffalo wings you’ll love these. Also ridiculously easy to make. Highly recommended.
Korean Slaw
Outstanding. A fair amount of aggro, less so if you own a mandolin. Flavours make this one of my favourites.
French Onion Dog
Garlic, gruyere, onion, thyme – these are crazy tasty. Oozy cheese and those sweet carmelised onions are fantastic, after half an hour you’re looking at around half an onion per dog. My top tip is to go heavy on the garlic butter as it was a little lost amongst the other flavours.
Chorizo Dogs with Chimichurri and Smoky Red Relish
Sound (and look) amazing!
- Gourmet Traveller – report coming soon.
Thai Inspired
Looks like Pad Thai on a dog – is it as good as it sounds? Report coming soon.
Mexican
There are several variations I can find, there stand out:
- The Wicked Noodle – pretty straight forward
- New York Times – look more authentic
More to follow as I find them…