Published: February 07, 2008 11:55 pm      

All for the love of a hotdog …

I just love hotdogs – doesn’t matter if it’s a chili dog, corn dog, sausage dog with sour croute, or just a traditional with plenty of mustard … I love ‘em all! Yes, all of them … until recently when I experienced a near hotdog crisis. Let me tell you all about it.

It was one of those innocent days when I was clicking through the television channels like an old pro … you know the routine: click, click, stop … click, click, stop … click, click, Wow! At the Wow is where I settled to watch an educational program and I do enjoy those, but this time … I wish someone had warned me … I barely escaped with my hotdog appetite still in tack.

You see it was an intense look into the world of hotdog processing … wait a minute, let me get another gulp of Pepto-Bismol. Okay, now I can go on … you want to hear this and I will tell it to you gently.

I didn’t know this, but the technology for making hotdogs and sausages was developed thousands of years ago and one of the oldest forms of processed food … as far back as 1500 B.C. in Babylonia and sausages are even mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey written during the ninth century B.C.

The exact origin of the product we call a hotdog is debated. Some claim that it was first developed in Frankfurt, Germany in the mid 1400’s … others claim that it was developed in Vienna, Austria – still others believe it wasn’t until the 1600’s when Johann Georghehner, who was from Coburg, Germany, produced a sausage product known as the dachshund sausage.

By 1852, a butchers guild in Frankfurt produced a spiced, smoked sausage product they named frankfurter after their hometown, and the rest is history … the product was brought over to America by Charles Feltman and Antoine Feuchtwanger and sold in a pushcart at New York’s Coney Island. In 1893 the sausages in a bun became a popular food at baseball parks.

The term hotdog was coined in 1901 by a sports cartoonist named Tad Dorgan. He was at the New York Polo Grounds, where he had heard some vendors selling red-hot dachshund sausages. His famous cartoon shows a real dachshund dog covered with mustard on a bun and since he did not know how to spell dachshund, he wrote the caption, “Get your hotdogs.” The name stuck and we still enjoy hotdogs at the ole ballgame to this day, and lots of other places as well.

That part of the hotdog story is fun … and the processing, well … I found the entire processing story more comforting than I had thought, because of all of the wild stories we have all heard over the years (like, don’t ever-r-r read the label or don’t ask to-o-o many questions) – those rumors are not entirely true … at least not in this 21st Century world of hotdog preparation.

The speculation and rumors about meat processing i. e. hotdog processing can be laid to rest, as now, and for many years, there are strict guidelines set forth by the U. S. Department of Agriculture pertaining to the ingredients in hotdogs and the sanitary preparations as well. The main requirement is that the meat used must be the same type of quality as sold in supermarkets, and according to Wikipedia Encyclopedia, hotdogs are traditionally made from beef, pork, or a combination, however these days there are dogs made of turkey and chicken, plus vegetarian hotdogs – something for everyone!

During the program there was a short period showing the meat as it was chopped and cut into small pieces, mixed with curing ingredients, and flavorings then stuffed into the tube-shaped, cellulose casings … however I missed some of that as I had clicked over to QVC just to check on the buy of the hour, therefore, conveniently for me, and my logic of keeping some “hot dog mystery” a mystery worked - and I don’t figure you want to know either.

Just the thought of a good ole hotdog will bring smiles and grins, and also competitions. The World’s Longest Hotdog Competition is at The Akasaka Prince Hotel, Tokyo, Japan, the next time you’re in the area and closer to home … Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island. The 2007 winner was Joey Chestnut as he set a new record for downing 66 hotdogs in 12 minutes.

All I really need to know is that a hot dog can be mighty fine on a summer eve as it cooks upon the charcoal grill … or very tasty as a home style concoction of beany-wienie. The Fourth of July would never be the same without “the dog” as part of the feast, and … well, what else fits as nicely in your hand at the good ole ball game giving you a free hand to yell at the ump (with perhaps a kind hand gesture?) or to hold hands with your husband/best friend?

Hey … make mine with lots of mustard as we celebrate the three thousand and five hundred-year birthday for the hotdog, plus I think we really need to meet Joey Chestnut – He’s a true hotdog-er!

All for the love of a hotdog …