The Perfect Dog?

There has been much debate amongst the Hot Dog Racing community lately about what constitutes the perfect dog. This subject happens to consume our daily lives and with good reason. John(Hot Dog) seems to think Nathans are the best, Coach Steeve loves a good Chicago Dog from Hippos, Shaun is quite Partial to Koegels and I happen to love many different iterations and brands of quality Hot Dogs.

What is your fave? A coney from Lafayette or a American? A Chicago dog from one of the local vendors outside of Wrigley Field perhaps? A Chicago or coney dog from Hippos? A Koegel, Vienna, Ball Park, Kowalski or Dearborn from a local establishment? A vendor dog after claiming your Hot Dog Award at O2S? A quality supermarket dog purchased from a local market and prepared on your own Grill?

I know people are scared of what ingredients go into hot dogs and there are many myths that they are full of by-products of meat processing activities. This may be true in some parts of the world, but I am here to tell you that Michigan hot dogs are made of pure quality meat.

Please take a look at the following newspaper excerpt from 1972 and you will see that the quality that goes into the hot dogs in Michigan has always been far superior to what is required by national agencies.


We are talking ALL-MEAT kids.. No by-products such as the ones noted in the article above here in Michigan.

My love of Hot Dogs goes way back in the day when my pops and I would take in a game at Tiger Stadium or Joe Louis Arena in Detroit and the head straight to the Lafayette after. I am here to tell you that I have never been to American even though I am sure their coneys are of quality also. Sometimes I even find myself in Chicago visiting my family and hitting up Flips for a few Chicago Style Dogs. All of the above being said, I tend to eat my hot dogs plain or with just red onions. Below you will see one style of hot dog I make for myself at Home.

The Home Out-O-Buns Dog

I like to start by getting all of the ingredients prepared. Here you will see some diced red onion, two slices of Sarah Lee 100% Whole Wheat bread and a Dearborn natural casing dog (kindly supplied by My In-Laws).



Next I get the Grill uncovered and fired up!



I like to cook my hot dogs on high heat and very fast. The sooner it is cooked the sooner I can eat it. here you will see the Dearborn placed directly on the center grate.



Here is a pic of the dog as it cooks. I like my dogs cooked to different levels of completion. This day it will be well done and crispy in sections.



After the outside is well done, I like to cut this bad boy in half to make two since the Dearborn's are on the large side.



Once these babies come off the grill I start assembling my delicious masterpiece. Here you see the split dog placed on the slices o bread.



The following step isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I happen to love red onions!



The completed dogs with a Cranberry Splash Sierra Mist. I need some Sugar right now.



Half Down!



The remnants of what was once a great hot dog.



Wheeeeee!!!!