Jeff's Lunchbreak

Today is National Hot Dog Day. In fact, all of July is National Hot Dog Month, but I forgot to post about that earlier. So far this month, I've had a bacon cheese dog from Five Guys (very good) and a cheesy bacon pretzel dog from Sonic (also very good), not to mention numerous hot dogs at the house and at my parents during our vacation with various toppings from onions to chili to sauerkraut. Since hot dogs haven't changed much in the past year, I'll just quote a portion of the entry I wrote last year for National Hot Dog Month.

There are tons of different toppings for hot dogs, but here's one of my favorite combinations, which also happens to be just a little out of the ordinary. Ellicott Dining Hall at University of Maryland used to serve them this way, but it's the only place I've ever seen that did, and they've since remodeled, so I doubt even they make these hot dogs anymore. Really, the recipe's pretty simple - a hot dog on a bun, covered with sauteed potatoes and onions, with a bit of spicy brown mustard. The potatoes have to be diced pretty small. Simple, like I said, but very good.

And if you really want good hot dogs, make sure you buy good hot dogs. You can't beat hot dogs in a natural casing for the little bit of crispiness when you bite into it. Here in Wichita Falls, I can find the Boar's Head brand with natural casings, which are pretty good, but they're all beef. Back up in the northeast, Dietz and Watson makes natural casing hot dogs, too, and theirs have pork mixed in (I'd buy those if I could find them down here). Of course, if you know of a good local butcher, go there.

...Probably my favorite hot dog joint is The O in Pittsburgh. Natural casings, plenty of toppings, and a mountain of fresh cut fries to go with it. When I had my internship back in college, there used to be a guy with a hot dog cart that would pull up to our building every day. I didn't go there for every lunch, but it got to the point where I didn't have to order - once he saw my face, he'd just start preparing my regular. I've never seen a guy work so fast with toppings.

Anyway, there's no deeper meaning to this post. It's kind of frivolous, but I really like hot dogs, almost as much as potatoes, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to write about a whole month dedicated to them.

So go out and get your hot dogs today. Sonic is selling $1 hot dogs all day today, and 7-Eleven is giving them away for free, if you download a certain mobile phone app (alternate source for when those sites change).