Summer time… And the livin’ is easy. Particularly if you have a high-quality gas or charcoal grill and know how to get the most from it! And there’s nothing easier to grill than the universal hot dog. The question is… How best to cook it?
It must be the doorstep of summer. The food newswires have served up several stories in the past couple of weeks about how best to prepare that ubiquitous summer treat – the hot dog. I’ll bet you can guess my recommendation!
Any which way but boiled!
I’ll have mine any way but boiled, thank you. But that’s about as far as my detailed knowledge of the best way to cook the ubiquitous hot dog goes.
Nathan Handwerker is credited with inventing the hot dog as we know it. He and his wife adapted her mom’s sausage recipe to fit the ingredients they had available and the simple equipment they had available to them, back in 1916.
And since Nate sold the first ‘modern’ hot dog at his Coney Island stand, there’s been a ongoing ‘discussion’ about how best to cook it.
There’s apparently ample – though anecdotal – evidence to suggests that Nate grilled his dogs. Though he may have boiled or steamed them. I don’t think it matters. Because today we have a set repertoire of methods for applying heat to the common dog. And each – save the aforementioned boiling – has something to recommend it.
What we do…
Depending on where we grew up and/or learned to cook, each of us has a favourite way to cook our hot dog. I think it says something about the superiority of grilling or griddling the dog, that several of the accepted current and heritage prep methods involve the application of heat via a flame. But we’ll get to the particulars in a moment.
The following cooking methods (in ascending order, starting with least-loved) have vied for the title of ‘Supreme Dog Prep Technique’ for over 100 years…
Boiling
I’ve never seen anything to recommend boiling hot dogs. All you accomplish, aside from applying heat to the sausage is rendering some of the food’s integral grease out into the engulfing water, which makes the pot harder to clean later. At best, you’re pulling flavour out of the dog without putting anything in, as you go.
Steaming
Not the greatest way to actually cook the dog. As with boiling you’re not enhancing the dog in any meaningful way. And you may be rendering out fat (which, as well all know, equals flavour!). But as Nathan himself found, once he started sending out his mobile, curbside hot dog carts to peddle his creation to folks across Manhattan, steaming may be the best way to keep pre-cooked dogs hot until needed, to serve up speedily during a rush! Don’t immerse them in water; just let the gently-rising steam embrace ’em!
Microwaving
Again, you’re doing nothing to enhance the flavour or colour of the dog. Just infusing it with heat from inside out. But there is the advantage that you can cook the sausage and steam the bum at the same time by pre-assembling the creation before placing it in the mic. Unite dog and bun as desired. But hold off on loading it stacking it with toppings – wet condiments such as mustard and ketchup – which will soak into the bun under the influence of the heat, and turn your dog into a mushy mess.
Deep-frying
I’ve seen it done. And I’ve also seem one beginner commit the cardinal sin of deep frying – failing to pierce the skin of the dog with a fork in multiple places to allow internally-generated steam to es-cape. Ka-BANG! With scalding, frying fat or oil all over the place. Aside from the danger of an explo-sion, deep frying will produce a crispy, flavourful exterior but the interior may not be heated through before the outside is done. That’s not a great tasting bite!
Air Frying
I have neither seen nor heard anything about the results of air-frying a hot dog. Though I suspect the overall outcome may resemble, in some ways, the effects of griddling (see next list entry). And I’ll go as far as to say you might find what you get will be more a compendium of the worst qualities deep frying and griddling can produce. But there’s a chance that, properly managed, you could produce a fully-heated-through dog without pushing it to an overdone exterior finish.
Nevertheless, I’m thinking that achieving such a result every time would require as much art as science – and whether you want to invest the time an effort to go there would be up to you…
Griddling
The classic ‘diner’ method of cooking hot dogs is to roll them on the flat-top griddle. The same one you’ve been cooking everything else on. You do get the benefit of some browning (more often than not, scorching!) which cam make or break the flavour, depending on how far you take it. Once again. you can easily overfry the exterior before the interior is heated through. And you may not attain every time that nice balance, where the interior of your dog is sizzling hot, and the skin is just browned in places, not black.
Grilling
My personal favourite method of prepping a hot dog! Cooking a hot dog on the bare gridiron is the best way to control the heat (according to where you place it; there’s always a ‘hot spot’ and an ‘in-direct heat’ spot on a flame-active grill). An adept, experienced griller can produce the aforemen-tioned ‘balance, where the interior of your dog is sizzling hot, and the skin is just browned in places, not black’ every time.
Grilling also allows you, with a little practice, to achieve the most, and most pleasing flavour in your dog. Finally, grilling has one other advantage: it applies heat in such a sway that the dog plumps up enticingly while producing (and retaining) the max of juicy flavour.
My take
Need I say it? My all-time fave method of cooking a hot dog is to grill it right on the gridiron. Where the skin of the sausage can be occasionally and discreetly kissed by the bare propane or charcoal flame, while being turned to perfection, avoiding any burned spots, and getting properly heated through.
Take time to refine your grilling technique – and see the number of hot dogs your summer cook-out diners request grow, while the number of burgers subsides!
~ Maggie J.