Page 18 - CMA PROfiles Spring 2015

Silverado Dogs in larger doses) from natural sources, such as
celery, which provide some of the benefits of
regular cured dogs.
by Joe Knobbe
t’s a rare summer’s day when there aren't The final choice you must make is between skin-
hot dogs in my refrigerator. No matter what less franks or those in natural casings. Skinless
I fancy thing I may be grilling, they're always a dogs are cooked in a synthetic casing that is re-
welcome fallback when a recipe goes wrong or moved before they're packaged, and is what you
I have guests over and need a little extra meat to find on most shelves these days. While hot dogs
throw on the grill. in natural casings are harder to find, I'm going to
be frank (don't let that pun give you whiplash!)
On the one hand, cooking hotdogs is a somewhat foolproof process—
and say you're doing yourself a disservice not to try to track them
they come precooked and their high fat content helps keep them down. Hot dogs stuffed into sheep's casings have that snappy shell
moist even after they've been on the grill a little too long. On the
that, in my mind, makes a hot dog truly great.
other hand, grilling hot dogs is the kind of thing that anyone can do,
but, like sex, it's a lot better if you know a few things. Because hot dogs are sold fully cooked, it may seem like all you
need to do is put them over a hot fire until they're sufficiently heated
First, there’s the type of cooking medium you choose. Personally, I
through. That certainly works, but it also creates a suboptimal end
use a heat source that’s readily available and requires little effort on product. I tried grilling both cased and skinless hot dogs directly over
my part to prepare. A flaming pick-up truck happens to be a really
freshly lit coals and the results spoke for themselves.
good choice, but it’s more a grill of opportunity than a grill that you
would use through planning. If you don’t happen to have a flaming The skinless franks looked plump and juicy while grilling, but once
pickup truck available, then any old wood fire or gas or charcoal grill removed from the heat, they deflated and shriveled up. The center of
will suffice. the sausage was still moist, but the edges dried out and had a papery,
almost leathery exterior that added chew instead of snap.
Second, there's the type of meat. When I talk about hot dogs, I'm
always referring to all-beef franks. Sure, there are pork, chicken, and To prevent these unsightly and undesirable shriveled hot dogs, I've
turkey dogs out there, but none of those taste as good to me as beef. been slashing skinless franks for years. This entails making a few
In my experience, beef is the only meat that can stand up to classic cuts into two opposite sides of the hot dog before grilling. When on
hot-dog seasonings like garlic, onion, paprika, mace, mustard, and the grill, these slits expand open, which allows the heat to reach the
coriander and still maintain its bold, meaty flavor. center of the sausage more quickly, resulting in a shorter cooking
time. Skinless hot dogs cooked this way stay plumper and juicier and
You also have the choice of cured or uncured hot dogs. Cured hot don't suffer shriveling of their skins.
dogs are made with sodium nitrite, which extends the shelf life,
helps prevent nasty forms of bacteria, and gives the meat a reddish You can take this method one step further and spiral cut your hot dog
hue. Curing is pretty standard in hot-dog making, but health con- by skewering it and making one long, spiraling cut along the entire
cerns about those additives (I don’t share them) have helped uncured length of the sausage. Lots of people love this method but to me, the
hotdogs gain traction in recent years. Many of these uncured brands slashing technique is quicker and better. Sure, the spiral has a cool
advertise "no nitrates or nitrites added," but that doesn't mean they appearance and you get more crispness by increasing the hot dog's
have none at all. Instead they may contain nitrates (possibly even surface area, but it's also easier to overcook and dry out. ❖

18 PROFILES • Volume 15 • Issue 2, 2015 • www.cabinetmakers.org