Classic Chicago Hot Dog

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Welcome to a hot dog “dragged through the garden”.

About the Recipe: The soft steamed bun cuddles the juicy all beef hot dog, coated with shocking green relish, crunchy onions, sliced garden-fresh tomato wedges, and drizzled with mild yellow mustard. A crisp garlic flavored dill pickle spear and several spirited pickled sport peppers add a finishing tongue-tingling taste along with a sprinkle of celery salt.

How Hot dogs Become an American Classic
Sausage links are associated with Germans and their Austrian neighbors contributed the name “wiener,” which is short for the word “wienerwurst.”
In fact, Charles Feltman, a German butcher, sold a hot dog type sandwich in 1860 on the streets of New York. In 1893, Samuel Ladany and Emil Reichl started selling all-beef spiced dogs from a stand and used the money they earned to open Vienna Beef, which was the selected meat of Chicago’s Hot Dog Fest.
However, the hot dog was really popularized at the 1904 Fair, when the split bun met the snappy textured sausages for the first time. People were so delighted to be able to carry around their food and munch on a walking lunch. The Chicago the original Chicago-style dog in 1929 was sold at the store called Fluky’s as a “Depression Sandwich,” that sold for only as nickel. It grew from this simple start in popularity as other hot dog shops opened, becoming Chicago’s own sandwich with a Vienna Beef hot dog, steamed, water simmered, or boiled; on a poppyseed bun, topped with yellow mustard, chopped raw white onions, neon green shades of pickle relish, a thin pale green dill pickle spear, soft red tomato diced or slices and a few sport peppers with a dash of celery salt. No ketchup was added. The Chicago hot dog, born in the Windy City’s World Fair was destined to become part of Chicago lore and history.

Enjoy the Story          The Secret Marketers Roll Out the “Dog”
I know you must be wondering how the “oh-so-common” hot dog captured the attention of so many American people and the heart of Chicago. First you need to understand Chicago’s hot dog is a perfect culinary blend of umami, salty, bitter, sweet, and sour. Yes, after the Fair, local sandwich shops, especially the ones around Maxwell Street in Chicago, found booming businesses and a demand for the new sandwich. Why was it so popular? Remember the Great Depression in the 30’s. Where else could you get a quick, cheap, and nutritious meal complete with a frankfurter and a hearty helping of toppings? It was a money-saving working-class meal for factory people or road crews. They were delicious and stretched the paycheck. Chicago was a city filled with many different ethnic immigrants, and there was something in that hot dog for all of them. Even the baseball games got in the act when the venders walked around shouting “Red Hots – Get ‘em here.” The scents drifting through the stands with a craving passion for that juicy sandwich as you passed those dogs down to the person next to you.

But the real secret marketers for its success were the “hot dog carts.” Traveling little pushcarts that were all over the city’s ethnic neighborhoods, selling those fast-food meals. It sure didn’t take long for those Chicago-styled hot dogs to appeal to the working class and their kids. Everyone had a favorite hot dog stand and eating one became a shareable tradition. It was fun to eat and one of the first fast foods. So, the next time that you are in Chicago, enjoy a real Chicago Hot Dog from the bottom up with all those toppings perfectly blended.

Now You Know the Rest of the Story

pdf for Recipe – Classic Chicago Hot Dog

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