Dear Perfect Hot Dog,
What is it about you that makes you such a staple to people’s identities, including mine? I have always been such a fan of yours, and all your different variations. Some of my earliest and current favorite memories regarding school, friends, and family strangely relate to hot dogs. It’s silly to think about your importance and the bonds that you have continued to strengthen in my life, considering how I rarely ever eat out. However, I will always be happy to join anyone on a trip to Portillo’s.
What Even Are You?
The simple answer is that you are a sausage in a sliced bun with any toppings that consumers see fit. Have I ever genuinely looked into the ingredients that make you? No, but I am sure that most people have not either. Bruce Kraig, a retired professor at Roosevelt University in Chicago, is an expert in the history of food. In his book, Hot Dog: A Global History, he begins by answering the question: What is a Hot Dog? Providing a more in-depth explanation than me, he says that you are made of red meat and it is “very finely chopped or ground meat product” in a “bun (though other baked products can and are sometimes used)” (Kraig 10). The toppings then depend on the region and personal preferences. The heating and “cooking” of the actual sausage also depends on the type of hot dog that a person is going to eat. It can be heated up in water, grilled, or fried. However, in answering the question “What even are you,” there can be a discussion, even arguments, about what is a true hot dog. Kraig explains that a “… ‘real’ hot dog varies from place to place, according to cooking/heating methods and individual tastes, the latter mainly coming from childhood experiences” (Kraig 15). Everyone can answer the question of what a hot dog is to them, which is only one example of the debates around the importance and the way that a hot dog is supposed to be presented and eaten. In this love and appreciation letter to you, hot dog, I will be explaining my journey through discovering the various perfect versions of you and how my upbringing influenced my beliefs on what makes you perfect.
History of You
In the same way that I have never questioned what you are made of, I have never questioned how you came to be. Honestly, I have not felt the need to research your history because you matter to me in the present. However, as a hot dog enthusiast, it is important to understand your origins. According to Kraig, there is evidence that suggests that processed meat existed “in the Upper Palaeolithic era, around 20,000 years ago” (Kraig 16). Since then, the sausage evolved differently in various parts of the world. Hot dog historian Bruce Kraig, also wrote a Gastronomica article where he outlines a brief history of the hot dog, but it is more complicated than anticipated. Since there are many types of hot dogs, there are many stories of how they began to be sold at their typically cheap price. For the purpose of my interests, in Chicago, Kraig highlights that in 1856, “a Jewish butcher named David Berg…and his descendants became the makers of one of Chicago’s premier all-beef hot dogs” (Kraig 57). The late 1800s proved to be important for the beginning of Chicago and New York style hot dogs. You become an essential part of American culture and a key component of public eating.
My First Perfect You
For some reason, hot dogs were always something I would commonly eat growing up, and my first memory of hot dogs consists of my mom not trusting the school cafeteria’s lunch. My mom would always pack my lunch and one of my favorites would be her rolling up a Vienna sausage in a piece of sandwich bread and chopping it up into bite sized pieces. I am not completely convinced that this was a hot dog because of the type of “bun” she used, but I remember calling it “pedacitos de hot dog / small pieces of hot dog.” However, when my mom would use hot dog buns, she would either just boil the sausages or she would wrap the sausage in bacon and grill it. I used to be a very picky eater, so I thought the perfect hot dog was just a warmed up hot dog bun and the sausage with no toppings, not even ketchup. I remember my cousins always teasing me for eating a “boring” or “sad” hot dog. At the time, I did not realize the controversy behind what belongs on a hot dog. This idea was somehow present in my life at a very young age, but in my opinion at the time and now, the “plain” version of you was perfect.
Family Influence on You
As my taste buds and I started maturing, I slowly started adding toppings to you. It started off with a little bit of ketchup and mayo, and that remained constant until 2017. My Tío Misa from Colima, Mexico visited my family and I in Chicago one summer. For some reason, he wanted to make us all hot dogs, and I would have felt extremely guilty if I did not try one of the ones he made. I was still a picky eater so seeing his hot dog, which consisted of a grilled sausage wrapped in bacon, topped with caramelized onions, crunched up cheddar cheese ruffles, and ketchup and mayo was so strange to me (Figure 1). Nevertheless, I tried it and it became my favorite variation of a hot dog ever. To this day, I still consider this my actual perfect hot dog, but I only ever have it when either my Tío visits me or I visit him. I am sure that this is not a typical “Mexican hot dog,” but it is one that my Tío introduced to us. I strongly believe that it is because of the connection that the hot dog has to my family that I have named it the perfect hot dog, and it is not necessarily because of the ingredients.
The actual process of making you was not something I considered important when highlighting what I deemed necessary for me to eat a hot dog. Looking back at the first time I tried my tío’s hot dog recipe, I am filled with memories of happiness of seeing him reunite with his sister (my mom), them cooking together, and our house being full of laughter. The “‘[c]ooking, or rather heating, methods for hot dogs also vary, often by group,” and now that I look back on the times where my uncle has made these hot dogs, and think of the methods he used and how he was convinced he made the best hot dogs, even better than any ____-style hot dogs (Kraig 14). He was probably joking about that, but his methods of cooking were able to convince all of my family that his cooking played a role in how much we enjoyed the meal. He felt pride in what he was making for his family and rightfully so because it is a family tradition to make it whenever he visits us.
You + Variations
What makes you so important in American culture to the point that there could be a full-day festival dedicated to the item? It is not a full meal and yet it can be eaten in so many different ways. It is considered a street food particularly in larger cities in the US. Since the late nineteenth century, hot dogs have increasingly become a prominent food item at sporting events, festivals, fairs, Costcos (Figure 2), movie theaters, etc. Figure 3 demonstrates the reputation of the $1.50 Costco hot dogs and how they are being embraced with a pop culture reference. The design is being sold on t-shirts, which not only is for laughs and giggles, but it is a silly way where we see the impact of these reputable hot dogs that have not changed in their prices in years. Hot dogs became “[m]ass produced, inexpensive, and opportunely offered to the urban mass market” (Kraig 58). As I outlined above, there are plenty of variations of a single hot dog, “like a living organism that adapts to its environment” (Kraig 87). These variations appeal to different audiences, but they all reflect where they are from and/or their preferences. The preferences in toppings vary drastically, yet every single person will defend their favorite style of hot dog without accepting any criticism.
Chicago-Style Hot Dogs
On the other hand, there are people who consider a perfect hot dog to be one that has specific ingredients. I think of the “______-style hot dog.” Any specific “style” hot dog is considered that because of the ingredients it has. For example, my personal favorite is the Chicago-style hot dog; “the Chicago hot dog is a palimpsest of early twentieth century Chicago ethnicity” (Kraig 78). It is a Vienna Beef sausage in a poppy seed bun topped with mustard, relish, chopped onion, tomatoes, a dill pickle spear, sport peppers, and no ketchup (Figure 3). I remember one time asking the Portillo’s worker if I could get a “Chicago-style hot dog” but to change the regular chopped onion to caramelized onion and no peppers. My friends teased me because I called it a Chicago-style hot dog because at that point, it was not one. Since that day, I did not change any of the ingredients and would just order a “Chicago-style hot dog with everything.”
If someone were to ask me where I am from, I always answer with the most true and most simple answer: Chicago. I never once mention Illinois and I never say I am from Illinois, even though it is technically true. When I was younger, I never questioned where I grew up or what makes up a Chicagoan identity. It was not until the experience I had with my friends where they teased me for changing some of the ingredients where I questioned the importance of a hot dog and its defining aspect that it manifests for a Chicagoan. Although my friends were probably teasing me for my preferences, it is not uncommon for Chicagoans to become very defensive about the “right” way to eat a hot dog. As you can acknowledge through my letter to you, I grew up with hot dogs in my life through many different variations. Something that I came to realize later was that I also grew up to recognize that hot dogs, particularly the Chicago hot dog, define various parts of my identity and personality. When I was younger, the toppings I picked on my hot dogs defined my likes at different points in my life. The Chicago version of you only became my favorite the summer before moving to Oberlin, Ohio. Whenever I explain why Chicago is the best city, hot dogs are always at the top of my list; I am proud and defend it every single time.
My most recent experience with Chicago hot dogs is from this past summer where I went to Chicago’s Hot Dog Festival. When I heard that this was an actual event that takes place annually, I knew I had to visit. There were more than ten stands of hot dog vendors, which were from restaurants from all over the city, selling all types of hot dogs, and the only consistent one that they served at every stand was a Chicago-style hot dog. I remember going into this festival saying that I wanted to try at least three different hot dogs from different stands, but that plan flopped and I only tried one from Chicago’s Dog House. This was one of my more random and favorite events from summer 2023 because of the fact that they shut down a main street in Chicago to host hundreds of people all bonding over hot dogs. All of these Chicagoans bond over the common interest and appreciation for hot dogs. Compared to my uncle’s pride in what he was able to make for his family, Chicagoans feel pride in the official Chicago style hot dog and I was able to sense that based on how many people I saw with the same hot dog but from different stands; they all followed the same topping recipe. These toppings and the strict anathema for ketchup are what unite all Chicagoans regardless of where they are in the city.
Concerns About You
Up to this point it has been all fun and games about you, which I believe in. However, there are people who believe otherwise: my mom being the main one. My godmother told me once that when I was younger and my parents asked me to look after me, she would always have 2 Vienna sausages ready. This is evidence that I have always been a fan of you because I do not remember these times; I was an enthusiast since before I can remember! She also told me that when my mother found out that she would feed me the sausages, she asked her to stop giving me so many salchichas. Of course, this did not stop me from finding my way back to you. Medics, also known as haters, say, “Processed meats, such as bacon, sausage, bologna, salami and hot dogs, are high in both saturated fat and calories, and intake of these should be limited” (Peters et al.). As people say, haters gonna hate. In all seriousness, I am almost certain that anybody will say that you are not the healthiest food, and I agree. However, that never crosses my mind when I am eating a hot dog. In those moments, it is not about what is healthy, it is about who I am eating the hot dog with, what is on it, and how many I want! Jokes aside, however, I do not recommend eating hot dogs for every meal and eating an excess amount.
P.S. I Still Love You <3
Like I said, there are many health concerns associated with the consumption of you. I still love you! And people love you. From my elementary school lunches prepared by my mom and my family’s influences on you to the communities you create at the Chicago Hot Dog Festival, you, a sausage in a bun, are at the center of some of my favorite memories. To me, you represent happiness, identity, and family regardless of the health concerns surrounding you. I will forever indulge in the Chicago style of you and my tío’s recipe, but I will forever continue to explore new perfect variations of you. Dear Perfect Hot Dog, thank you for always being a part of my life.
Best,
Dulce Rincón
Works Cited
Kraig, Bruce. Hot Dog: A Global History. Reaktion, London, 2009.
Kraig, Bruce. “Man Eats Dogs: The Hot Dog Stands of Chicago.” Gastronomica 5.1 (2005): 56-64.
Peters, John M., et al. “Processed meats and risk of childhood leukemia (California, USA).” Cancer Causes & Control 5.2 (1994): 195-202.
