I have just learned that I am first on the waiting list to be a contestant in this year's Great Hot Dog Cookoff! This is incredibly exciting, and slightly scary. The GHDC has gained a reputation as the annual who's who of hot dog aficionados and Brooklyn foodies. Of the 14 entries, all are extremely creative, and pander to the crowd more than to traditional hot dog discourse.
Now, being a Chicago Hot Dog Purist, my first choice would be to school these New York weiner floosies on how a real hot dog is made-- celery salt and all. But in this case, I don't think traditional is going to cut it. Consider some of the winning dogs from last year's contest:
Winner: Crowd Favorite
The Honey Mooner:"An open faced sandwich with a lightly toasted piece of Italian bread, a feta cheese spread with jalapenos and scallions, a frank covered with sautéed mushrooms, topped with a chapino sauce, and finished off with a lemon/basil ricotta."
Winner: Best Working Dog
The Reboot
Hotdog on a Croissant bun, with blueberry and raspberry preserves and pepper jack cheese
Winner: Best Veggie Dog
The Monte Cristofu DogA non meat version of the monte cristo sandwich - grilled gruyere and not-dog triangles with kalamata tapenade, whole grain mustard on french toast.
Clearly, in a contest where I am up against hot dog sushi, I need to kick it up a notch. Now, I dont know that I am even in the contest yet, but if I were to be a contestant... I'd better have a plan ready.
What to make?! Some thoughts:
A bahn mi dog: grilled pork dog on baguette with cilantro, carrots, and special sauce
The italian stallion: Ok, not quite a hot dog, but some kind of sausage/pepper/eggplant concoction over grilled polenta
Doggie 'Derves: not sure what this is yet, I just like the name. Something bite sized with a dipping sauce?
Suggestions highly appreciated! Obviously, I need to start planning if I am going to be making all of these sausages myself. Which, of course, goes without saying.
6 comments:
Are you supposed to make your own hotdogs - that is, the actual sausages - from scratch? I have a feeling most people buy their franks then do funky things with them. Are there guidelines to follow?
Actually, I believe you use franks provided by the contest, and provide the other ingredients yourself...although I'm not sure if they give you the option of making your own dogs. Seems like no: http://thegreathotdogcookoff.com/rules/
(Yes, I read the official rules. Can I be your sous chef if you get in??)
I had not gotten around to reading the actual "rules", per se...
It seems you have to use their brand of hot dog, which is understandable but kinda wack. I would totally win if I could make my own.
On the other hand, that will cut down the price by a lot. I sure dont want to pay for sausage for 300 people!
Also, I dont know HOW I could have missed that incredible trophy on the rules page. That trophy calls several things to mind, none of them being a hot dog.
What about an arepa with a hot dog topping?!
A perrepa!!!
Definitely.
Just a thought:
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/franks-broccoli-slaw-52737.aspx
bonus points for using miracle whip.
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