T minus 5.

The countdown has begun. I have less than 5 days to come up with a recipe, perfect it, and rustle up a bunch of people to come to the cookoff and stuff the ballot box.

The good news is, I decided on a general idea for my entry, and I have a name and description up on the site, even if it doesnt say anything about what the hot dog will be;

El Perrito Misterioso
El Perrito Misterioso knows no master. It will defy your ideas of what a hot dog can be. One bite may change you forever… you will wake up in the night, haunted by its flavors. So delicious, it can never be recreated.

 

 

Ok, so I realize that may sound a little ostentatious, but I really needed to buy some more time to test out ideas. I've committed to the arepa concept, but I opened up a can of worms when I started researching them. Not only was I using the wrong cornmeal and the wrong technique, I'm now overwhelmed by the filling possibilities.

I am going completely back to the drawing board now. Some thoughts:

• sliced halfway down the side and eaten like a taco would probably be easier to eat without a knife and fork.
• instead of a melted cheese and hot dog filling,I was thinking something akin to pulled pork or ropa vieja. A rich, stewey meat like in the classic Arepa de Pabellon, topped with cotija cheese. Or I could go the other route and do a less saucy version of hot dog carnitas--slow roasted in some fat and then caramelized. Or I could just grill and baste the hot dogs on site.
• what about a fried plantain in there?
• Avocado crema: avocado, sour cream, spread on the inside. Huzzah!
• still havent figured out the slaw/salsa, but I am leaning toward thinly sliced, pickled red onions.

Needless to say, I havent been doing much "work" at the office in the past two days. I even called up Caracas Arepa Bar and got them to let me talk to their chef about proper arepa technique. Tonight will be round 2 of the arepa-making experiment... pictures to come.