"hotdog" news and stories

We don't usually hear or read too much about food cart vendors. You know the ones - everyone has grabbed lunch from them at some time or another - whether in an unfamiliar city with no immediate restaurant choices, on a quick break from a long meeting, food cart meals are the original "go-to meals," before the term "go-to meal" even existed.

But the anonymity of vendors has changed this week, as articles appeared in both The New York Times and The Washington Post about the food carts and the businesspeople who run them.

In New York, Latin food vendors who have served the players and fans at Brooklyn's Red Hook soccer fields for the past 33 years faced being ousted from their spots if the Department of Parks and Recreation succeeded in "regulating" its permit process. In the end, the vendors were all allowed to stay and were issued a new six-year permit. But despite vendor fees remaining about the same (about $10,500 per year), reps of the vendors worry that the permit's new rule of standardizing equipment will mean vendors paying hefty fees for updated ovens and plumbing.

In D.C., vendors are feeling similar pressure, but for a different reason: instead of cutting back, D.C. wants to expand, but not among the current food options. Instead, citing surveys of citizens who say they want a larger food selection, the city is opening up the market to companies like Zipcar, an electric car company that wants to expand into gourmet and healthy food vending.

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I like my hamburger and hot dog buns to be lightly toasted when possible. Usually, I will simply open them up and toss them onto the grill while the dogs cook. If I'm not grilling, I just eat the buns plain. I have never put a hot dog bun into the microwave to attempt to achieve a "bakery-fresh" texture and, even if I did so, I would certainly not put the hot dog in the bun before microwaving it. In my experience, microwaving does nothing to improve the texture of bread and having an unheated hot dog in it would help even less.

As such, I fail to see the appeal of Oscar Meyer's newest product: Fast Franks. Three hot dogs are packaged in buns and, when you're read to eat, you just put the whole thing in the microwave. Oscar Meyer says that Fast Franks are "mouthwatering to imagine." I'm imagining, and I have to disagree. 

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Last week, Schnack held its 2nd Annual Schnack Stahl-Meyer Hot Dog Eating Contest. It's not quite the biggest competition for eating hot dogs since there were only 6 competitors, but sure looks like it's the biggest hot dog eating competition. Each hot dog was 30 inches long.

Last year's winner, Joe Menchetti, said that his goal was to finish in under a minute. He didn't quite beat that, but his 1 minute 53 seconds took first place again this year.

Some people like to boil their hot dogs. I never saw the point of that. A hot dog that comes out of a pot of simmering water will never have the crisp snap of a grilled hot dog, nor will it have any of the toasty grill marks. For me, the only ways to cook a hot dog are under the broiler or over a hot barbecue. After seeing this Hot Dog Toaster from Hammacher Schlemmer, I may just reconsider, though. It toasts both dog and bun in the same machine in just minutes, with settings to adjust the heat so you don't burn your buns. A toaster like this would giver a similar effect to a real grill and will definitely give you better results than you will get from a limp, boiled dog. It retails for $49.95.

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