|
Hot dog! It's baseball season |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Written by Howie Rumberg, asap
|
|
Monday, 09 April 2007 |
|
|
|
|
I rarely eat hot dogs — unless I’m at a baseball game, of course.
Then I’ll eat nine: one an inning as my friend’s dad once insisted and then proceeded to buy us, yes, a dog an inning. Baseball and hot dogs just belong together.
“You go to a game, you get a hot dog,” says John McLean, chef de Cuisine for Levy Restaurants, which manages the concessions at six major league stadiums. “We’re talking baseball and hot dogs, that’s the pastime.”
The vendor pulls the dog from the murky water, drops it onto a soggy bun and tops it with a little sauerkraut if you’re lucky. Then you squeeze the mustard from its package, trying to keep those first few drops of mysterious mustard juice from dripping onto your pants (or, as a 10-year-old, onto your glove).
It doesn’t sound appetizing, but it is. It really is.
Being a New Yorker with two tired old baseball stadiums to call home, I’m used to being served the simple dog on a bun, but the selection at some of the newer ballparks is astonishing. Using the traditional beef frank as the base, the vendors add flair with chorizo chunks, provolone or crispy tortilla strips. Are you there to eat or keep score?
The success of Baltimore’s Camden Yards in 1992 spurred a building boom, and now just about every major league city has a shiny new retro ballpark that harkens back an the era before the concrete, no-frills stadiums that blighted our game in the 1960s and 70s.
And with the new stadiums came large corridors and concession areas. Enter the casual-food emporiums that serve sushi, pastas, wine — wine! — shrimp tacos and, yes, designer hot dogs.
Designer hot dogs? Why?
For McLean it’s an opportunity to pay homage to a city’s food heritage or a famous local restaurant, such as Pittsburgh’s Primanti Brothers, which is known for its heaving, french fry-topped deli sandwiches.
“It’s just a little way to play with the ingredients, the local ingredients and the local flavor profiles,” he says about his creations.
Purist that I am, I’ve stuck to the simple ballpark hot dog when visiting the newer parks. But with the new season starting, I thought I’d give some of these fancy franks a shot, and Levy Restaurants was generous enough to share their recipes with me. My wife Izabela was game even though she knows the name of only one baseball player, the retired Paul O’Neill — and that’s because his sister is food writer Molly O’Neill.
It really wasn’t difficult to convince her — she’s never turned down a hot dog. Helping us with the taste test were asap sports writer and self-described “village idiot” John Marshall and his wife, Susan.
Here’s what we thought:
———
TEXAS DOG
The unanimous favorite. The trick here is picking a good barbecue sauce. We used Steve Raichlen’s Lemon Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce. The sweet sauce complements the dog nicely, and the crunchy bacon and crispy onions make for a fun chew. It’s also not nearly as messy as the others. John went to school in Arlington, home of the Rangers, and confirmed that the flavors match the region. The Texas Dog is served at Chase Field in Arizona.
ARIZONA DOG
It’s like having a hot dog and a taco in one. Tortillas sliced super thin and fried top a dog smothered in nacho cheese sauce and bite-sized pieces of spicy chorizo sausage. Susan says she ate the chorizos first. As I happily made a pig of myself, I thought, hmmm, this tastes Southwestern. I also dreamed of diving into that pool beyond the center-field fence at Chase Field, where this dog is served, to chase down a homer ball.
CINCINNATI DOG
“Can you imagine the mess of eating this at the ballpark?” Susan said of the dog topped with not-too-spicey pickled jalapenos, beanless chili and nacho cheese sauce. Chili belongs in a bowl, but it was still pretty good. McLean said the topping was inspired by Cincinnati’s famous chili parlors. Regardless of the stained-clothing factor, the ingredients are a nifty combo. The Cincinnati Dog is also served in Arizona.
PITTSBURGH STACKER
The only really enthusiastic support for this one — which is topped with coleslaw, french fries, provolone and tomato — comes from the Kitchen Idiot. Everyone else had a problem with the slaw, and Susan wouldn’t even try this one because of that ingredient. I thought Izabela would have favored the Stacker because she usually loves a mountainous mess of flavors. It’s basically a big sandwich, “stacked, stacked, stacked,” McLean said. No need to return to the concession stand. This one’s served at Pirates games in PNC Park.
———
Texas Dog
4 all-beef hot dogs, foot long preferable
4 hot dog buns
1/4 cup Merkts cheddar cheese spread
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
4 strips chopped crispy bacon
2 small onions for crispy fried onions, sliced very thin
Oil for frying
1/2 cup flour
Salt and pepper to taste
Barbecue spice rub to taste
Dice the bacon into 1/2-inch pieces, then cook in a skillet over medium heat until crispy. Remove and place on paper towels to absorb excess grease. Grill the hot dog. Place the hot dog in the bun. Spread the cheddar cheese spread between the bun and the dog. Top with barbecue sauce, bacon and onions. Sprinkle spice rub on top.
To prepare the crispy fried onions:
Place flour, salt and pepper in a bowl, and mix together. Fill a sauce pan with vegetable oil to a depth of 1 inch, bring to 350 degrees. Dredge onion slices through flour and shake off excess flour. Fry until crispy and golden brown. Remove and place on paper towels to absorb excess grease.
Serves four.
———
Arizona Dog
4 all-beef, foot-long hot dog
4 foot-long bun
1/3 cup nacho cheese sauce
1/4 cup cooked chorizo sausage, chopped
2 fresh corn tortillas, cut into 1/8-inch strips.
In a skillet over medium heat, cook the chorizo until browned completely. In a sauce pan on low-medium heat, warm the cheese sauce.
In a deep fryer or sauce pan with 1-inch of oil, bring oil to 350 degrees.
Remove and place on paper towels to absorb excess grease. Sprinkle with salt. Grill the hot dog. Place the hot dog on the bun and top with cheese sauce, chorizo and crispy tortilla strips.
Serves four.
———
Cincinnati Dog
4 all-beef, foot-long hot dog
4 Foot-long Bun
1/2 cup spicy beanless chili, such as Bush’s brand
1/3 cup tablespoons nacho cheese, such as Tostitos
2 whole pickled jalapenos sliced or 2-3 tablespoons of pre-sliced
1/4 cup diced yellow onion
In separate sauce pans on low-medium heat, warm the nacho cheese and chili. Grill the hot dog. Place the hot dog on the bun and top with chili, cheese sauce, pickled jalapenos and diced yellow onion.
Serves four.
———
Pittsburgh Stacker
ingredients:
4 all-beef hot dogs, foot long preferable
4 foot Long Bun
1 small tomato diced
1/3 cup shredded provolone cheese
1/3 cup of coleslaw
1 tablespoon of oil for grilling
1/3 cup sliced grilled Onions
French fries to garnish
Slice the onion and grill until they become translucent. Grill the hot dog. Place the hot dog in the bun. Garnish the hot dog in this order: grilled onions, coleslaw, diced tomatoes, French fries and provolone cheese.
———
Kitchen Idiot Howie Rumberg is an asap reporter based in New York. You can e-mail him at
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
| Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. |
|
|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
We call it insight, you call it what you will. | |
|  | Felix Wong is an outdoor enthusiast living in Fort Collins. A mechanical engineer by day, he is especially passionate about bicycling, running, and backpacking. | |
|  | Hola Amigos! I'm Sandra. I like to believe that people are 70 percent good and 30 percent dumb. I'm stickin to that story. Reading this blog might make you want to be good, but probably just dumb. | |
|  | Donovan Henderson is editor of NEXTnc. | |
|  | Here at Nextnc we have some characters. Get a sneak peak behind the curtain and find out what amusing antics our staffers get themselves into on a weekly basis. | |
|  | What is up FoCo?
I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
Right now I am just trying to get to know Colorado and FoCo better. Mostly in order to find the best drink specials on each day that ends in Y. So if you know where I can get a cheap drunk on, let me know!
--Drew | |
|  | Life's little morsels of inspiration, observation and encouragement seen through the eyes of the Nextnc reporter.
| |
|  | Ms. Giles currently lives in Colorado where she stars in her own private reality show. She writes aphoristic accounts of her life, taken completely out of context, and embellished with characters and situations disguised to resemble something close to interesting. | |
|  | over and out | |
| |
