Grilled bratwurst sausage, cooked vegetables on a hot dog bun

Many hot dog stands have a "Chicago Style Hot Dog" on their menu, but what is a Chicago Style Hot Dog? Back in 1992, I took a business trip to Chicago, and I enjoyed quite a few hot dogs, took a few photos, and asked many question. I offer this recipe of a Chicago Style Hot dog.

Special Tools: Grill, indoor or outdoor, I use George Foreman indoor grill
Preparation Time: 2 minutes
Cooking Time: About 4 minutes
Yield: 2 hot dogs, which will make my dinner

2 All beef, natural casing frankfurters, 6 to a pound; see text
2 Outdoor Stadium Rolls; see text
2 Kosher dill pickle spears; see text
1/2 Firm tomato, preferabley Roma, diced
4 Tablespoons diced white onions, to taste
4 Tablespoons Puckered Pickle Co. Super Green Sweet Relish, to taste; see text
2 Tablespoons French's yellow mustard, to taste; see text
Dash of celery salt, to taste
4 Sport peppers, optional; see text

Cut each dill pickle spear into two thin slices, reserve and set aside. Cut half Roma tomato into four equal-sized wedges, reserve. Dice onion, reserve.

Place outdoor stadium rolls, along with a damp paper towel inside a gallon-sized freezer bag and place in microwave oven. When frankfurters are "almost done," heat rolls in microwave on High heat setting for about 30 seconds. The idea is for the rolls to be soft, hot and moist, before building your hot dog.

Grill frankfurters on your George Foreman grill, or your outdoor grill until grill marks appear; about 4 minutes. Reserve and set aside. Frankfurters are already cooked, so our mission is to simply warm them and implant attractive grill marks.

Build your hot dogs using the following sequence, as that's the important part:

1) Placed grilled frankfurters on the steamed buns
2) Apply mustard to the frank, not the roll. We prefer to zig-zag our mustard on to the dog.
3) Place 2 tablespoons, or more, depending on taste, of relish on the frank, not the bun.
4) Place 2 tablespoons of diced onions, or more, depending on taste, on the frank, not the bun.
5) Place two tomato wedges above the frank, between the frank and the bun
6) Place two dill pickle spears below the frank, between the frank and the lower bun
7) Sprinkle a dash of celery salt over the now-dressed Chicago Style Hot Dog.
8) Serve immediately. Mmmmmmmmm good!

Photo: The principle ingredients to a perfect Chicago Style Hot Dog, sans the buns, relish, mustard and celery salt. Note that the all-beef Casper's frankfurters are made with natural casing, which is an absolute necessity.

The idea of constructing a Chicago Style Hot Dog is that you get the ingredients evenly distributed, so you get a taste of everything with each bite. Ketchup is NEVER, ever, NEVER applied to a Chicago dog, so don't even think about it. If a family member request ketchup for their dog, hide the darn stuff, and lie to them and say that you're out of it. Please don't even dream of desecrating your Chicago dog with ketchup.

For your Chicago dog to have authentic taste, the ingredients MUST be applied in the proper order, as detailed above.

On the west coast, Casper's and Nathan's frankfurters are widely distributed. On the subject of franks, they must be made of natural casing, to provide a "snap" when you bit into them. Six franks per pound is ideal, but I've seen many "premium" franks that weigh only 12 oz, so read the package carefully. Forget about turkey, or "lite" franks, they must be 100% beef, or you'll be cheating yourself out of a delicious hot dog. Don't use any fancy mustard, just use bright yellow French's Mustard, or equivalent. Period, end of sentence.

Photo: Two Chicago Style dogs have all the condiments applied and are ready to eat. All I have to do is to close up the bun, bite in, and enjoy!

A true, authentic Chicago Style Hot dog uses a large bun, covered with poppy seeds. Outside of Chicago, poppy seed buns are non-existent. I searched all over town looking for poppy seeds to sprinkle on the outdoor stadium rolls with zero results. On the subject of rolls, since you can't find poppy seed buns, we found at our local Winco Foods store large rolls, called Outdoor Stadium Rolls, which are big, long, slightly browned on the outside, yet soft on the inside, which seem to make the perfect receptacle in which to place the perfect grilled frankfurter. The Outdoor Stadium Rolls don't have poppy seeds, but they're delicious and work just fine for your dog.

On the subject of hot dog relish, sweet, neon green relish is the signature condiment of a Chicago Style Hot Dog. Good luck finding neon green relish on the west coast, but a authentic Chicago dog MUST be garnished with neon green relish. After looking all over the Sacramento area for sweet, green relish, I gave up, and spent a bit of quality time on Google, and found Puckered Pickle Co.'s web site, so I ordered four jars of their relish to dress my hot dogs, and to make them authentic Chicago Style Hot Dogs. Don't forget to dash your dog with a sprinkle of celery salt in order to achieve a truly authentic taste.

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