Recipe for Tijuana style bacon wrapped hot dogs

Have you ever eaten a hot dog, purchased from a street vendor in Tijuana? If you're like many norteamericanos, probably not. The secret to Tijuana-style hot dogs is they're wrapped bacon, and cooked over a propane-fired grill until both the bacon and the hot dog is done. Then, chopped onion, tomato, and cilantro is added, followed by mustard, ketchup and mayonnaise. Here's my recipe for Tijuana-style hot dogs.

Special tools: Grill, indoor or outdoor
Preparation time: About 5 minutes
Cooking time: About 10 minutes
Yield: 1 serving

2 hot dogs, any variety
2 hot dog buns
2 slices bacon
1/2 tomato, chopped and diced
1/4 onion, chopped and diced
Mustard, ketchup (salsa catsup) and mayonnaise to taste; I prefer Hellmann's Mayonesa con jugo de limon, purchased in Mexico

Fire up the grill to medium high. While grill is heating, slice and dice tomato, onion and jalapeno pepper. Tightly wrap 1 slice of bacon around each hot dog. If you wrap the bacon tightly, it will stick to the hot dog and not come off. Grill hot dogs, turning once to insure "sear" marks, until bacon is semi-crisp, but still chewy, about 5 minutes. Toast buns on grill for a minute or so, until grill marks appear. Toasted buns are not found on street vendor hot dogs in Tijuana, but I prefer to toast the bun for added flavor...

Left: Bacon-wrapped hot dogs are cooking on my George Foreman grill. Right: Bacon-wrapped hot dots, toasted buns, with mustard added, ready for the other ingredients.

Left: Bacon-wrapped hot dogs, complete with garnishes, ready to eat. Right: One of the many hot dog vendors in Tijuana at the base of the famous arch, provides the inspiration of this fine dish.

When hot dogs are cooked, open bun. Add mustard, catsup, mayonnaise, as desired, to bun. Place hot dog on bun. Add diced tomato slices, onions and peppers. Eat immediately.

Just in case you're interested, in Tijuana, the hot dog vendors start to ply their trade in the late afternoon, and its not unusual to see a vendor parked in front of one of the infamous strip clubs in Tijuana's Zone Norte, all night long. There's one guy who sells especially good hot dogs parked next to perhaps the most famous strip club of them all, Adelita's. This guy really knows how to pick a good place to sell hot dogs, as the patrons really seem to gobble them up.

Web page design has been created by eRench Productions, Inc., custom photography for any occasion...