How did a hot dog become a hot dog? What is a weiner? What is a frankfurter? Did you know that July is National Hot Dog month? The answers to all these questions and more can be found on the World Wide Web because the hot dog is not so much a recipe as an institution.
A hot dog is first
and foremost a kind of sausage, and the sausage has been around at least
since the ancient Greeks. By the middle ages every region in
Europe had its own version of a sausage, but in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany,
in the late 1600's, a butcher named Johann Georghehner developed what became
called the Frankfurter sausage or just plain "frankfurter." Meanwhile,
in Austria, Viennese butchers had an idea for a similar sausage and it
was named after their city. Vienna is "Wien" in German and so we
have Weiner sausages or "weiners" that originated in Wien (the city we
call Vienna), and "frankfurters" that originated in Frankfurt. Some
people noticed the shape of these sausages and called them "dachshund
sausages"
because they looked like the little German breed of dog used for hunting
badgers. Badger is "dachs" in German, dog or hound is "hund;" hence dachs-hund. 
Today, both frankfurter and weiner are names still used for this kind of
sausage. In fact, the Oscar Mayer Company created what they call "weinermobiles,"
which travel the country calling attention to their products.
In the 1860's German immigrants were calling them "dachshund sausages" which they sold from pushcarts in New York City, often placing them in a milk bun with a serving of sauerkraut and mustard on top. In 1871 a German butcher named Charles Feltman began selling them at his Coney Island restaurant.
In the midwest, sausages -- without a roll or bun -- were sold at The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where they were a big hit. When the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair Louisiana Purchase Exposition opened, there were weiners or frankfurters sold there, too.
The fact that hot dogs come already cooked, or smoked, and only need warming, makes them an easy choice for a picnic, a ball park or a fair, but, for the record, here are
1. The Classic: Bring a pot of water to the boiling point. Turn off the heat. Place hot dogs in the water for 10 minutes. Remove and place in a hot dog bun. Serve with a variety of condiments (mustard or ketchup, chopped onion or pickle relish, or sauerkraut).
2. The Gourmet: Heat an outdoor grill. Make several gashes in the hot dog and grill until grill marks appear on the hot dog. Gourmets have suggested inserting cheddar cheese, garlic butter and parsley, or blue cheese and grated onion into the gashes, or wrapping the hot dog in a bacon strip before grilling.
3. The Comfort Food: You can eliminate the bun by "butterflying" hot dogs (slicing them part way through lengthwise and spreading them open), then covering them with leftover mashed potatoes and grated cheddar cheese. Place under the broiler until the cheese melts.
4. The Modern Convenience: You can make three or four half-inch slashes in a hot dog, and heat it in a microwave oven for 40 seconds. Place the bun in the microwave for 10 seconds, then add condiments (mustard or ketchup, pickle relish or chopped onions) and enjoy.
Hot dogs gained
an international reputation when President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mrs.
Roosevelt 
served hot dogs to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of England (the parents
of the current Queen Elizabeth II) on their tour to the United States
in 1939.
The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council of the American Meat Institute has more legends and stories about hot dogs. Click here to go to their web site, where you will also find links to recipes, facts and trivia, and where you can learn how a hot dog is made.
Finally, because July is National Hot Dog Month and many of us celebrate
the Fourth of July with a hot dog, you might want to enjoy some fireworks
online while you eat (or think about eating) a hot dog. Click
here or on the 4th of July firecracker above and use your mouse to
become your own pyrotechnician in Bill Hysmith's magnificent fireworks
design of Lady Liberty and the night sky over New York City.
The 4th of July graphic and
steaming hot dog are courtesy of the 
"Who
Cooked That Up?" is copyrighted 1998 by J.J. Schnebel
Revised July 2003, 2006.
all rights reserved for your pleasure
and enlightenment
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