Hot Dogs

Now you may think you know how to make a hot dog. And you are probably right. But have you ever had a fried hot dog?

Today’s recipe from The Step-by-Step Cook Book for Girls and Boys, by Julia Kiene, contains a recipe for making hot dogs on page 42. You do have to learn some how, and this cook book for kids shows us how to make a hot dog on the stove without a microwave. (They didn’t exist in the 1950’s when this cook book was written.)

We substituted the lard for dairy-free margarine. Mom and sis had their ‘weiners’ without a bun. Slitting them across made it much easier to cut into bite-sized pieces.

The recipe suggests just serving them on a bun, but our family requires a little more on the plate. We chose a traditional baked beans and for our green vegetable we had snow peas. We cooked both by the directions on the packaging.

The beans were from a can and we cooked them on the stove. I only dropped one bean on the floor but got my fingers messy with the lid. Don’t forget to stir the beans so they all get hot. We learned that Mom doesn’t like the sweet baked beans. She prefers them to taste like beans and not candy. Weird.

The peas were supposed to cook inside the bag they came in, but I had already opened up the bag and dumped them into the French white to cook before I read the instructions. Actually, the box was already in the recycling when Dad asked me what the directions said. So, points for recycling, but points taken for not reading the directions.

Dad put a little water in the dish and covered it anyway. A few minutes in the microwave and they were nice and hot.

Frying the hot dogs was a little messy, but they tasted great.

How do you like your hot dogs cooked?

HOT DOGS

12 weiners—enough for 4-6

3 tablespoons shortening, bacon drippings are wonderful

6 weiner buns

Here’s How You Do It

1. Place weiners on a cutting board.

2. Take a sharp paring knife and make slits crosswise half way through weiner, and about an inch apart. Just do this on one side.

3. Put skillet on large unit, and turn control dial to medium high setting (just a little below highest setting).

4. Put shortening in skillet.

5. When shortening is hot, put in weiners. Just as soon as one side is brown, turn weiner.

6. Keep turning weiners until they are brown all over.

7. Serve in buttered buns with mustard, if desired.
Gossip: A famous hot-dog stand in Connecticut always slits the weiner instead of pricking it.

TRICK: Slit the weiner lengthwise, put a thin slice of cheese in the slit. Place on broiler pan, and broil until cheese is melted. Then serve in buttered buns.