Nine Hot Dog Facts

The hot dog is as quintessentially American a food as any other, and one of the staples of summer cookouts. Even though the long days of Summer are fading, hot dogs are still a wonderful treat.

During the 1690s – Legend is that the popular sausage was created by Johann Georghehner, a butcher living in Coburg, Germany. It is said that he later traveled to Frankfurt to promote his new product.

During the early 1800s, the people of Vienna (Wien), Austria point to the term “wiener” to prove their claim as the birthplace of the hot dog. It is said that the master sausage maker who made the first wiener got his early training in Frankfurt, Germany. He called his sausage the wiener-frankfurter, but it was generally known as “wienerwurst.” The wiener comes from Wien (the German name of Vienna) and wurst meaning sausage in German.

Did you know the difference between a wiener and a frankfurter? Wieners are a mixture of pork and beef. Frankfurters are made entirely with pork. Seasonings may include coriander, garlic, ground mustard, nutmeg, salt, sugar, and white pepper.

Wieners and frankfurters do not become hot dogs until someone puts them in a roll or a bun. During the late 1800s, a German peddler, Antonoine Feuchtwanger, sold hot sausages in the streets of St. Louis, Missouri. He had his brother-in-law to make up soft rolls, slit longways to fit the meat he called red hots.

Singing waiters named Eddie Cantor and Jimmy Durante convinced Nathan Handwerker to go into business on his own selling hot dogs for five cents. Thus was born Nathan's.

Hebrew National are 97% Fat Free Beef Franks (not frankfurter).

In Dubai, they have camel meat hot dogs.

The earliest use of the term “hot dog” appeared in the December 31, 1892 edition of the Paterson (New Jersey) Daily Press. The story was about a local traveling vendor known as “Hot Dog Morris.”

Michigan hot dogs are popular in upstate New York. Coney Island hot dogs are popular in Michigan. New York System dogs are popular in Rhode Island. Texas hot dogs are popular in New York and Pennsylvania, but not Texas. Skin or no skin, dogs are still a favorite. I prefer a solid skin pop when I bite down on a hot dog.