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What could be more American than a good old-fashioned hot dog? Apparently, many things. Although the ‘hot dog’ is a fun food icon of America, the popular street dish actually has German roots.
According to , German immigrants living in New York in the 1860s were the first creators of the hot dog as we know it today.
The hot dog trailblazers brought Frankfurter and Vienna sausages from Germany with them when they moved to the USA. The German street vendors then placed the sausages on a white bread bun – as they would have done back in Germany – and sold the interesting-looking sandwich to the inhabitants of New York City.
owner of the Australian hot dog catering company , explains that the German immigrant’s sausages were initially referred to as ‘daschunds’.
“[The term] ‘hot dog’ then began as a joke about long, thin, dachshund dogs, which German immigrants brought with them to America, along with sausages,” who moved to Australia from Germany in 2002.
“Vendors hawking the food at sporting games in New York may also have had a part to play. Cries of ‘get your red hot sausage’ and ‘they're red hot’ or ‘get your dachshund sausage’ supposedly led to a New York Journal cartoonist drawing an image of a barking dachshund in a roll, which he termed a 'hot dog'.”
Soon, the New York food concept spread across the entire USA and eventually, the world.
Merry moments with hot dogs
These days in Australia, hot dogs are served at kid’s parties, fun fairs, sporting venues and even outside some pubs and clubs. That’s because, over the years, hot dogs have become associated with good times.
The marketing link between hot dogs and fun is attributed to a guy named Charles Feltman – another German immigrant who paved the way for hot dog culture in America.
Feltman opened a food stand selling ‘hot dogs’ at the famous New York fun park, Coney Island, in 1871. His stand took off and the hot dog has been conceptually linked to fun and leisure ever since.
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Now, there’s a long list of hot dog styles available across America. Home cooks and chefs alike across the globe are also putting their own spin on the street food.
Chef Justin James of Melbourne’s is just one of the chefs experimenting with hot dog flavours. He makes his version of a Chicago-style hot dog in an upcoming episode of on SBS.
To start, James takes the standard ingredients of a Chicago-style hot dog: a Frankfurter sausage, poppy seed bun, celery salt, pickled pepper, sweet relish, pickled cucumbers, mustard and onions. Then, he adds green ants to the mustard for a lemon-lime burst of flavour and tomato marinated in mountain pepper for a kick.
“What I love about this [recipe] is you just toast off the buns,” says James. “Cook up the hot dogs and you’re good to go!”
Outside the USA, there are also Italian hot dogs, Boerewors rolls from South Africa, Tijuana dogs from Mexico and salchipapa hot dogs from Peru. Even in Germany, Willer tells SBS, it’s now more common to eat Danish-style hot dogs than the original variety sold by German immigrants in New York back in the 1800s.
“You buy hot dogs everywhere in Germany but we usually eat Danish-style hot dogs, served with crispy onions, butter pickles and a remoulade,” says Willer.
But if you want to create your own hot dog at home and stick to the original German variety, it’s simple to do.
If you choose quality ingredients, then your hot dog will taste fantastic.Olaf Willer
First, says Willer, buy a high-quality Frankfurter sausage that has been poached or simmered and smoked. Next, grab a fresh, white bread bun. “My recommendation is to source your bread from a Vietnamese bakery, as they always make very good white hot dog rolls.”
Finally, add your topping. You can add bacon bits, cheese, crispy fried onions, pickled cucumbers or a traditional hot dog relish.
“If you choose quality ingredients, then your hot dog will taste fantastic. Hot dogs are just a great dish.”
