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The Chicago Hot Dog. History of the Chicago Hot Dog. The "Chicago Style" hot dog got its start from street cart hot dog vendors during the hard times of the Great Depression. Money was scarce, but business was booming for these entrepreneurs who offered a delicious hot meal on a bun for
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History of the Chicago Hot Dog The "Chicago Style" hot dog got its start from street cart hot dog vendors during the hard times of the Great Depression. Money was scarce, but business was booming for these entrepreneurs who offered a delicious hot meal on a bun for only a nickel. The famous Chicago Style Hot Dog was born! They'd start with a Vienna Beef hot dog, nestle it in a steamed poppyseed bun and cover it with a wonderful combination of toppings: yellow mustard, bright green relish, fresh chopped onions, juicy red tomato wedges, a kosher-style pickle spear, a couple of spicy sport peppers and finally, a dash of celery salt. This unique hot dog creation with a "salad on top" and its memorable interplay of hot and cold, crisp and soft, sharp and smooth, became America's original fast food and a true Chicago institution.
Building A Chicago Style Hot Dog Quick: Name the components of a classic Chicago-style hot dog. If you rattled them off faster than the Sox can tank a winning season, congrats, you’re officially a Chicago dog aficionado. If you’re dumbfounded, this breakdown is for you: a boiled or steamed all-beef dog on a poppy-seed bun topped With mustard, relish, chopped onions, Tomato wedges, a pickle spear, sport peppers and Celery salt. How these particulars came to be is Part speculation, part marketing and a little bit of the old telephone game (i.e., “this guy my father’s brother knew said…”). And the guy who’s heard the most of those stories is Bruce Kraig, president of Culinary Historians of Chicago and author of the forthcoming book The Hot Dog (spring 2009, Reaktion Press).
Columbian Exposition But even earlier, the hot dog— sans seven toppings—made its Chicago debut when it was trotted out at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition under the Vienna name by a couple of Austrian immigrants looking To cash in on the Eastern European frankfurter. More than a century later, Vienna is still the main game in town, supplying franks to 85 percent of Chicago’s hot-dog stands. Bob Schwartz, Vienna’s senior Vice president, points to the company’s Jewish roots as the source of the all-beef dog (as opposed to pork), but he defers to Kraig on the cornucopia of toppings that turned the term “with everything” into “dragged through the garden.”
Ethnic Background “Sausage is German in origin and so is mustard 1, but buns are American— Germans would eat it with bread, but not a bun,” Kraig explains. “Sport peppers 2 are basically giardiniera, as is relish 3, which is Italian, while dill pickles 4 are German. Tomatoes 5 and onions 6 are Mediterranean, so that’s Greek and Italian, and these came from guys that turned their produce carts into hot-dog carts on Maxwell. Chicago was a major producer of celery until the ’20s, and celery salt 7 became a substitute. The poppy-seed bun, which is Jewish and was introduced locally by Rosen’s bakery, didn’t appear until after World War II.”
No Ketchup! But what about the ketchup ban? The solid red line Chicagoans have drawn in the sand between themselves and those who “ruin” a dog with ketchup is so notorious it’s infiltrated organizations like the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council, whose Hot Dog Etiquette guide includes the rule, “Don’t use ketchup on your hot dog after the age of 18.” Schwartz is such a disciple of the rule he’s written the book Never Put Ketchup on a Hot Dog. “The real reason not to use it is because the sweetness and acidity doesn’t blend well with the other toppings,” Schwartz asserts. “Sure, it’s played up and there are several stories about ‘why no ketchup,’ but very simply, it’s just legend. And when the legend becomes stronger than the fact, you print the legend.”
Hot Dog Trivia • The world’s longest hot dog, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was 65.6 feet. • The Vienna Beef hot dog was introduced at the Chicago's Columbian Exposition. • Most agree that the hamburger was introduced to America at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair by Fletcher Davis of East Texas, though many disagree about where and when it was invented. He told a reporter that he learned to cook his potatoes in Paris, Texas, and some think that’s when America started calling the treat "french fries." • Think about it: Just as there are no dogs in hot dogs, there is no ham in a hamburger.
Hot Dog Riddles • What did the pickle say to the bun? • - I relish you. • What did the burger say to the hotdog? • -Let’s meat for lunch. • What did the condiments say to the bun? • -Lettuce stay together. • What did the bun ask the bank robber? • -Knead my dough?
