in response to a celebrity's New Years diet that consists of LOTS of water and cabbage soup, basically, i'd like to share a bit about a staple in my diet. maybe overshare. while everyone else was eating bbq and burgers when i was growing up, i just had to have a HOT DOG. and it just reeeeally stuck. so much so that there are now five things i judge when having one and rank them all accordingly. for instance...
1. the dog skin. sidenote, already: people rave about Nathan's famous hot dogs, and granted, i've only had one in the NY, NY hotel in Las Vegas, but i'd like to think a place like Nathan's would pride themselves on consistency. regardless, a hot dog's skin should NOT remind me of trying to bite through a meat-flavored balloon.
2. the dog itself. beef or turkey, i kinda like them all. but i hate when they're so hot that when you bite into them, scalding hot hot dog juice squirts everywhere. thats not cute. i also hate sausage disguised or billed as a hot dog. ew. dont even get me started with corn dogs.
3. the bun. i'm always up for a deal like the 50 cent hot dogs at Ikea. but no so crazy about the day-old buns they come on that just crumble away as you eat. LAME.
4. bun to dog ratio. this is vital!! ballpark dogs and movie dogs are usually too much dog, not enough bun. JCI is the opposite. Sonic comes close. i could go on, but maybe thats for another post.
5. accompaniments. i have this thing with textures. soft on soft would be like eating pancakes with scrambled eggs. thats kinda gross to me. with hot dogs, fritos work best; fries, not so much. i also take my dogs PLAIN and DRY. most things, really. i think there's a certain integrity to be met when eating just the meat and bread. i've tried the cheese-injected ones before. quite possibly the worst. idea. ever.
and so, IMHO, the best hot dog i've ever had in my life was at Cedar Door in Austin (2nd and San Jacinto, i believe). perfect ratio, bun ever so slightly toasted and buttered, and with a mexican martini on the side, it was just *heaven*
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quite possibly one of the funniest things Ive read in a while. bun to dog ratio is crucial to a good dog - I had a hot dog the other day for the first time in about 2 years. it was delish. get to work!
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