Beschreibung
This hot dog represents an actual consumer driven phenomenon that is both unchallenged in its authenticity as well as being a publicly regulated national treasure, I say publicly regulated?? Let me explain. What makes a Chicago Dog publicly regulated is the fact that you can go to one of any of the hundreds of Chicago Hot Dog places in and around Chicago and get the exact same hot dog served to you at all of them. In other words, it’s a publicly regulated non-franchise!! Why? Because Chicagoan’s will not accept or support any vendor that does not supply the “classic version” of this preparation. That’s not just in Chicago. The same rules apply to the hundreds of Chicago hot dog vendors outside of Chicago in places like Denver, Florida or Hawaii etc. And BTW – there are more Chicago dog restaurants or stands in Chicago than all of the McDonald's, Wendy’s & Burger Kings put together in Chicago. And yes, there are variations of how the Chicago dog is served such as “char dogs” or versions with chili or cheese added to them but all of them are kosher style all beef franks to start with and are usually made available in addition to the Chicago Classic version. So yes, Chicagoan's have slowly created a strict but reasonable expectation of what they should get when buying one of these Chicago Dogs. In other words, a strict universal craving must be met by every single Chicago Hot Dog vendor in order to stay in business. It’s a great example of the “power to the people” metaphor without having corporate franchise restraints imposed on the vendors lol.
This video spells out for you the nine mandatory ingredients and a good assembly process for making a classic Chicago Hot Dog for yourself at home. You may have to hunt around a little to source all of the ingredients but you’ll be able to find them in supermarkets or online. Amazon is one guaranteed source for a Chicago hot dog “kit” listed under Vienna Beef franks. Normally, when I’m ready to make some dogs at home, I order my poppy seed buns one day in advance from my local Publix supermarket bakery(s) here in Florida.