You're looking at my lunch today. Two of Mansfield's finest franks from The Coney Island Diner. I could think of no better way to celebrate National Hot Dog Day than with a Coney Island Diner hot dog and coney. (sauce and cheese only)
The Hot Dog aka The Frank, frankfurter, wiener, weenie, red hot, sausage, dog or by any other name it's still an American favorite. An estimated 150 million are consumed each July Fourth in The United States. Over six dozen of those by one man, competitive eater Joey Chesnut. Chesnut won the 2021 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest by consuming 76 hot dogs and buns in ten minutes to set a new record.
Hot dogs are served boiled, steamed, microwaved, grilled, fried, roasted on a stick over a campfire and rolled (to death) at convenience stores and movie theatres across the nation. I like mine best when grilled to near black or when served at a baseball game. I think the venue has a lot to do with the enjoyment level. Choose your favorite toppings: ketchup, mustard, relish, tomatoes, onions, peanut butter, "Stadium" mustard (My favorite next to ketchup) and countless other toppings. Major league ballparks are getting quite creative with those, too. Some offer jalapenos, pickles, popcorn, queso, tortillas, cole slaw, avocados, sauerkraut, bacon, pineapple, bbq pulled pork, mayo, mac-n-cheese, topped with chili (aka the coney) or dipped in cornbread batter and fried. The list is limited only by the imagination. I heard something about fruity cereal toppings on a hot dog. I'll pass on that.
Now if we could only match-up the number of pre-packaged hot dogs with an equal number of pre-packaged buns. Hot dogs often come in packages of ten. Buns often travel in groups of eight. I know I promised a long time ago there would be no math in my blog but to even that out we need to be preparing 40 hot dogs. That's four packages of wieners and five packages of buns, I know not all brands create this need to open the calculator app on your phone but it can be an issue. So much so that the Heinz company is circulating a petition, The Heinz Hot Dog Pact, demanding that Big Bun and Big Weiner companies agree to package hot dogs by 10 and buns by 10. Oh if life could only be that simple. Can't we all just get along...I mean a footlong!