50 Fun Facts About Hot Dog

At what kind of event were pork sausages traditionally handed out in Frankfurt, giving 'frankfurter' its name?

The tradition began with the crowning of Maximilian II as King and the sausages had been known there since the 13th century.

The word 'wiener' refers to which European capital?

A Coburg butcher named Johann Georg Lahner is said to have carried the Frankfurt recipe there and added beef to the pork mix.

Which Coney Island pieman's 1867 sausage-boiling cart is one of the strongest claims to inventing the hot dog in a bun?

He called them 'Coney Island Red Hots,' and by the 1920s his complex of restaurants, bars and a carousel served over five million people a year.

A St. Louis vendor named Feuchtwanger reportedly began serving sausages in rolls because customers kept taking what?

His wife supposedly suggested the bun; other versions move the tale to a World's Fair, in either 1893 Chicago or 1904 St. Louis.

Why is the legend that cartoonist 'Tad' Dorgan coined 'hot dog' around 1900 impossible?

'Dog' had been slang for sausage since the 1800s, thanks to accusations about what went into them; Dorgan's earliest documented use is 1906.

Nathan Handwerker undercut ex-employer Feltman in 1916 by selling hot dogs for how much?

He and his wife Ida put up their entire $300 in savings, and the original stand still trades on the same corner of Surf and Stillwell.

The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest is held on which date each year?

In the 1970s it sometimes floated to other summer holidays, and in 2020 it moved indoors to Williamsburg with no spectators.

How long do competitors get to eat in the modern Nathan's contest?

It has been 12 minutes and even three and a half in past years; partially eaten dogs count in eighths and vomiting is a red-card disqualification.

The men's champion at Nathan's is awarded a bejeweled belt of what colour?

Organisers describe it as of 'unknown age and value'; the women's champion since 2011 has taken home a pink one.

What Nathan's record did Takeru Kobayashi shatter with 50 hot dogs in 2001?

He went on to win six straight, pioneering the 'Solomon Method' of snapping the dog in half and dunking the bun.

Joey Chestnut set the all-time Nathan's contest record in 2021 by eating how many hot dogs and buns?

He first beat Kobayashi in 2007 with 66 in 12 minutes and has claimed the belt a record 18 times.

Why was Joey Chestnut barred from the 2024 Nathan's contest?

He spent the Fourth at Fort Bliss instead, beating four soldiers 57 to 49 in five minutes, then ate 83 against Kobayashi in a Netflix showdown that September.

Which competitive eater became the first woman to reach 50 hot dogs at Nathan's, downing 51 in 2024?

She skipped 2021 while pregnant with her first child with fellow eater Nick Wehry and covered the event for ESPN instead.

Which NFL legend entered the 2003 Nathan's contest as a celebrity, then quit after just four hot dogs?

He had eaten twelve to win a qualifier; the celebrity experiment was never repeated.

Which topping is famously considered unacceptable on a Chicago-style hot dog?

The prejudice dates to the Depression, when the sweet sauce was used to hide the taste of spoiled meat; some stands post signs mocking anyone who asks.

A fully loaded Chicago dog, with its pile of vegetable toppings, is said to have been what?

Vienna Beef's 'Chicago Seven' recipe lists mustard, neon relish, tomato, onion, a pickle spear, sport peppers and celery salt on a poppy-seed bun.

The Chicago dog's toppings came together at Depression-era vegetable carts on which Near West Side street?

Abe 'Fluky' Drexler sold a five-cent 'Depression Dog' there with lettuce, tomato, onions and peppers.

The frankfurter company behind most Chicago dogs has been in the city since which world's fair?

The company only moved its factory from Bucktown to Bridgeport in 2015 and opened a factory store there the next year.

The first Wienermobile was built in 1936 by Carl G. Mayer, who was Oscar Mayer's what?

That first hot-dog-on-wheels weighed 2,000 pounds, cost $5,000, and debuted in Janesville, Wisconsin.

In 2023 Oscar Mayer briefly renamed the Wienermobile to what, before public demand forced a reversal?

Six of the vehicles tour the country, each driven by a 'Hotdogger' whose job description includes the duty to 'meat and greet.'

What is the official job title of a Wienermobile driver?

Their most frequently asked question, unsurprisingly, is whether the vehicle actually sells hot dogs.

Oscar Mayer moved its headquarters in 1957 to which Wisconsin city?

Oscar F. Mayer had started out in 1883 leasing a meat market on Chicago's near-north side with his brother Gottfried.

Costco's food-court hot dog and 20-ounce drink combo has held the same price since 1985. What is it?

The chain started with a single hot dog cart at its original Seattle warehouse and now sells about 135 million dogs a year.

How many hot dogs do Americans eat in a typical year, according to industry estimates?

Fast-food chains mostly avoid them because of the short shelf life and fussy toppings, leaving the trade to carts, ballparks and convenience-store rollers.

Which condiment did a 2005 National Hot Dog & Sausage Council survey name America's favourite?

It took 32% to ketchup's 23%; Southerners leaned hardest toward chili and Midwesterners toward ketchup.

In 2015 the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council issued a formal ruling that a hot dog is not what?

Merriam-Webster disagrees, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted the bun is a single roll not sliced through, much like a sub.

Under what name did Erwin O. Freund sell his first 'skinless' hot dog casing, invented in Chicago in 1925?

It was short for 'no jackets'; natural-casing dogs use sheep intestine and give the characteristic snap.

The bacon-wrapped Sonoran hot dog, served in a bolillo roll, originated in which Mexican city?

It crossed into Tucson and Phoenix, where it is usually finished with mayonnaise, mustard and jalapeño salsa.

A 'Seattle Dog' is distinguished by which unusual spread on the bun?

It comes topped with caramelised onions and sometimes jalapeños, and is sold from carts outside stadiums and late-night music venues.

In which downtown do the rival Coney Island hot dog stands American and Lafayette sit next door to each other?

The style was invented by Greek and Macedonian immigrants who came through New York, and it is far more popular in the Midwest than in Brooklyn.

The 'Michigan hot dog,' topped with a meaty 'Michigan sauce,' is actually a specialty of which state?

Eula and Garth Otis, who opened the first stand in Plattsburgh in 1927, were themselves from Michigan, which may explain the name.

Rhode Island's 'hot wieners' are sold at restaurants that go by what misleading name?

The name was 20th-century marketing riding on Coney Island's fame; the wieners themselves are a beef, veal and pork blend spiced with celery salt.

What is Washington, D.C.'s signature chili-topped sausage, famous at Ben's Chili Bowl, called?

It is half beef and half pork, both grilled and smoked, and Ben's on U Street was a stop for President-elect Obama in 2009.

Which Newark restaurateur created New Jersey's deep-fried Italian hot dog with peppers, onions and potatoes?

He and his wife Mary Racioppi launched it, and the family still runs the restaurant that bears his name.

The Dodger Dog sold at Dodger Stadium is how long?

Concessions manager Thomas Arthur originally billed it as a 'Foot Long' but decided truth in advertising was the better path.

Ball Park Franks became famous in 1958 through an exclusive deal with which baseball team?

Detroit meatpacker Hygrade won the Briggs Stadium contract in 1957 and by 2020 the brand was America's most-eaten hot dog.

Hebrew National's long-running slogan, adopted in 1965, says the company answers to what?

The line winks at kosher dietary law while pitching quality to non-Jewish shoppers; the factory was founded on Manhattan's Lower East Side in 1905.

Pink's Hot Dogs began in 1939 as a pushcart at Melrose and which Los Angeles avenue?

Paul and Betty Pink sold chili dogs made to Betty's recipe through the tail of the Depression, and the stand still faces Hollywood across the street.

Which chain, wanting a roll for fried clam strips, requested the top-loading New England hot dog bun in the 1940s?

Maine bakery J. J. Nissen produced a split-top roll that would stand upright on a tray, and it became the standard lobster-roll bun too.

What does Springfield's Cozy Dog Drive-in claim it did first with corn dogs, in 1946?

Rival claims come from Texas's Fletcher brothers with their State Fair 'Corny Dogs' and Oregon's Pronto Pup, which says it invented the corn dog in 1939.

In Australia a battered sausage on a stick is called a Pluto Pup, Dippy Dog and what else?

In New Zealand, confusingly, the same battered item is simply called a 'hot dog,' while the bun version is an 'American hot dog.'

The 'completo', a hot dog piled with tomato, avocado, mayonnaise and sauerkraut, is which country's version?

It first appeared in the 1920s at the soda fountains of Santiago and its name means 'the works.'

About how long was the world's longest hot dog, made in Tokyo in 2006?

Shizuoka Meat Producers made the sausage and the All-Japan Bread Association baked a bun a fraction longer to hold it.

Guinness certified the world's most expensive hot dog in 2012 at $145.49. What was it called?

Sold in Sacramento on a focaccia roll with white truffle butter, Swedish moose cheese and maple-marinated bacon, with proceeds going to Shriners Hospitals.

Which meat is the traditional pairing with pork in a classic hot dog sausage?

Cheaper dogs swap in mechanically separated chicken or turkey, and packaged dogs should still be heated to 165°F despite being pre-cooked.

Which country's Skinner's Restaurant, founded in 1929 in Lockport, Manitoba, is reputedly its oldest hot dog outlet?

It serves European-style foot-long natural-casing dogs made by a Winnipeg sausage maker.

In the Philadelphia area, a Texas Tommy is a frank topped with melted cheese and wrapped in what?

Like the Michigan dog and the Texas hot dog, it is named for a place that has nothing to do with where it is eaten.

Traditional natural hot dog casings are made from the small intestines of which animal?

Natural-casing franks have the firmer 'snap' that skinless dogs, cooked in removable cellulose tubes, lack.

Harry M. Stevens supposedly turned to French rolls at the Polo Grounds in 1901 when what ran out?

The concessionaire's tale is one of several competing origin stories, alongside Feuchtwanger in St. Louis and Feltman at Coney Island.

Roughly how many hot dogs does Costco sell at its food courts in an average year?

Fast-food chains mostly avoid hot dogs because of the short shelf life and fussy toppings, leaving the field to Costco, stands and ballparks.