The 20 Healthiest (and Deadliest) Hot Dogs
The Fourth of July is the hot dog’s heyday. Between the parades, the fireworks, and the Coney Island eating contest, Americans will consume more than 150 million franks, which, as the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council points out, is enough to stretch from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. more than five times. But if you’re choosing a hot dog over a burger to guard your heart and your waist, you’ll have to be picky.
At their worst, hot dogs are little more than processed, fatty meat and fillers loaded with carcinogenic preservatives. But, some dogs aren’t so bad, full of all natural, lean protein without added nitrites. To help holiday revelers figure out which dogs to feast on during upcoming barbeques, The Daily Beast determined the winners and losers among the lot.
To cull the list, we considered more than 90 regular-size frank varieties (no jumbo or foot-long offerings here) made by nationally available brands. We only considered encased-meat products that are marketed as hot dogs or franks; tofu dogs and chicken sausages can be healthy options, but we were looking for the best dog for frankfurter purists. Each dog was ranked based on calories, fat, saturated fat, sodium and protein, and final rankings were determined using a cumulative average (protein content was, of course, considered a positive and therefore inversely ranked to compute the averages). Hot dogs that are free of added nitrites were given an additional bonus.
Article Source
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/
What Is Your Favorite Hot Dog
The hot dog also known as the frankfurter , wiener , or sausage has been around for quite a few years now. In the United States the modern hot dog can be traced back as far as the 1880′s when the hot dog bun was invented in St Louis Missouri. And from there hot dogs became one of the favorite American foods.
And while you will find hot dogs served many ways around the United States with different regions having their own favorite hot dog people are still coming up with new ways to serve the hot dog. Some people will eat almost any type of wiener some people won’t touch anything but pure beef wieners and you won’t find a better wiener than a Hebrew National All Beef Hot Dog.
One of my favorite ways to prepare a all beef hot dog is to wrap each hot dog wiener with lean bacon and grill my hot dogs. I then serve the bacon wrapped hot dogs in the regular way with homemade chili , slaw , ketchup , and mustard. In fact a bacon wrapped grilled hot dog is one of the best tasting things you will ever taste.
And now hot dogs are served in more places than any other food. In fact hot dogs are now as popular as baseball where millions of hot dogs are sold every year at ball parks all over the United States. Hot Dogs around the United States are served with sauerkraut , pickle relish , pickles , mustard , ketchup , and mayonnaise. And if you want one of the best hot dogs in the world purchase all beef wieners and grill them wrapped in bacon until the bacon is crisp.
And most people agree that for your hot dogs to be the most delicious you need a great homemade chili and you can check out my world famous no beans hot dog chili by CLICKING HERE.
And what ever you do be sure that you check out the below hot dog hub pages of mine. I think you’ll find some of the most delicious hot dog recipes you will ever taste.
Resources
http://www.examiner.com/
http://www.yumsugar.com/Best-Hot-Dog-Toppings-18090329
The Best Thing About Hot Dogs
Are hot dogs really made from pigs’ snouts and unused meat scraps? Contrary to popular belief, hot dogs are not made from left-over meat laying around on the floors of meat-packing houses. Whether it is pork or beef that is stuffed into a hot dog, the meat trimmings are carefully selected just like the meat you buy in your grocer’s coolers.
Most recipes for hot dogs combine together a tasty blend of favorite meats (pork, beef, chicken, or turkey), meat fat, a cereal filler which could be either bread crumbs, flour, or oatmeal, a little bit of egg white, and a mouth-watering array of herbs and seasonings including garlic, pepper, ground mustard, nutmeg, salt, and onion. Common hot dog ingredients include Meat trimmings and fat Flavorings, such as salt, garlic, and paprika Preservatives (cure) – typically sodium erythorbate and sodium nitrite. Pork and beef are the traditional meats used in hot dogs. Less expensive hot dogs are often made from chicken or turkey, using low cost mechanically separated poultry. Hot dogs often have high sodium, fat and nitrite content, ingredients linked to health problems. Changes in meat technology and dietary preferences have led manufacturers to use turkey, chicken, vegetarian meat substitutes, and to lower the salt content.
If a manufacturer produces two types of hot dogs, “wieners” tend to contain pork and are blander, while “franks” tend to be all beef and more strongly seasoned.
Once these ingredients are grinded together, the stuffing is squeezed into sausage casings. Many of the hot dogs sold in stores are enclosed in synthetic cellulose casings, but most home-made hot dogs are made out of natural animal intestines. 
Following the stuffing process is the pre-cooking cycle in which the hot dog links are tossed into boiling water for approximately 15 minutes. Finally, the dogs are packaged, loaded on delivery trucks, and sent off to food markets.
Hot dogs are popular among Americans because they are easy to make, inexpensive, and delicious. Hot dogs can be prepared in a number of great ways–nuke-em, grill-em, sauté-em, roast-em, fry-em or boil-em.
What is your favorite type of hot dog? – a chili dog, a cheese dog, or a foot-long dog? A multitude of toppings can enhance the flavor of your hot dog. Common toppings used on hot dogs include ketchup, mustard, onions, relish, chili, cheese, and sauerkraut.
Hot dog lingo. Hot dogs are also called franks, frankfurter, weiner, mini sausages, ball parks, and dachshund.
Did you know?
July is National Hot Dog Month
The Council estimates that over seven billion hot dogs will be eaten by Americans between Memorial Day and Labor Day. During the July 4th weekend alone (the biggest hot-dog holiday of the year), 155 million will be downed.
An average American eats 60 hot dogs a year
In 1893, hot dogs became the standard cuisine for baseball games.
Controversial debate surrounds the creation of the hot dog. Who really created the first hot dog? Although the city of Frankfurt, Germany credits itself for the origin of the first frankfurter in 1852, some argue that Johann Georghehner, a butcher from Coburg, Germany created the first frankfurter in the 1600s.
Resources
http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/hotdog.asp
http://www.factmonster.com/spot/hotdog1.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Celebrate-National-Hot-Dog-Month
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What is in a Hot Dog?
The hot dog is a trademark American food. According to the American Meat Institute, this year Americans purchased 1.6 billion dollars in hot dogs from retail alone.
That number doesn’t include the millions of hot dogs purchased at ball parks and other hot dog vendors.
Despite the fact that hot dogs are federally regulated for food safety, American culture has long jested about the mysterious and perhaps somewhat dubious contents of this national food. So, what exactly constitutes a hot dog?
That mystery is about to be solved.
The Meat
Hot dogs are made out of pork, beef, chicken, turkey, or a combination of these, which packaging is required to state.
When buying from a restaurant or hot dog stand simply ask the vendor to read you the label if you want to know the meat used.
Also required to be labeled on the packaging are any internal organs, which can make up to fifteen percent of a hot dog.
The Difference Between Meat and Mechanically Separated Meat (MSM)
Two mechanical processes have been used to acquire the meat that goes into hot dogs.
Advanced Meat Recovery (AMR)
AMR machines are designed to use scraping or pressure to separate meat trimmings from bones. In 1994 the definition of “meat” in the United States was changed to include meat derived by this process.
Fascinatingly, products of the AMR system can be considered MSM if the percentage of calcium from the animals bones exceeds just 30 milligrams per 100 grams of meat.
Mechanically Separated Meat (MSM)
A machine uses a pressurized sifting process to separate meat from bone and create a paste-like product. MSM has been illegal for beef processing since 2004, when Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, also known as “Mad Cow Disease” was a major concern. MSM is now only used for pork. There is a similar process designed for chicken and turkeys, but this process is termed Mechanically Separated Poultry (MSP). MSM can make up to 20% of a hot dog.
Other Important Ingredients and Additives
Casings
The membrane that forms the hot dog’s sausage shape is called the casing. Most often casings are made out of artificially created plant cellulose, also know as fiber. A second form, natural casings, are animal based, and are made out of intestines.
Binders
Often cereal fillers, such as soy, binders are used to hold the meat together and retain the hot dog’s shape.
Seasonings
Though spices will vary with each brand of hot dog, common seasonings include salt, paprika, white and black pepper, garlic, mustard, and sugar.
Additives
Bacteria cultures that ferment the meat to improve flavor, nitrates to cure the meat, MSG and dextrose to enhance the salty flavor, artificial flavors, and countless varieties of preservatives can be found in hot dogs, again depending on the brand. Healthier options, such as organic or free range brands, contain less or none of these additives.
True to the American tradition, hot dogs are industrious, and provide a good example of reducing waste while creating a popular product, in this case a perfectly edible and undeniably delicious food. So the next time you’re at a barbecue or a ballpark, you’ll know exactly what you’re biting into.
Sources:
http://www.sustainabletable.org/features/articles/summerfun/hotdogdays.php
http://www.hot-dog.org/ht/d/sp/i/38580/pid/38580
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Hot_Dogs/index.asp
http://mindfulmomma.typepad.com/mindful_momma/files/hot_dog_comparison.pdf