Haute Dog Archives #1 - Germany

After so long, I have awakened from my slumber...how have you been, imgur?

Roughly 365 days ago, I lost my mind and attempted to create 40 sandwiches in 40 weeks. It was an arduous journey filled with uncertainty and kewpie mayo. For a time, I was undecided on what I would do when I finished, but this all changed when you folks made one philosophical debate abundantly clear:

"Is a hot dog a sandwich?"

I attempted to sate your concerns with a link to the profound cuberule.com, however the question persisted every post, every week.

You deserve proper closure, one not afforded by a meager 2-minute read. Also, I'm hungry. Might as well nose dive into another nine month venture with reckless abandon!

Fingers crossed I don't run my funds dry again!

I figured I would start off with the original hot dog. Local butchers created parboiled sausages of pork or beef encased in sheep intestine as far back as the 13th century in what is now known as Frankfurt.

The Frankfurt sausage or Frankfurter quickly caught on across Europe, expanding the Americas in the late 19th century. It was there, in the US, where it truly took form. Within a bun of comparable length, the Frankfurter was officially christened Hot Dog. The name seems to originate from suspicions of dog meat being used for the sausages...

Anyway, the Frankfurt sausage is a classic German meal, often paired with sauerkraut and some form of starch (in this case, potato salad). So, without further ado, LET'S BEGIN.

This should be a pretty easy return to form, nothing too complicated.

I'm gonna try and make the potato salad myself. This would be way too short otherwise.

First, I'll be boiling one too many potatoes for the serving size. Off to a great start already!

Next, I'm gonna dice up the celery

Huzzah, my cutting skills are still sharp as ever!

Next on the list, I'm gonna boil some eggs. I've never tried potato salad with eggs, but this is apparently the North German method.

We'll get that started...

...and finish up the potatoes!

Alright, so the recipe I'm using specifically said to keep the skin on until after the boiling, but peeling a heat-softened potato proved to be easier said than done.

I am going to find the mommy-blogger who wrote their recipe as such, and as soon as I do, we're a knife fight to the death in a parking lot!

On the bright side, the potatoes cut like BUTTAH

Now for assembly. I'm adding a teaspoon of vinegar,

As well as the green onions and celery

Oh jeez, the eggs!

It would seem that as consequence for not clicking my tongs together before usage, one of my eggs has decided to spontaneously erupt to shun me. Alas, I shan't be so incompetent!

Finally, I can throw the eggs (chopped, of course) into the mix

As stated before, I used a tad to much ingredients for how much I plan on eating tonight, so I am preemptively downsizing the sample. Seasoning with celery seeds, salt, and pepper!

Lastly, I'm adding a mix of mayonnaise and dijon mustard. I couldn't really tell where the "mustard" was in the infographic pic, so I'm assuming its in the salad.

BEHOLD!

Now for the actual sausage. I'm cooking on high heat in sesame oil

Fantastic

Looks like that's everything, onto assembly!

One heaping pile of potato salad,

I slightly more manageable pile of sauerkraut...now for the sausage!

VIOLA!

So, how did it taste?

I'm certain I messed up somewhere while making the salad, but I still think it tastes great. The eggs have proven a nice touch, giving a softer texture to contrast the firmer potatoes. You can never go wrong with sauerkraut on a hotdog, although I will admit the presence of the kraut kinda makes the mustard part feel redundant. The wiener was kind of basic, I'll have to see about getting my hands on some higher quality meat in the future.

I guess this would be the part where I rank it, right? Feels weird without the numbers, but I'll make do.

1. Germany

So...how am I going to go about the next weeks? I was thinking I'd let you guys vote in the comment section! Comment the country (in the infographic) you want for next Saturday, and whichever country has the most upvotes by Wednesday is the one I'll do!

Alright, that's it for now. Thanks so much for reading...

...and Happy April Fools!