49 Fun Facts About Hot Dog

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

Imperial coronations in Frankfurt came with free sausages, starting with Maximilian II's crowning as King of the Romans in 1562; Frankfurter Würstchen had been known there since the 13th century.

The word 'wiener' refers to which European capital?

Vienna is Wien in German; Johann Georg Lahner, a butcher from Coburg, is said to have carried the Frankfurt sausage recipe to Vienna, where his mixed-meat version became the Wiener.

Which Coney Island pieman, seller of 'Coney Island Red Hots', has one of the strongest claims to first serving sausages in rolls?

Charles Feltman's complex of restaurants, bars and a carousel served over five million people a year by the 1920s.

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

Feuchtwanger lent customers white gloves to hold the hot sausages, and they walked off with them; his wife supposedly suggested serving the sausages in a roll instead, around 1880 in St. Louis.

Tad Dorgan's earliest documented use of 'hot dog' dates from which year?

Dorgan's earliest documented 'hot dog' appears in a December 1906 cartoon about a six-day bicycle race in New York, years after the term was already in print, so the 1901 Polo Grounds legend fails.

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

Nathan and Ida Handwerker charged five cents a hot dog, half Feltman's ten-cent price, after putting up their $300 in savings to open the stand at Surf and Stillwell Avenues in 1916.

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

The contest is held every July 4 at Nathan's original stand in Coney Island; in 2020 it was held indoors without spectators because of the pandemic.

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

Competitors get 10 minutes; the contest was shortened from 12 minutes in 2008, and partially eaten hot dogs count toward the total while vomiting means disqualification.

The men's champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest receives a coveted 'bejeweled' belt of what colour?

Mustard yellow is the belt, which organisers describe 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 double with 50 hot dogs in 2001?

Kobayashi ate 50 hot dogs in 2001, doubling the 25⅛ record Kazutoyo Arai had set in 2000; he then won six straight contests through 2006.

How many hot dogs did Joey Chestnut eat to set the Nathan's record in 2021?

Joey Chestnut ate 76 hot dogs and buns at the 2021 contest, beating his own 75 from 2020; he first took the belt from Kobayashi in 2007 with 66.

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

Major League Eating barred Chestnut after he signed an endorsement deal with Impossible Foods, a plant-based hot dog brand; he competed at Fort Bliss, Texas, on contest day instead, then ate 83 against Kobayashi on Netflix in September 2024.

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

Miki Sudo ate 51 hot dogs in 2024, her tenth women's title; she sat out 2021 while pregnant with her child with fellow eater Nick Wehry and worked the broadcast instead.

Which NFL legend competed in the 2003 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest as a celebrity contestant, then quit after just four dogs?

William 'The Refrigerator' Perry, the Chicago Bears lineman, had eaten twelve hot dogs to win a celebrity qualifier but managed only four in the 2003 final before stopping.

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

Ketchup is the one banned topping; purists say its sweetness drowns the beef, and some Chicago stands post signs refusing to serve it.

A fully loaded Chicago dog is said to have been what?

'Dragged through the garden' describes the vegetable load; Vienna Beef's 'Chicago Seven' is mustard, neon relish, onion, tomato, 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?

Maxwell Street's Depression-era market is where Abe 'Fluky' Drexler sold a five-cent 'Depression Sandwich' in 1929, a hot dog piled with mustard, relish, onion, pickle, peppers, lettuce and tomato.

The frankfurter company behind most Chicago dogs traces its founding to which world's fair?

Vienna Beef dates its founding to the 1893 Columbian Exposition, where Austro-Hungarian immigrants Samuel Ladany and Emil Reichel sold their sausages before opening a Chicago shop.

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

Carl G. Mayer was Oscar Mayer's nephew; his 13-foot 1936 Wienermobile, built by the General Body Company of Chicago, cost about $5,000 and toured the city's streets.

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?

Wienermobile drivers are 'Hotdoggers', about a dozen recent college graduates hired each year for a one-year tour; the most common question they field is whether the vehicle sells hot dogs.

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

Oscar Mayer moved its headquarters from Chicago to Madison in 1957, beside the Madison plant it had bought in 1919; Oscar F. Mayer and brother Gottfried had started by leasing a Chicago meat market in 1883.

Costco's food-court quarter-pound hot dog and 20-ounce drink combo has held the same price since 1985; what is it?

$1.50 buys the quarter-pound dog and a 20-ounce soda with refills; Costco began with a single hot dog cart outside its original Seattle warehouse in the mid-1980s.

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

Industry estimates put it at 20 billion hot dogs a year, about 7 billion of them between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the industry's 'hot dog season'.

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

Mustard won with 32% to ketchup's 23% in the council's 2005 poll of hot dog eaters.

In 2015 the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council declared a hot dog is not what?

A sandwich, the council ruled in November 2015, calling the hot dog 'a category unto its own'; Merriam-Webster countered in 2016 that a hot dog is a sandwich.

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

'Nojax' was short for 'no jackets': Freund's Visking Corporation made cellulose casings that were peeled off after cooking, leaving a skinless frankfurter.

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

Hermosillo, the Sonoran state capital, is where the bacon-wrapped dog appeared in the late 1980s before crossing to Tucson, where it is finished with beans, onions, tomato, mayonnaise, mustard and jalapeño salsa.

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

Cream cheese is spread on the bun, topped with grilled onions and often jalapeños; the Seattle Dog is a late-night staple from carts outside the city's stadiums and music venues.

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

Detroit's American Coney Island and Lafayette Coney Island, founded by Greek immigrant brothers Gust and William Keros, have stood side by side on Lafayette Boulevard since the 1920s.

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

New York's North Country, around Plattsburgh, is Michigan country; Eula and Garth Otis, who opened the first stand there 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?

'New York System' wiener joints, like Olneyville New York System (1946), borrowed the name from Coney Island's fame; the small veal-and-pork wieners are topped with meat sauce, mustard, onions and celery salt.

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

The half-smoke is a coarse, half-beef half-pork smoked sausage served split and topped with chili; President-elect Obama stopped at Ben's on U Street in January 2009.

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

Jimmy Buff, born James Racioppi, and his wife Mary began serving the fried hot dog in pizza bread with peppers, onions and potatoes in Newark in 1932; the family business carries his nickname.

The Dodger Dog sold at Dodger Stadium is how long?

The Dodger Dog is a 10-inch pork wiener; concessions manager Thomas Arthur first billed it as a 'Foot Long' in 1962 before dropping the claim, since it fell two inches short.

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

Detroit meatpacker Hygrade won the 1957 contract to supply the Detroit Tigers at Briggs Stadium, and the Ball Park Franks name came out of an employee naming contest.

Hebrew National's long-running slogan says the company answers to what?

'We answer to a higher authority' winks at kosher dietary law while pitching quality to non-Jewish shoppers; Hebrew National began as a kosher sausage factory 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?

La Brea Avenue at Melrose is where Paul and Betty Pink parked their pushcart in 1939, selling chili dogs made to Betty's recipe for a dime; the permanent stand went up on the same corner in 1946.

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

Howard Johnson's wanted a roll that stood upright on a tray for its fried clam strips; Maine bakery J. J. Nissen's split-top answer became the standard New England hot dog and lobster-roll bun.

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?

'Dagwood Dog', named for the sandwich-loving Blondie comic-strip character Dagwood Bumstead, is the common show-ground name; in New Zealand the same battered item is simply a 'hot dog', and the bun version an 'American hot dog'.

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

Chile's completo dates to the 1920s in Santiago; 'completo' means 'complete', and the version with tomato, mashed avocado and mayonnaise in the colours of Italy's flag is the completo italiano.

About how long was the record-setting hot dog made in Tokyo in 2006?

The 2006 Tokyo hot dog measured 60 metres: Shizuoka Meat Producers made the sausage and the All-Japan Bread Association baked a slightly longer bun; a 203-metre Paraguayan hot dog took the record in 2011.

Guinness certified a record $145.49 hot dog in 2012 under what name?

Capitol Dawg in Sacramento sold the California Capitol City Dawg on a focaccia roll with white truffle butter, Swedish moose cheese and maple bacon, donating proceeds to Shriners Hospitals; a $169 Seattle dog beat it in 2014.

Alongside pork, which meat is the other traditional ingredient in a classic hot dog sausage?

Beef and pork are the traditional meats; 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, is reputedly its oldest hot dog outlet?

Skinner's opened in 1929 in Lockport, Manitoba, on the Red River north of Winnipeg, and is reputed to be Canada's oldest hot dog restaurant; it serves foot-long natural-casing dogs from a Winnipeg sausage maker.

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

Bacon is wrapped around the cheese-stuffed frank, which is then grilled or deep-fried; the Texas Tommy is traced to Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and like the Michigan dog its name has nothing to do with where it is eaten.

Natural-casing hot dogs, prized for their firmer 'snap', traditionally use casings made from the small intestines of which animal?

Sheep intestines make the traditional casing; skinless dogs, cooked in removable cellulose tubes, lack that snap.

Costco replaced which brand with its own Kirkland Signature hot dogs in 2009?

Costco dropped Hebrew National in 2009 in favour of its own Kirkland Signature all-beef quarter-pound hot dog, keeping the famous combo price unchanged.