Thu Feb 14, 2019
I had a hard time deciding what to call this recipe because this style of hot dog goes by a number of names—Danger dogs, Mexican hot dogs, Tijuana dogs, etc. The major defining trait of this hot dog is that it's bacon-wrapped, and more often than not, deep fried. It's then topped with any number of Mexican-influenced toppings, so can take many unique forms from there. My lockdown on the name and topping combination ended up being decided by an illustration by Hawk Krall that labeled a Tijuana dog with an array of add-ons that sounded perfect in my mind—pico, jalapeños, pineapple, avocado, and crema. In the end, this led me down a very delicious path.
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Thu Dec 13, 2018
When I was first telling my friends I was going to be making these Seattle Dogs, whose defining characteristic is the use of cream cheese, there was a little head scratching going on. I, for one, was super exited to try it, because let's face it, cream cheese is amazing stuff and I could only imagine it making a hot dog all the better. In the case of a Seattle-style hot dog though, it made even more sense because that cooling cheese would go on to help strike a balance with the spicy mustard and jalapeños also in play here, and after cooking these up, I can say that this was a truly a winning combination.
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Thu Oct 25, 2018
It's kind of surprising how long I lived next door to New Jersey without ever knowing about one of the state's best inventions—Taylor pork roll. I also will never forget the first time I was introduced to this seasoned processed pork product that hails from Trenton while at a camping trip with a group of NJ-native friends who brought the stuff along to make some of the tastiest breakfast sandwiches I'd ever had. I was instantly smitten, but have left pork roll consumption to my times in New Jersey, which translates to rarely ever eating it. I noticed recently though that my local grocery carries it, and while preparing a Meatwave made of up of all Mid-Atlantic specialities, it seemed fitting to pick up a couple packages and start off the event with these pork roll sandwiches.
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Thu Oct 11, 2018
This past Meatwave season has been a challenging one. It took a couple months longer than I was expecting to get it off the ground thanks to poor weather, then I had been traveling so much over the summer than I always felt like I was rushing to cram in a cookout with never enough time to prepare. In one of these instances, I only gave myself two days to get everything ready—usually shopping and prep spans twice as long—and decided that a purely hot dog affair would help ease the pressure of trying to do too much it too little time. I knew I really wanted to do Chicago Dogs, which is a favorite of mine, and these turned out being the most stress-free item on the menu because I literally just bought a kit off of the Vienna Beef website, which was the best way for me to procure all the hyper-regional ingredients, ensuring these would be as legit as possible coming off a grill in North Carolina.
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Thu Sep 27, 2018
To be totally honest, I've never been a huge bratwurst guy. I know I'm in the minority here, but I'm attracted to more heavily flavored things and, while I can appreciate bratwurst's light seasoning, there are so many other sausages out there I would pick over a brat. So when deciding to do an Oktoberfest themed cookout last year, bratwurst was on the menu for good measure, but it wasn't the sausage I was most excited about trying to make at home, that designation went to bockwurst.
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