The hot dog — a cooked, smoked, or cured sausage of beef (or beef-and-pork) served in a split roll with regional toppings — arrived in America through German immigrants in the mid-19th century and became the quintessential American street food, stadium food, and cookout food. The hot dog is eaten at every baseball game, every Fourth of July cookout, every state fair, and every corner cart in New York City. The regional variations are as fiercely defended as BBQ styles: **New York** (mustard, sauerkraut, onion sauce), **Chicago** (mustard, relish, onion, tomato, pickle spear, sport peppers, celery salt on a poppy seed bun — NEVER ketchup), **Detroit** (Coney Island — chili, mustard, onion), **Sonoran** (bacon-wrapped, beans, mayo, grilled onion — the Mexican-American variation from Tucson).
An emulsified sausage (beef, or beef-and-pork — finely ground, seasoned with garlic, paprika, mustard seed, and coriander, stuffed into a casing and smoked or steam-cooked) served in a split-top soft roll with toppings. The dog should snap when bitten (if natural casing) — the casing's snap is the quality indicator. Skinless dogs (extruded without casing) are the mass-market standard but lack the snap.
1) The snap — a natural-casing hot dog (Nathan's, Sabrett, Vienna Beef) has a casing that snaps audibly when bitten. This is the premium hot dog experience. 2) Regional topping rules are tribal: in Chicago, ketchup on a hot dog is a violation. In New York, sauerkraut and mustard is the standard. In Detroit, chili-mustard-onion is the Coney. 3) The bun must be soft and slightly steamed — a crusty roll fights the soft dog.
The Chicago dog — an all-beef Vienna Beef dog on a steamed poppy seed bun with yellow mustard, neon-green sweet relish, chopped white onion, tomato wedges, a dill pickle spear, sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt — is the most specifically defined regional hot dog and the most aggressively defended. Ask for ketchup in Chicago and prepare for a lecture. Nathan's Famous (Coney Island, since 1916) is the New York benchmark. The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest (held every July 4th) is the most watched competitive eating event in the world.
Bruce Kraig — Hot Dog: A Global History; George Motz — Hamburger America (for the broader street food context)