Cycle 15 – Item 259

20 (Fri) September 2024

Beef “Hot Dogs” with Sauerkraut

3.0

by me

at home

-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

solo

Although I’ve been trying to avoid processed meats these days, I do miss hotdogs.  During our recent trip to the States, I indulged in them at the Giant game in Oracle Park (see 15.175 Giants Dog) and at Top Dog in Berkeley (see 15.182 Top), and on several undocumented occasions at the rented house in Redwood City (see generally 15.176 Prime Rib).

Alas, proper American-style all-beef frankfurters are not readily accessible in Korea.  Years back, I was fortunate to find Hebrew National Beef Franks at a foreign food market near home, which has long since gone out of business; similar stores currently in business don’t carry them.  (Manila, by comparison, had loads of options (see generally 6.083 Taste Test: Hotdogs) – Filipinos love processed meats of all kinds.). I’ve had mild success substituting other sausages to approximate the salty meatiness of the classic American beef frank (see for example 15.011 Polish Sausage Dogs).

Local meat purveyor Johncook Deli Meats now offers Beef Hot Dogs American Style – available for delivery through their website – worth a shot.

Come to think of it, the term “hotdog” is typically used, as I have done myself in the past, to refer both to the sausage itself and to the sandwich (whether the sausage + bun combo qualifies as a “sandwich,” I’ll save for another day).

Henceforth, however, in GMTD parlance, “hotdog” shall only refer to the sandwich, while the sausage will be called whatever it actually is (e.g., frankfurter/frank, bratwurst/brat).

Not too bad.  As suggested by the 87.89% beef content, it fell short in full beefiness, and not as salty as I’d like.  But the good news is that it didn’t have any artificial “sausage” flavor found in typical Korean sausages.  Next time as hotdogs.

(See all GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)