The hot dog can really be enveloped in bacon, smothered with cheese, drenched in ketchup, or stacked tall with chili, depending on the toppings. While many people would rather not know what’s in it, it’s an important aspect of American food.
However, history aficionados will be aware that the hot dog is not a native of the United States, since the origins of this iconic baseball dish date back decades before European explorers sailed away for finding the New World. Here’s everything you need to know about the.
Origins of Hot Dogs
The frankfurter is supposed to have been invented in mainland Europe around 1487, five years before Columbus set sail for the Americas. The name “wiener” is used by the residents of Vienna (Wien), Austria, to indicate that their city is the home of the hot dog.
As it comes out, the North American hot dog is most likely descended from a generic European sausage transported here by merchants of many nationalities. Who was the first to offer dachshund sausage on a roll is also a mystery.
According to one account, a German expatriate served them from a push wagon in New York City’s Bowery in the 1860s, together with milk buns and sauerkraut. In his very first year in operation, Charles Feltman, a German chef, launched the first Coney Island hot dog stall, successfully selling up to 3,684 dachshund sausages in a milk roll.
Further history of the Hot Dog
The year 1893 was significant in the history of the hot dog. The Colombian Exposition in Chicago that year drew throngs of tourists who gorged themselves on sausages supplied by vendors. People appreciated this dish because it was simple to prepare, simple, and affordable.
The Germans almost always ate dachshund sausage rolls with bread, according to hot dog historian Bruce Kraig, Ph.D., former professor emeritus at Roosevelt University. Because Germans are known for their sausage culture, it’s possible that they originated the tradition of eating dachshund sausages nested in a bun, which we now call a hot dog.
Hot dogs at standard fare in baseball parks
Sausages were the customary dish at baseball fields in 1893 as well. Chris Von de Ahe, a German migrant who also controlled the St. Louis Browns big league baseball franchise, is thought to have established this custom in St. Louis.
Invention of the hot dog bun
Most hot dog researchers dismiss the idea that Anton Feuchtwanger, a Bavarian franchisee, invented the modern hot dog on a bun at the 1904 St. Louis “Louisiana Purchase Exposition.” According to legend, he gave his customers white gloves to handle his scorching hot sausages.
Because the majority of the gloves also weren’t retrieved, the stock quickly depleted. He allegedly enlisted the assistance of his brother-in-law, a baker. The baker created the hot dog bun by improvising lengthy soft rolls that suited the meat.
Kraig can’t quite believe the story and claims that everyone claims credit for inventing the hot dog bun, but the most plausible idea is that the technique was passed on by German immigrants and subsequently expanded across American society.
The origins of the name “hot dog.”
Another theory that enrages dedicated hot dog historians is the origins of the name “hot dog.” On a chilly April day in 1901, some think the term was originated at the New York Polo Grounds. Hot dogs were
being sold from portable hot water tanks by vendors who were yelling at people to buy them red hot! Tad Dorgan, a sports cartoonist for the New York Journal, saw the sight and quickly sketched a cartoon of barking dachshund sausages snuggled snuggly in buns.
He just scribbled “hot dog!” because he couldn’t spell “dachshund.” According to legend, the cartoon was a hit, and the term “hot dog” was coined as a result. Despite Dorgan’s vast collection of work and fame, historians have been unable to locate this cartoon.
According to Kraig and other culinary experts, the term “hot dog” first appeared in college journals in the 1890s. When “dog carts” sold hot dogs at the dormitories in the fall of 1894, the name was popular. The term was a satirical reference to the meat’s origins. German immigrants in the 1800s were the first to mention dachshund sausages, which eventually evolved into hot dogs.
Not only did these immigrants bring sausages to America, but also dachshund dogs. The term was most likely inspired by the Germans’ short, long, and thin dogs. Even Germans referred to the frankfurter as a “little-dog” or “dachshund” sausage, thereby associating the word “dog” with the famous sausage.
