Podcast Companion, Episode 4: The Guys Discuss Hot Dogs, and Reveal Their Stupid Hot Dog Tricks

 Hi everyone!  

The fourth episode of the podcast is out, and in it, we discuss that most gravitas-laden of all topics, the inimitable hot dog.  

If you're new here, click the menu button (aka the 'cheeseburger'), and links to the podcast will be on top.

Note:  This was done during the same sessions as episodes two and three, so our sound-quality issues persist.  Don't judge us, we are stumbling in the dark.  It's just like that time in cooking school, when Jesse found a way to ruin the hollandaise that the instructor had never seen before.  We're innovators.  So in this episode, we are going to need you to imagine that Nate and Jesse are delivering this episode while tandem hang-gliding in a strong wind.  

Time Stamps

1:43- The Story of the Name

4:08- The Story of the Moustache Bubbles

10:54- Is a Hot Dog a Sandwich?

12:13- How to Buy Hot Dogs

32:30- How to Cook Hot Dogs (Best)

34:05- A Discussion of Hot Dog Toppings

40:15: How to Step Up Your Hot Dog Game

Recipes: 

Pickled Garlic and Mustard Seeds, and Pepper Gel

Nate's Pickled Mustard Seeds

Ingredients for liquid:

500g water
500g Champagne vinegar
100g sugar
25g salt
300g yellow mustard seeds

Bring first four ingredients to boil, remove from heat.  

Method for pickles:  Cover mustard seeds with water, and bring to a boil.  Strain and rinse seeds.  Repeat eight more times, for nine purges in total, starting with fresh cold water every time.  To finish, bring pickling liquid to a boil, add the purged mustard seeds, and chill.

Nate's Pickled Garlic

Ingredients/method for liquid:

Same as the pickled mustard seeds, except add 4 fresh bay leaves as well.

Method for Pickles:  Peel five heads of garlic (or see note).  Trim off the woody ends.

Cover the garlic in cold milk.  (Or water, water works, but the lactose in milk helps strip away the allicin [an astringent sulphur compound].  Milk does like to scorch, however, especially if you are re-using the same pot every time, so a good compromise is half-milk, half-water.  That way, you can keep using the same pot, save a bit of money, and still have most of the benefit of milk.) 

Bring the milk/water to a boil, and drain.  (Don't walk away, or you'll have garlic soup.)

Repeat this 4 more times, starting with fresh, cold milk/water, for a total of five blanches.

* A good way to keep count is to keep a piece of tape on the pot-handle for a tally.
* Change the pot if it scorches or gets a lot of protein built-up (which means it WILL scorch next time)
* After the last blanch, rinse off all the milk cooties, they are what's gonna spoil first

After the last blanch, put together the pickling liquid, bring it to a boil, and pour it over the blanched garlic.  Let it sit for an hour, then refrigerate.  It will be usable later that day, once it's cold, but letting it sit overnight is preferable.

A note on pre-peeled garlic: Pre-peeled garlic is not as good as whole garlic, generally, but there's some wiggle room.  To make a batch of pickled garlic worth the effort, you should make a lot of it.  You find uses for it.  And let's be honest, peeling all that garlic will take a thousand hours.  However, the peeled garlic they have in grocery stores always sucks.  It's old, bruised, and acrid.  It's ok to use pre-peeled garlic, if you can find a place that moves it fast enough that it doesn't get stinky.  Here in Charleston, H&L Supermarket (our local Asian grocery) buys big tubs of it and breaks it into pint containers, and it apparently moves, because it's usually fresh.  If you can find peeled garlic that's fresh, dry, white, and not suffused with that oily, pungent, old-garlic aroma, feel free to use it.  Let your conscience be your guide.  It would suck to go to all the trouble of following this recipe only to find you'd used crappy product at the start.

Nate's Pepper Gel

*We realize fluid-gel and pepper-gel are not the most appetizing terms, but the technique is great for flavor-release.  If you can think of a better name for this stuff, drop us a line, we promise to give you full credit.

Ingredients: 

300g pepperoncini peppers, stems removed
300g pepperoncini pickling liquid
60g simple syrup (50/50 water and sugar, by weight, boiled to dissolve)
Agar/Xanthan mix, as needed

To make the agar/xanthan mix, mix 8g agar agar and 1g xanthan gum (both usually available at Whole Foods, or order online)

Method:  Puree peppers and liquid in blender as smooth as possible.  Stain, and press out as much liquid as possible.  Weigh the liquid.  The weight of that liquid is 100% (we are going to touch on baker's percentages here.)

Take 1% of your 100% weight (i.e. 1% of the weight of the liquid), and weigh out that many grams of agar/xanthan mix.  

Put the liquid in a pot, and whisk in the agar/xanthan mix.  Bring the liquid to a boil, and boil 2 minutes.

Pour the liquid into a sheet pan and refrigerate.

When the gel is set, puree it in the blender again, until completely smooth.  Store in an airtight container.

Jesse's 3-Minute Hot Dog Chilli

Ingredients:

Half an onion, chopped (I forgot to mention this in the podcast)

3 garlic cloves, sliced (this, too)

12-16 oz. ground beef

Wondra Flour, as needed

Tomato Juice, as needed

Oil (any neutral, or olive, or butter, whatever, really), as needed

Smoked Paprika, as needed

Ground cumin, as needed

Salt, Pepper, and hot sauce, as needed

Method: This is quick and dirty, so there's not much measuring.  First, heat the oil in a sauce pot and drop the onions and garlic in there.  You want to cook them quickly.  It's ok if they get a little brown, but try not to burn them.  When they are starting to get translucent, add all the beef and increase the heat.  Stir quickly to break the beef up, and keep agitating it till it's fully cooked.

There should be a good amount of grease in your pot now, and you may be tempted to drain it.  This is wrong, instead, lower the heat a bit.  Sprinkle in Wondra till the meat is coated and the grease is largely absorbed (should take less than an ounce).  Then, immediately (or the Wondra will burn), add in enough tomato juice just to bind.  Stir over heat until it hits a simmer.  The Wondra will bind the liquid, and you can add a little more tomato juice if needed.  But remember, hot dog chilli shouldn't be too liquid-y.  Season to taste with cumin, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, and hot sauce.  You need less cumin than you think, you don't want this to taste like you used straight taco seasoning.

Stupid Hot Dog Tricks

As per Nate and Jesse's discussion of other fun things you can do with hot dogs, here are three stupid hot dog tricks, AKA fun little hacks you can do to step your game up.  Also note that for this photo series, Jesse used Hoffman's dogs, which Nate recommended in the 'How to Buy Hot Dogs' section.  They have a great porky flavor, and an excellent natural-casing snap.  Milder than beef dogs, but that's what porkers are all about.  

The Pistachio Pesto Move

This evil genius idea belongs to Nate.  As fine dining chefs, we often have extra components of dishes lying around, which is absolutely where this came from.  The pistachios play against the dog, and it tastes like hot Mortadella.  Amazing.  Note that grainy mustard is recommended.  (To make pistachio pesto, just throw a handful of pistachios (crushed with a skillet or chopped) into a bowl.  Add a big pinch of parsley and grate in a little raw garlic.  Moisten it all with olive oil (just enough to bind), season it with a pinch of salt and a drop of vinegar [I used Banyuls, but anything will do], and crush away.

The Pretzel Stick Move

Nate revealed that you can lay a few crushed pretzels in a dog but, but Jesse took it a step further.  A Snyder's pretzel rod guarantees a snappy crunch in every bite!  Mustard is required.  Not recommended, required.

Octo-Wiener!!!

Jesse learned this from an episode of The Tick (the comic book, not the TV show or the Cartoon, get outta here with that).  The mac is made from a nug of old, gnarly washed-rind cheese (Epoisses, but Taleggio or St. Nectaire would work, too) that was too stinky to eat.  I just let it come to room temp, whisked it into simmering cream, tightened it up with a little Wondra, and added a little mac.  The cream and pasta really smoothed out the nasty old cheese.  It's being guarded by OCTO-WIENER, TERROR OF THE DEEP!  Cut the dog in half, lengthwise, halfway through its length, rotate it 90 degrees, repeat, and watch in awe as it comes alive in boiling water.  Give it some clove eyes, and RELEASE THE KRACKEN.

Seriously, kids love this, and so do sufficiently immature adults.

Ok, join us next week to talk about our Culinary Mt. Rushmore!!!