“I don’t assume we have now sufficient scorching canine,” Julianne Moore’s character whispers gloomily in Todd Haynes’s 2023 movie Might December. The scene that shortly grew to become iconic on-line for the way amusingly melodramatic it is usually captures, maybe inadvertently, America’s unusual relationship with the rectangular meals. Is there such a factor as having sufficient scorching canine? As a tradition, the reply appears to be no. The Nationwide Sizzling Canine and Sausage Council estimates that we eat someplace within the area of 20 billion scorching canine yearly, or about 70 per particular person. (Sizzling canine consuming contest champion Joey Chestnut as soon as downed a document 76 in 10 minutes.)
The recent canine’s recognition isn’t precisely shocking. It’s an undemanding meals, coming to you precooked and able to eat. It’s really easy to make {that a} little one might do it, and certainly many people did as youngsters. In the course of the Covid lockdown, when different folks had their scorching woman walks, I entered my scorching canine period, consuming nothing else for every week straight within the stifling kitchen of my residence. It turned out that I wasn’t alone: In March 2020, scorching canine gross sales had been already up by 127 p.c for the yr.
“We noticed, through the pandemic, fairly giant spikes in hotdog consumption,” says Eric Mittenthal, president of the Nationwide Sizzling Canine and Sausage Council. “Notably as households had been caught at house, they wished one thing straightforward and handy to make.” In keeping with Nielsen knowledge, about 944 million kilos of scorching canine had been offered at grocery shops in 2020 — final yr, about 896 million kilos.
When you’re in search of low-cost and straightforward, few meals match the invoice in addition to the new canine. But regardless of the new canine’s affordability and recognition, it’s additionally undeniably a bizarre meals. For one, the habits round when and the way they’re sometimes consumed are fairly restricted; they’re not your ordinary lunch or time for supper consideration the way in which a sandwich or supply pizza is likely to be. We are likely to make them at house for yard barbecues, or as a straightforward meal for youths, or eat them once we’re out, however they’re extra intently related to ballparks and seashores than eating places. For all their ubiquity and straightforward consumability — you may simply down a scorching canine with one hand — they can be considerably tough for meat producers and eating places to promote as a result of there’s perennial wariness over the standard of the thriller meat. A scorching canine is likely to be a quintessential American meals, however it’s additionally the quintessential odd meals — in origin, the way in which it’s made, the way in which we discuss it, even its very form.
When you’re a scorching canine lover, thank the German immigrants who got here to the US in enormous waves within the nineteenth century, porting over their love of sausages and beer gardens.
“It originated as a house meals amongst Germans, after which went to the road, the place it grew to become commodified as an inexpensive product to be eaten on the run by immigrants,” says Bruce Kraig, a historian who has written two books about the culinary and cultural historical past of the new canine. “It’s form of poor of us’ meals.”
Road meals itself boomed with the rise of public amusement and leisure as extra People obtained time away from continually working, a novel phenomenon. Prime amongst public amusements: baseball video games and seaside boardwalks, like Asbury Park in New Jersey. Early distributors had been largely poor immigrants promoting the bun-and-wiener combo for a nickel a pop, and scorching canine had been such a success as a result of they had been comparatively low-cost to each purchase and promote. As scorching canine carts popped up coast to coast within the early twentieth century, just a few fortunate enterprising souls struck it wealthy from their scorching canine enterprise — like Nathan Handwerker, founding father of the Nathan’s Well-known scorching canine chain that crowds flock to on Coney Island to this present day.
Virtually 40 p.c of the billions of scorching canine consumed within the US yearly are eaten between Memorial Day and Labor Day
Due to its affiliation with leisure — particularly, being out and about in heat climate — scorching canine additionally grew to become indelibly related to {the summertime}. At present, virtually 40 p.c of the billions of scorching canine consumed within the US yearly are eaten between Memorial Day and Labor Day. (Sizzling canine gross sales at baseball video games don’t make up as a lot of whole gross sales as one may assume: solely about 20 million per yr, in line with the Nationwide Sizzling Canine and Sausage Council.)
For the, ahem, large canine of the business — billion-dollar corporations usually owned by even bigger meals conglomerates — enterprise has been fairly good the previous few years. In 2021 particularly, revenue margins within the meat processing business jumped as corporations raised costs. Tyson Meals, which owns the favored Ball Park Franks scorching canine model, made a whopping $1.46 billionrevenue in simply their ready meals class (which incorporates deli meat and scorching canine) in 2021, in comparison with $743 million in 2020 and $746 million in 2022.
In in style tradition, scorching canine usually talk some form of absurdity. (See: the viral I Assume You Ought to Depart sketch.) A current TikTok development requested folks what they’d yell in the event that they had been a scorching canine hawker at a baseball recreation; since 2020 there’s been an uptick in individuals who aren’t from Washington, DC, calling scorching canine “glizzies” throughout social media. There’s additionally a long-running on-line obsession with the filth low-cost Costco scorching canine, a reliable go-to in an financial system that feels extra topsy turvy each day — you may even purchase a Costco scorching canine memecoin.
The double-edged sword of being low-cost
At Costco, a scorching canine and drink combo continues to be $1.50, a value that has not budged since 1985. (Sam’s Membership has its personal rival low-cost scorching canine.) Sizzling canine stay fairly inexpensive in comparison with different meal choices — however at different locations, they weren’t resistant to inflation. Costs for frankfurters went up 7.3 p.c from Might 2023 to Might 2024. A fundamental scorching canine at Nathan’s is now $5.99 on Coney Island. Pushcart distributors inside New York Metropolis parks aren’t allowed to cost greater than $4 per scorching canine.
When you’re making them at house or bringing them to somebody’s yard cookout, although, they’re a fairly whole lot: In keeping with the most recent out there Client Worth Index knowledge on frankfurters, the common value per pound in April 2022 was $5.22. At Walmart, some Oscar Mayer beef franks are $4.19 per pound, however there’s additionally an eight-pack of Bar S model scorching canine out there for simply $1.18, on the time of writing.
It’s good to have a reasonable meals choice when grocery and restaurant costs have shot up, however being too low-cost additionally fuels the priority that folks have all the time had concerning the meals. What’s in that meat? Perhaps you don’t truly need the most affordable wiener cash should purchase. “Sizzling canine have all the time been suspicious within the American thoughts,” says Kraig. Within the early nineteenth century, Kraig experiences in his ebook, People would joke about every kind of substances — rats, stray canine, feces — making it into the meat grinder. One 2018 client survey from Applegate (which promotes its uncured scorching canine as cleaner and better high quality), claimed that 43 p.c of respondents had been “scared” to know what was in scorching canine.
“I feel there was a second for fancy scorching canine,” says Soleil Ho, a meals author and cultural critic on the San Francisco Chronicle. Makes an attempt to elevate the common-or-garden frankfurter embrace a $29 model at Manhattan’s Mischa that got here with a complete host of sauces and toppings you would adorn your sausage with, together with kimchi and pimento cheese, that Eater critic Robert Sietsema reluctantly adored. (Sadly, the restaurant closed down earlier this yr.) However they’ve largely gone the way in which of the fancy cupcake craze of the early 2000s.
The bizarre method we devour scorching canine
There’s one thing unusually particular concerning the events the place it’s regular to have a scorching canine: at somebody’s yard cookout, at sports activities video games, at an airport, on a first-time journey to the Large Apple (however solely from a avenue cart), on the movie show should you’re feeling a bit of freaky, earlier than or after an exhausting procuring journey at Costco, or maybe throughout a scorching canine consuming contest. You most likely wouldn’t go to a fast-casual restaurant, and even most fast-food chains, and determine to have a scorching canine on a whim after you browse the menu.
Hamburgers, then again, had been actively promoted as a hearty choice People may frequently need to eat, because of McDonald’s and different burger chains popping up alongside the huge, newly constructed US freeway system after World Conflict II. “Hamburger tradition unfold in all places,” says Kraig. The burger was considered a extra meaty meal, whereas a scorching canine was extra about enjoyable.
Kraig notes that a number of chains have definitely tried to promote scorching canine, however “they’ve by no means fairly made it.” Established chains, together with Burger King and McDonald’s, have tried providing scorching canine as soon as upon a time, solely to discontinue them as a result of they weren’t extremely popular or as a result of the thriller meat was deemed too low-quality even for quick meals. Carl’s Jr. truly began as a scorching canine stand, however now could be extra recognized for its burgers and overtly sexual advertisements; it doesn’t even have scorching canine on its menu anymore.
Burger King and McDonald’s have tried providing scorching canine, solely to discontinue them as a result of they weren’t extremely popular
The closest factor we’d need to a nationwide scorching canine chain is Nathan’s Well-known, however it solely has 230 franchise places throughout 17 US states, with a big portion of places in New York, New Jersey, and Florida (there are none in California). Its scorching canine are additionally out there in just a few different international locations, together with at Ukrainian gasoline stations. It additionally now sells wings, burgers, milkshakes, and extra, branching out far past frankfurters. These storefronts aren’t the principle method the corporate makes cash, both — an enormous portion of its income comes from licensing its model of sausages to different institutions with scorching canine on their menus (like casinos, amusements parks, sports activities video games), or by promoting Nathan’s model wieners in grocery shops. Its income from eating places in 2024 was simply $5.4 million, whereas its whole gross sales had been $138.6 million.
In the case of avenue distributors, People’ tastes have moved on to different, newer meals immigrants have dropped at the nation, whether or not that’s a taco truck or a halal cart. And that’s when you’ll find avenue meals in any respect: Large cities, together with San Francisco and New York, have been shutting down or imposing penalties on avenue distributors, usually for not having correct licenses that may be extraordinarily costly and troublesome to acquire.
Such impartial sellers helped construct the new canine’s enormous presence in American culinary custom — distributors in varied components of the nation would put their very own spin on the quick meals staple, turning it from only a sad-looking cylinder of reddish-brown sausage in a squished bun to one thing delightfully bizarre. The Chicago canine, for instance, is stuffed to the gills with tomato slices, a complete dill pickle, chopped onions, and relish, all on a poppy seed bun and, crucially, no ketchup. In New Jersey, there’s a well-known deep-fried scorching canine that appears like a scrumptious coronary heart assault. Folks are likely to have robust emotions about their regional scorching canine fashion — and even about newer fusion types — which additionally helps clarify why there isn’t a nationwide chain promoting a typical scorching canine to People in all places.
“I really feel like most individuals don’t exit for warm canine,” says Ho. “It’s like going out for a easy bowl of rice or a bit of toast.”
The truth that there isn’t an enormous scorching canine chain could also be a part of the meal’s attraction. It nonetheless evokes reminiscences of a person promoting them out of their humble cart, or a member of the family grilling them within the yard, or an inexpensive snack supplied to drained consumers that Costco doesn’t appear to thoughts taking a loss on. It’s this ultra-processed, mass-produced meals that’s nonetheless steeped in home nostalgia. On the identical time, the new canine is a bit of bit — properly, possibly greater than a bit of bit — gross. You’re drawn to its good portion dimension, its one-handed portability, however the creativeness conjures pictures of the sharp blades of a dirty, terrifying meat grinder. The thoughts resists getting too near the inscrutable scorching canine’s true nature.
