The Origin and Names of Hot Dogs
A hot dog is a dish consisting of a grilled, steamed, or boiled sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The sausage used is a wiener (Vienna sausage) or a frankfurter (Frankfurter Würstchen, also just called frank). The names of these sausages commonly refer to their assembled dish. Hot dog preparation and condiments vary worldwide.
The term dog has been used as a synonym for sausage since the 1800s, possibly from accusations that sausage makers used dog meat in their sausages. In Germany the consumption of dog meat was common in Saxony, Silesia, Anhalt, and Bavaria during the 19th and 20th centuries.
"Hot dog" means a whole, cured, cooked sausage that is skinless or stuffed in a casing, that may be known as a Frankfurter, frank, furter, wiener, red hot, Vienna, Bologna, garlic Bologna, or knockwurst, and that may be served in a bun or roll. Culinary historians, including Kraig, indicate the term began appearing in college magazines in the 1890s. The name was a sarcastic comment on the provenance of the meat.
Hot Dogs in the United States
In the US, the term hot dog refers to both the sausage by itself and the combination of sausage and bun. Many nicknames applying to either have emerged over the years, including frankfurter, frank, wiener, weenie, coney, and red hot. References to dachshund sausages and ultimately hot dogs can be traced to German immigrants in the 1800s.
The name “frankfurter” comes from the fact that a popular hot dog-like sausage was originally made in Frankfurt Germany. Frankfurter meaning “of Frankfurt”. The name was brought over to America by German immigrants in the late 19th century.
One strong claim to hot dog history comes from Harry M. Stevens, who was a food concessionaire. This claim mentions that Stevens, while working at the New York Polo Grounds in 1901, came upon the idea of using small French rolls to hold the sausages when the waxed paper they were using ran out.
Alternative Names and Historical Trivia
What is the another name for hot dog? What is the slang term for hot dogs?
A hot dog, also known as a frankfurter, frank, wiener, weenie, coney, and red hot, is a type of sausage originating from Frankfurt Germany and later popularized in the United States. Various stories exist about the introduction of the hot dog as we know it today, each with varying details and claims of origin.