Preparing the perfect hot dog
If there's one food Chicago can call its own, it's the hotdog.
And Americans love their dogs - we'll eating about 150 million this holiday weekend alone!
So where better for "The Early Show on Saturday Morning" to head in its "Taste of America" food festival search for the best hotdogs in the nation but the Windy City?
That's where we found them - at the Superdawg Drive-in, where owner Don Drucker showed viewers how to arrive in hotdog Nirvana.
They've been making super dogs at Superdawg for 60 years!
Enjoy all our "Early Show" recipes!
Why are hotdogs so popular in Chicago -- what's the history behind that?
It stems from the Great Depression; also from the World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893; that's where it really caught on. It was cheap and easy to eat and you got a lot of bang for your buck.
What kind of meat do you use?
Pure beef from a Midwest farm. It's generically originated as a hot dog, but we have a special recipe for the smoking of the ingredients, and we have a special combination of the spices and the curing of it. If you don't use great meat, it doesn't matter how you many condiments you load onto the sandwich.
What do you recommend people look for in the supermarket?
Look for the highest quality sausages you can find. It's going to cost you more that you would pay for the value-pack but you'll be happy you did.
How do you cook the dog?
We boil our dogs. Some people grill it, but we found that this is the best way to keep the flavor. Bring the water to a boil and cook for about 15 minutes. Once it's finished, get it on the bun immediately. There's no need to let a hotdogs sit the way you do with other meats.
How do we prep the bun?
For a warm, soft bun that compliments the hotdog, you are going to want to steam it for about 4minutes. You can do this at home with a vegetable steamer.
Why do you use poppy seed buns?
The poppy seeds add a nice crunch and color that makes the sandwich complete.
The quintessential Chicago-style hotdog has a very exact set of condiments
We use the term "Dragged through Garden" which means that the sandwich is loaded with vegetables. Our service is such that we are very, very particular about the condiments that accompany it. The symphony of colors, the golden mustard, the very neon green relish and only white onions, served with a hunk of dill pickle and a green pickled tomato, with upon choice very hot sport peppers.
The green instead of red tomatoes are a Superdawg twist.
Why no ketchup on your dogs?
From the Superdawg website: As a youngster, having been a hot dog aficionado, and we think very, very special selectors of that which was the best of the hot dog breed, ketchup was never served nor applied. In later years it became something desirable by so many of the young people, but we standing true, not only to tradition but to what we feel is an abomination; we will not put ketchup on a sandwich. We will serve it, and if somebody wants to mess it up with ketchup, we will serve it for them.