A Little Trashy, A Little Classy

I'm glad you could make it back for another post. This time around, I'm going to have to ask you for a small favor: I need you to be open minded for a minute. What I'm about to pitch to you may sound crazy. It may sound a little scary to some of you, and a few of you might be downright appalled. All I want is for you to walk down this road with me a little bit before you make your final decision. Can you do that for a brotha?

So, why such a lead in like that? Because what you see pictured at the top of this page I can best describe by calling them hot dog fritters. Yes, those deep fried rounds are ground up hot dogs. And those yellow and red streaks on the plate are ketchup and mustard.

To some, that might not sound so bad. The thing is, when I first told a few friends and coworkers that I was going to make this for the blog, almost everyone looked at me like I had a 4th leg growing out of my forehead. Even my own mom had a look of puzzlement and disgust on her face when I told her about this. I almost considered just forgetting about it. Maybe it was just something better left as an idea.

Like I said, almost everyone thought I was crazy. One person thought that it could be something pretty cool. That one person is Aimee, my cool coworker who I always go to when it comes to my blog. She listened to the whole process and said "It sounds a little white-trash with the hot dogs, but the prep is classy. It's almost like pub food. Ya' know, a little trashy, a little classy."

After my conversation with Aimee, I knew I had to try it. Little did she know that she unknowingly named this post. Thanks a bunch Aimee!

This all came about because of two main reasons: I wanted to play around with the presentation of a hot dog and I was looking for something else to run through my meat grinder. Don't ask me why on the first part, it's probably because of drugs or something. But the meat grinder is simply fun! I could have easily just used a food processor to blend up the dogs, but I didn't want a paste. AND, it's not as fun to use as the meat grinder!

Enough foreplay! Let's get this freak show underway!

I started by grinding up two all beef hot dogs. I prefer Hebrew Nationals, but you can use any dog you like. Except the neighbors dog.

I know, it doesn't look too pretty there. Don't leave just yet! It's going to get better!

From here, I added relish, sautéed garlic, 1 egg yolk and some Italian bread crumbs.

After mixing until combined, I set the mix to the side and cubed up some smoked cheddar that I would put in the center of each fritter.

I used a small scoop to portion the fritters. When I had my portions set, I pushed the cheese in the center of each portion and rounded them out between my hands, making sure the cheese was completely covered.

At this point, I started to get my oil hot. I was aiming for 375 degrees Fahrenheit, but I guess 350 is just as good. I don't deep fry that much, so I'm not sure which temp is better.

Now it's time to bread these things. For this, I went with the standard flour-egg wash-panko bread crumb set up.

After the breading, it looked like this:

I don't have any pics of the actual deep frying, but it only took about 3 or 4 minutes at the most. Once they got a nice color to them, I took them out of the hot oil bath.

I know you are supposed to salt deep fried goodies right out of the oil, but hot dogs can be salty on their own. So, I put the tiniest bit of salt on the first batch. I left the second batch alone, just in case.

I set up my plate and took a bunch of pictures that I would end up deleting because most of them were shit. Here is the only other plate-up pic that made the cut:

Luckily, I had some friends over that I could use as test subjects. They knew I was cooking, but they didn't know what it was. Perfect!

I brought them out and everyone took a bite, and......

 

We all liked it! My friends Justin and Norma both said that they liked the stringy, cheesy center the best. But, I could see that they couldn't quite figure out what the rest of it was. When I told them that it was made using hot dogs, Justin yelled "I knew it tasted like hot dog! I didn't want to say it in case you used a good meat!" That made me laugh because if that was true that I used a good cut of beef, and someone said it tastes like hot dogs, I would be like "This isn't fucking hot dog! It's corned beef you dick!" But, we all know the not-so-pretty truth in this case.

Honestly, it was a tasty little treat. Nice crunch with the panko. The hot dog mix was kicked up with the relish and garlic mixed into it. But that cheesy center sealed the deal. Without that center, it wouldn't have been nearly as good.

The real kicker is that my mom tried it and said she liked it. I don't think she said that just to spare my feeling either!

There you have it. What do you think? Have I made a fun little appetizer, or have I committed a crime against the culinary world? Let me know what you think!

I'm out.