MARY BRASWELL: Looking Back at hot dogs

The entire month of July is set aside as National Hot Dog Month. Wednesday is National Hot Dog Day. Here is a look back at this much-loved food item.

HISTORY

— While there are many thoughts concerning the origin of the hot dog, here is proof that the basic idea dates way, way back in time. Believed to have been written between 500 and 400 B.C., Homer’s “Odyssey” includes the following line: “As when a man beside a great fire has filled a sausage with fat and blood and turns it this way and that and is very eager to get it quickly roasted …”

— Emperor Nero’s chef, Gaius, is said to have prepared hot dogs, or something very similar to them, for his ruler.

— Officials in Frankfurt, Germany, say that hot dogs were invented in their city in 1487.

— Another tale is that a butcher named Johann Georghehner, who lived in Coburg, Germany, invented the hot dog during the late 1600s, and traveled to Frankfurt to promote his new food.

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Answer at the end of the column.

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— According to the Austrian city of Vienna, two Austro-Hungarian immigrants, Emil Reichel and Sam Ladany, invented the hot dog in their town. When the two men left Europe for Chicago, they took the recipe with them and sold hot dogs at the 1893 World’s Fair.

— According to some historians, in the 1880s, Antonoine Feuchtwanger began to sell hot dogs in St. Louis, Mo.

— By the 1890s, it is believed that Chris von der Ahe, a German immigrant who owned the St. Louis Browns, began to sell hot dogs at baseball games. Since then, hot dogs have been deeply rooted in American baseball culture.

THIS ’N’ THAT

— On July 4, 1916, four Irish immigrants held a hot dog eating contest to decide which of them was the most patriotic. The winner ate 13 hot dogs. On July 4, 2017, at Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island, Joey Chesnut ate 72 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. The first Oscar Meyer Weinermobile took to the road in 1935. To date, more people have been to outer space than have driven one of the six existing Weinermobiles.

— When hot dogs first became available at butcher shops, they were sold in varying amounts. It was not until the 1940s that the packaging became similar to what we see today.

— Jayne Mansfield was “Miss Hot Dog” in July 1950.

— Hot dogs are on the snack bar menu at the Vatican City.

— One classic meal item that crew members on the Apollo 11 mission actually reported as good were the hot dogs.

— Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Americans eat about 7 billion hot dogs.

— According to one 2014 survey, 71 percent of Americans put mustard on their hot dogs. Ketchup came in second place at 52 percent.

— The first words ever uttered by Disney’s Mickey Mouse were “Hot Dogs!” in the short film “The Karnival Kid” (1929).

— In honor of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, the Sara Lee Corporation created a hot dog 1,996 feet long.

THE VARSITY

— In 1928, with a $1,860 nest egg, Frank Gordy leased a house at 55 North Ave. in Atlanta and constructed a small brick building in its front yard. The 14-by-35-foot building had a six-stool counter inside and a walk-up window. Gordy named his restaurant The Varsity.

— On the first day of business, The Varsity served more than 300 customers and made $47.30. Hot dogs were a nickel each and the most expensive items on the menu cost a dime. Even on the day of the stock market crash that began the Great Depression, The Varsity posted $68.30 in receipts.

— Erby Walker went to work at The Varsity in 1952 at the age of 15 and stayed for 55 years. He would later say that he did not ask Gordy how much money he would be making, but how many hot dogs he would be able to eat.

— In 1948, Gordy expanded the restaurant to create two TV viewing rooms. Television broadcasts were still in their infancy. In Atlanta, WSB-TV went on air September 1948.

— On average, the downtown location of The Varsity serves two miles of hot dogs and 300 gallons of chili … daily.

“What’ll ya have… What’ll ya have?”

Hot Dog (hot dog with chili and mustard)

Heavy Weight (hot dog with extra chili)

Naked Dog (plain hot dog on a bun)

MK Dog (naked dog with mustard and ketchup)

Regular C Dog (hot dog with ketchup)

Red Dog (naked dog with ketchup)

Yellow Dog (naked dog with mustard)

Yankee Dog (plain dog with mustard)

Walk a Dog (hot dog to go)

ETIQUETTE

(From the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council)

— Always “dress the dog,” not the bun. Condiments should be applied in the following order: wet condiments like mustard and chili are applied first, followed by chunky condiments like relish, onions and sauerkraut, followed by shredded cheese, followed by spices, like celery salt or pepper.

— Eat hot dogs on buns with your hands. Utensils should not touch hot dogs on buns.

— It should take a maximum of five bites to finish a hotdog. Footlong dogs are permitted seven bites.

— Condiments remaining on the fingers after eating a hot dog should be licked away, not washed.

— Use paper plates and paper napkins to serve hot dogs. Everyday dishes are acceptable; China is a no-no, as are cloth napkins.

USDA RULES

— Hot dogs are cooked and/or smoked sausages prepared from one or more kinds of muscle meat or poultry (like chunks of stew meat).

— Water or rice, or both, may be used to help mix and blend seasonings, like salt, pepper, garlic, coriander, mustard and curing ingredients like sodium nitrite, that give hot dogs their characteristic color and flavor.

— Hot dogs may contain no more than 30 percent fat or 10 percent water.

— A tiny fraction (up to 3.5 percent) can be a non-meat binder like non-fat dry milk, cereal or dried whole milk) or it can be 2 percent isolated soy protein.

— The most important part of this definition is the content of meat or poultry. In fact, a hot dog without meat or poultry cannot be called a hot dog.

— All ingredients must appear on the package.

One more thing… At age 95, actress Betty White’s favorite foods are hot dogs and french fries.

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected]. Follow @ABH_MBraswell on Twitter

QUIK QUIZ ANSWER: a) Humphrey Bogart