What’s a corn dog, you might ask?
After shedding a quick tear that you’ve never tried one before, any happy USA-ian would gladly tell you… it’s a sausage, usually a ‘normal’ hot dog, wrapped in deep fried corn meal batter. And it’s amazing! Let’s take a closer look at this warm, homesickness-quenching treat.
Newly arrived German sausage-makers to Texas, finding resistance to the sausages they used to make back in Germany, have been credited with introducing the corn dog to the United States, though the serving stick came a bit later.
A US patent filed in 1927, granted in 1929, for a “Combined Dipping, Cooking, and Article Holding Apparatus,” describes corn dogs, among other fried food impaled on a stick; it reads in part:
“I have discovered that articles of food such, for instance, as wieners, boiled ham, hard boiled eggs, cheese, sliced peaches, pineapples, bananas and like fruit, and cherries, dates, figs, strawberries, etc., when impaled on sticks and dipped in batter, which includes in its ingredients a self rising flour, and then deep fried in a vegetable oil at a temperature of about 390 °F [200 °C], the resultant food product on a stick for a handle is a clean, wholesome and tasty refreshment.”
That might be the most mouthwateringly awesome patent file you will ever read. God Bless America.
A number of current corn dog vendors claim responsibility for the invention and/or popularization of the corn dog:
Carl and Neil Fletcher lay such a claim, having introduced their “Corny Dogs” at the Texas State Fair sometime between 1938 and 1942.
The Pronto Pup vendors at the Minnesota State Fair claim to have invented the corn dog in 1941.
A common sight at state fairs around the USA
Cozy Dog Drive-in, in Springfield, Illinois, claims to have been the first to serve corn dogs on sticks, on June 16, 1946.
Also in 1946, Dave Barham opened the first location of Hot Dog on a Stick at Muscle Beach, Santa Monica, California.
For most, the common condiments you put on a corn dog are just plain ketchup and mustard. But there are some crazies who might try to convince you to put relish or even mayonaisse on it. Don’t listen to them.
The standard yellow mustard will suffice.
Corn dogs at Disneyland!
Even babies love corn dogs~
There’s also a vegetarian option!
How to make
Corn Dogs
Basic Ingredients:
6 wooden skewers
六个木制串
6 hot dogs
六个热狗
1 pot of vegetable oil
植物油
0.80 Cup flour
100g 面粉
0.40 Cup cornmeal
70g 玉米面
2 Tbsp Sugar
24g 白糖
1 egg, beaten
一个鸡蛋
0.43 Cup milk
100ml 牛奶
A pinch of salt
1.5g 盐
A pinch of baking powder
1.5g 泡打粉
Yellow Mustard to taste
黄芥末酱
Instructions:
1) First, stick all the wooden skewers inside the hot dogs. (Also, get the vegetable oil cookin’…)
2) Mix all the dry ingredients together
3) Stir in the beaten egg and half the milk
4) Pour the rest of the milk and stir to smoothness
5) Add batter to a tall glass
6) Dip hot dogs in the batter until fully covered
7) Deep fry those dogs to perfection!
And here’s a funny British man MyVirginKitchen to show you how to put it all together and wrap it all up nicely:
Please send us your recipes and photos of your own creations! We promise not to drool too much…