The Hot Dog is Haute

    The hot dog is back in vogue with a vengeance—and with a brand-new pedigree. If food pundits are correct, this new breed of hot dog just may shove the burger aside as our favorite summertime food. Our sources tell us why the hot dog is suddenly haute.

    When the editors of epicurious.com—the website for people who love to eat—looked into their crystal ball for 2007, one prediction begged attention: The hot dog takes the burger’s spot this summer. With the hot dog season in full swing from Memorial Day to Labor Day, this was a trend we could sink our teeth into.

Megan Steintrager, senior editor at epicurious.com, says the burger held the spotlight for a while, with chefs gussying it up and taking it to new heights. “Now chefs are focusing on the hot dog, especially if they’re made from grass-fed beef. People are always looking for that next reinvention of childhood comfort food. Small manufacturers have stopped using nitrates and we’re seeing more of that grass-fed beef trend in hot dogs.”

    Steintrager says she lives dangerously close to the Shake Shack in New York City where they serve Niman Ranch hot dogs. “Hot dogs are fun to eat and they’re very portable. And they hark back to our childhood memories. Our palates evolve but we still crave them.”

    Despite stiff competition from other foods on ballpark menus, the wiener maintains “top dog” status at baseball stadiums around the country. “I’m a ballpark hot dog eater, too,” says Steintrager. “It’s part of the whole ballpark experience.”

    Ted Hall, general partner of Long Meadow Ranch in the Mayacamas Mountains above Napa Valley, has always been a fan of the hot dog. “The hot dog is associated with family gatherings, Fourth of July, backyard picnics, Boy Scout trips, baseball games.

    “For many young people, the hot dog may have been their first cooking experience. My favorite hot dog memory is of being a Boy Scout, camping and cooking a hot dog over a campfire.” Hall says that Long Meadow Ranch has been making hot dogs from their grass-fed Highland Beef for three years. They raise the cattle without hormones or artificial supplements, and make the hot dogs without the preservatives typically used in commercial hot dogs.

    “Our hot dogs have no nitrates, no Red Dye No. 2 or any colorant. Because we use a process that cures the dog to congeal on the exterior, our hot dogs are skinless. They’re not fat-free but they are nutritious because we only use the boneless trim—bits of filet mignon, rib eye, rump, flank and round.” Hall and his wife Laddie often bring their hot dogs to parties. “When we’re asked to bring an hors d’oeuvre to a pot luck, we grill our hot dogs and bring a variety of mustards. It’s not what people expect but they love them.”

    Even Bill Niman—the guru of grass-fed beef and the man who single-handedly changed the face of the meat trade for American consumers—loves hot dogs. “It’s my favorite food. The hot dog meets all sorts of compelling needs: It’s convenient, it’s hand-held and it tastes great.”

    Niman prides himself on raising the bar of excellence when it comes to natural and humane meat production in America. When you buy Niman Ranch meat, you can be certain that the animal was humanely treated and slaughtered, that it was pasture-raised, that it lived outdoors in a traditional farm setting, and that it wasn’t fed growth hormones and antibiotics.

    He began farming over 30 years ago in Marin County and by the mid-1990s, Niman Ranch was born as a national distribution company for hundreds of small farmers who raise their pigs and cattle the old-fashioned way.

    Niman started producing 100 percent grass-fed beef hot dogs in 1995. “I tasted a bunch of franks and we asked San Francisco-based Schwarz to make hot dogs with our meat. We call them Fearless Franks because their origins are above reproach.”

    Niman, who’s become the rock star of meat, says that Americans have changed how they eat. “We’re not eating to fill up anymore. We’re focused on the essential experience of eating. We almost abandoned hot dogs because so many odd things were being ground up and added to them. Now we have great-tasting hot dogs because they’re made out of great beef, humanely raised—and people have come back. Hot dogs are chic. They’re a wonderful, positive return to Americana. Why eat steak when you can have a great hot dog?”

    You can buy Long Meadow Ranch 100 percent grass-fed beef hot dogs (five to a pound in five-pound packs for $29.99) online at longmeadowranch.com. Niman Ranch Fearless Franks are available at Trader Joe’s (four to a pound for $3.99) or online at nimanranch.com.

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