The Crabby Cook - by Jessica Harper

Okay, so Tuesday I posted something on my Blahblahblog about the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile and then Wednesday, there it was: a piece I the New York Times Dining section about…Oscar Meyer. I know, I’m prescient, right? OMG.

Specifically the article was about the dozens of hotdogueros (hot dog vendors) in Tuscon, who sell Sonoran-style hot dogs, which are wrapped in bacon before grilling. Supposedly the bacon dog was invented by our pal Oscar, back in the fifties, in an attempt to sell more of his piggy product. Somehow, Mexicans picked up on this idea, and it evolved into a thing Mexican-Americans call their own: a bacon-wrapped dog topped with beans, chopped tomatoes, salsa verde and a squirt of mayo.

Okay, I had to try this, and I felt it was essential to make it in Oscar’s honor, so I bought his brand of wieners and bacon, which frankly (pun intended), I never do. (I’m with my friend Jean, who says Hebrew National is the way to go.)

Of course the result was a thing of beauty—hot dog, bacon, what’s not to like? I was too lazy to make beans or to procure salsa verde but I did make guacamole and added a little chopped tomato just to cozy up to the Sonoran version. If I had been slightly more energetic and if it wasn’t 103º I might have cooked up some onions and jalapenos to add to the mess. I might have rolled the whole thing in a tortilla, too, but then I would not have been able to take the picture featured here, which I could not resist taking before I applied the toppings.

Sorta Sonoran-style Hot Dogs

4 hot dogs

8 pieces of bacon

2 plum tomatoes, large-diced

½ teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

Salt and pepper

4 hot dog buns (or 4 8-inch flour tortillas, wrapped in foil and warmed in a 300º oven for ten minutes).

1 cup guacamole

1. Wrap each hot dog, candy-cane style, in bacon, using 1 ½-2 slices per hot dog. Fry the wrapped dogs in a non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat, turning frequently, until the bacon is very crisp.

2. Meanwhile, combine the tomatoes, garlic and cilantro and a sprinkle of salt and pepper in a small bowl. When the hot dogs are ready, place them on buns (or on tortillas). Top with a scoop of guacamole, and a spoonful of the tomato mixture.  (If you’re using tortillas, roll them up at this point.) Eat.

Tags: bacon dogs, hotdogueros, Mexican food, Sonoran-style, Tuscon

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 27th, 2009 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Meat Me, Soup 'n Sandwich. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.