Hot dog phobia

Hi everyone:

First, I want to say that I love hot dogs, just love them. Always have. Especially a big kosher dog off the grill or a Vienna beef dog from one of the many great dog stands in Chicago.

The problem is, I sometimes have trouble ordering one, mainly because I'm a little grossed out thinking about how they're made and what might be in them. Does anyone else have this problem? Am I making too much out of nothing here? Help me get over this phobia.

Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by danimal15

Hi everyone:

First, I want to say that I love hot dogs, just love them. Always have. Especially a big kosher dog off the grill or a Vienna beef dog from one of the many great dog stands in Chicago.

The problem is, I sometimes have trouble ordering one, mainly because I'm a little grossed out thinking about how they're made and what might be in them. Does anyone else have this problem? Am I making too much out of nothing here? Help me get over this phobia.

Thanks.

Maybe your ancestry goes back to the pioneers of the French isle Bians. These island dwellers, too, had averse reactions to hot dogs. In fact, "Les Bians" -- as the French called them -- brought this same food fear to America in the 19th century where they founded Smith College.

quote:

Originally posted by i95

quote:

Originally posted by danimal15

Hi everyone:

First, I want to say that I love hot dogs, just love them. Always have. Especially a big kosher dog off the grill or a Vienna beef dog from one of the many great dog stands in Chicago.

The problem is, I sometimes have trouble ordering one, mainly because I'm a little grossed out thinking about how they're made and what might be in them. Does anyone else have this problem? Am I making too much out of nothing here? Help me get over this phobia.

Thanks.

Maybe your ancestry goes back to the pioneers of the French isle Bians. These island dwellers, too, had averse reactions to hot dogs. In fact, "Les Bians" -- as the French called them -- brought this same food fear to America in the 19th century where they founded Smith College.

I thought they founded Sarah Lawrence.

phobias are difficult things to get over mainly because no amount of logic can tame them... I've found immersion therapy the best thing for them.. Eat more hotdogs! There are miniscule amounts of normally unnacceptable things in pretty much everything we eat.. if you thought about it, you'd never eat a thing.. we are hearty people, we can take a lot and not get sick.

Watch "A Hot Dog Program" on Channel 11 (WTTW). There is a clip of the Vienna Sausage Company on Damen & Fullerton that details the process of making a hot dog. I was given a personal tour of that plant before opening my hot dog business. The plant is absolutely immaculate and the quality of product is second to none. No fillers or additives are used in their products. If you have a phobia about hot dogs, it shouldn't include Vienna Beef products.

Thanks, everyone. I'm pleased to hear that Vienna Beef's facilities appear to be above reproach, as those are my favorite dogs. I guess my phobia has something to do with ground beef, as well, which is why I've avoided hamburgers the last few years. I spent five years as a journalist writing about the beef industry, and I've read recent books about how the big beef producers do business. None of that has me wanting to go out and eat the stuff, though I agree it's quite tasty.

I actually saw bloooood sausage for the 1st time yesterday at the supermarket. Now, that's a phobia-inducing food if I ever saw one.

I'm glad to hear that of Vienna. I buy Hebrew Nationals, Hoffmans, or Liehs and Stiegerwalds. I see the people at Steigerwalds who make my dogs, (and I can find out where they live), and I'm confident that the folks at Hebrew and Hoffmans really care about what goes into their dogs.

Pilgram, Oscar Meyer...well that's another story.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

quote:

Originally posted by i95

quote:

Originally posted by danimal15

Hi everyone:

First, I want to say that I love hot dogs, just love them. Always have. Especially a big kosher dog off the grill or a Vienna beef dog from one of the many great dog stands in Chicago.

The problem is, I sometimes have trouble ordering one, mainly because I'm a little grossed out thinking about how they're made and what might be in them. Does anyone else have this problem? Am I making too much out of nothing here? Help me get over this phobia.

Thanks.

Maybe your ancestry goes back to the pioneers of the French isle Bians. These island dwellers, too, had averse reactions to hot dogs. In fact, "Les Bians" -- as the French called them -- brought this same food fear to America in the 19th century where they founded Smith College.

I thought they founded Sarah Lawrence.

Silly me. I thought they were the ones who invented liquor licenses.

quote:

Originally posted by i95

Maybe your ancestry goes back to the pioneers of the French isle Bians. These island dwellers, too, had averse reactions to hot dogs. In fact, "Les Bians" -- as the French called them -- brought this same food fear to America in the 19th century where they founded Smith College.

i95, I simply could not envision living with you.

I bet his wife thinks that on a regular basis.

In addition to Vienna (I have no experience with them), kosher dogs are above reproach. They go beyond federal guidelines by the simple nature of the kosher process.

Hebrew National and Best Kosher are owned by ConAgra but are run totally different than their other brands.

There are other smaller kosher brands that are also excellent. Abeles and Heymann, 999, etc.

I too fear the big brands a bit. Reading the ingredients is a lesson in chemistry sometimes. Even Nathans, for all the love people have for that brand, put lots of fillers and crap in their hotdogs.

Are you sure about that kosher thing?

There are plenty of cuts of meat that are kosher that I know I don't want to eat...

FYI, Vienna is not a kosher hot dog. Kosher products have a flavor profile which duplicates Vienna's flavor. Vienna products are not produced with koshered meats, which refers to the ritual beef slaughter and salting of the meat.

quote:

Originally posted by renfrew
Hebrew National and Best Kosher are owned by ConAgra....

Man, I wish you hadn't told me that...I hope you're right about the management!

quote:

Originally posted by danimal15

Hi everyone:

First, I want to say that I love hot dogs, just love them. Always have. Especially a big kosher dog off the grill or a Vienna beef dog from one of the many great dog stands in Chicago.

The problem is, I sometimes have trouble ordering one, mainly because I'm a little grossed out thinking about how they're made and what might be in them. Does anyone else have this problem? Am I making too much out of nothing here? Help me get over this phobia.

Thanks.

As mentioned above, the quality dogs are just that, Quality! My phobia is seeing them hauled out of a dirty water steamer or boiler.. Not that it affects the taste, just dont care to see it! But I love my Chili Dogs! One of these days I know they'll come back and bite me, but until then, I'm enjoying EVERYYYYY Minute of them!

quote:

Originally posted by Kristi S.

i95, I simply could not envision living with you.

But could you envision life without me? On second thought. Don't answer that.

P.S. Shannen, er...Kristi, is there any chance that your PRE-edited message actually read, "i95, I simply could not envision living withOUT you" and that that awfully jealous tart of a moderator meowzart carefully edited out as much?

Hey, everyone, CAT FIGHT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Goose

I bet his wife thinks that on a regular basis.

Actually, THIS is how my wife
reacts to me on a regular basis:


Lucky woman, that Mrs. i95 is.

HHMMMMM, Maybe i better stick around for a bit. I see a dark future for this thread.

Do you mean dark like this

Sorry for the mixup, never implied Vienna was a kosher dog.

As for HN and Best's, the kashruth supervising agency ensures that no funny business goes on.

Kosher meat is only taken from the forequarters of the animal. Kosher laws are stricter than U.S. Department of Agriculture standards when it comes to the health of animals that can be eaten. They prohibit, for example, using cows with broken bones or animals that are visibly sick. The laws strictly dictate how the animals are fed, killed and processed. After USDA inspectors finish their work, rabbis trained in veterinary science and kosher law perform additional inspections, rejecting about three times more than what the USDA does.

That being said if you have serious fears about what goes into your hot dog, kosher is a good way to go.

Remember, i am not saying it is the ultimate in taste as thats personal opinion. But if you are looking at it from a safety angle, a kosher dog is a winner.

No apologies necessary. Most people think Vienna Beef hot dogs are kosher, including me, until I went into the business.

quote:

Originally posted by i95

quote:

Originally posted by Kristi S.

i95, I simply could not envision living with you.

But could you envision life without me? On second thought. Don't answer that.

P.S. Shannen, er...Kristi, is there any chance that your PRE-edited message actually read, "i95, I simply could not envision living withOUT you" and that that awfully jealous tart of a moderator meowzart carefully edited out as much?

Hey, everyone, CAT FIGHT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

danny's drive-in in stratford ct. has the best chili dogs! it's meatless chili really a sauce and it's hotstuff!!! grrrrreat!!

Probably people think brands like Vienna and Nathans are kosher due to the fact they were started by jews. Maybe at the beginning they did use kosher meat.

Vienna confuses the issue even further i think with their kosher packaged line of foods.

quote:

Originally posted by i95

quote:

Originally posted by Goose

I bet his wife thinks that on a regular basis.

Actually, THIS is how my wife
reacts to me on a regular basis:


Lucky woman, that Mrs. i95 is.

So your wife is in pain much of the time? Or is that woman about to have a nervous breakdown?

I am actually surprised i95 can get a woman that pretty.

quote:

Originally posted by Jennifer_4

So your wife is in pain much of the time? Or is that woman about to have a nervous breakdown?

Actually, I like to empower my women so that they can actually
CHOOSE between pain or a nervous breakdown.

quote:

Originally posted by renfrew

I am actually surprised i95 can get a woman that pretty.

She's actually not that pretty.
I mean, seriously, this isn't some acute reaction...



...she looks like this all of the time.
YOU try taking a spouse that looks like this
to the office Christmas party. Safe to say,
it is not a pretty picture.

Hot Dog Phobia?
Didn't Dr. Freud once say, "Sometimes a hot dog is just a hot dog."

Let's turn this back to the topic , please

quote:

Originally posted by Edwaste

Hot Dog Phobia?
Didn't Dr. Freud once say, "Sometimes a hot dog is just a hot dog."

But didnt someone like maybe Einstein once say "A hot dog is not a dog unless smoothered in chili"????