AND NOW, THE RETRO HOT DOG RECIPES EDITION

FOB - Friend of the Blog, Charles Seluzicki, has been contributing left and right over here. I have a backlog of posts from Charlie. Today he gets all retro with the hot dog. Hard to believe there was a time, not to long ago when things like spaghetti and pizza were suspect and/or foreign. Cookbooks from the Mad Men era are full of ways to Americanize dishes, most of which involve ketchup, processed cheese and hot dogs. Charlie will take it from here...

Among my cook books are the few that I keep for alternative entertainment value. They remind of those times in our gastronomical past when it seemed perfectly normal to list cans of condensed soup, Velveeta cheese spread, Accent and packages of garlic-flavored salad dressing mix in a recipe. Two classics of the genre are Good Housekeeping’s HAMBURGER & HOT DOG BOOK (1958) and Mettja C. Roate’s THE NEW HAMBURGER & HOT DOG COOKBOOK (1975, originally published 1965, 1968).

Both books come out of that post WWII boom of canned and frozen foods. The country seemed mesmerized by the notion of  convenience and both capitalize on the popularity of “America’s favorite meats.” Sometimes I laugh out loud when I read them.  Sometimes I am transfixed by disbelief and snap back only when the drool brimming on my bottom lip spills over unto my chin. Even 50 years removed from this vortex of the prepared and the preserved, I am unable to fully comprehend the evidence before me. And I had glimpsed it as a child.

Take two competing recipes for spaghetti dinners. Mrs. Roate’s “Spaghetti Hot Dog Dinner” starts with 6 diced slices of bacon in which 8 hotdogs in ¼” dice are browned with onions, green peppers, a #2 can of tomatoes and a 4 ounce can of drained mushroom stems and pieces.  One pound of velveeta cheese is melted into this mixture and served over 8 ounces of vermicelli.

Good Housekeeping’s “Career Girl’s Spaghetti” seems spartan by comparison but no less weird.  Onions, mushrooms, green pepper, a tablespoon of flour and 4 chopped franks are sauteed in 3 tablespoons of “salad oil or shortening.” 1 ½ cups of tomato juice, 1 cup of water and 1 ½ tablespoons of Worcestershire are added and simmered for 25 minutes. The sauce is then poured into a ring of spaghetti noodles made from, once again,  an 8 ounce package.

Oh, I could tell you about “Frank Corkscrews,” “Glamour Dogs,” “Frank Suey,” “Franklettes” and “Frank Rabbit.” There is “Hot Dog Tamale Pie,” “Jellied Hot Dog Loaf” and “Hot Dog ‘N Liver Sausage Loaf.” Those with a continental bent will want to try “Endive Charlotte with Hot Dogs.” But none will deny the sculptural interest of “Hot Dog Dollies.”  8 hot dogs are cut across in thirds and in the bottom one inch two cuts, creating four sections are spread like skirts as the dollies are stood up on a baking sheet. Pimento stuffed olives wrapped in bacon are fixed to the top end and the 24 standing dollies are put in a 400 degree oven until the bacon is crisp.  A sprig of parsley is tucked between the bacon and the hot dog to make a bouquet.  “If you want to be especially gay,” Mrs. Roate entreats us, “insert an additional sprig of parsley in the bonnet of crisp bacon.”

Charles Seluzicki