Hot dogs for 40 - please help me make the best of it

[mchar69]

I

would do 40 dogs for 40 people. One hotdog is a serving

I smell a cheapskate! Of course, those monster Costco dogs are one per person,
but the smaller Nathan's etc are cheap to allow 2. Sides - did no one mention beans?
Look at a bean recipe w/ pineapple chunks and brown sugar - sauteed onions -
I'm spacing - oh yeah "Dutchs' Wicked Baked Bean recipe" on SMF.
Good for college twerps.

[cirk]

I love chilli dogs in the winter but in spring I love a dog with fresh relish, fruit or peppers or both.

[BBQinMI]

Originally Posted by mchar69

I

I smell a cheapskate! Of course, those monster Costco dogs are one per person,
but the smaller Nathan's etc are cheap to allow 2. Sides - did no one mention beans?
Look at a bean recipe w/ pineapple chunks and brown sugar - sauteed onions -
I'm spacing - oh yeah "Dutchs' Wicked Baked Bean recipe" on SMF.
Good for college twerps.

Has nothing to do with cost and everything to do with calories and proper serving sizes.

[Happy Hapgood]

You could spiral cut them for that something extra. They taste better too. Use the fattest dogs you can find. None of this angus stuff. The cheaper and fatter the better.



Good Luck!

On edit I did not read the whole thread. Spirals have already been mentioned.

[HarrynVegas]

Make sure the buns fit the dogs! I hate it when the bun is too short or won't wrap around a fat dog.

[TailGateJoecom]

If you wanna do something a little different you can deep fry the dogs in peanut oil.

[flyingbassman5]

I would do it campfire style..

Set up your condiment bar with proper fixin's, buy 4 or 5 roasting skewers like for marshmallows, load up the kettle with piping hot charcoal, open a pack of dogs and let your guest go to town. Big hit when I did it last fall, everyone got to make as many or as few dogs as they wanted to the exact doneness they personally like. Some cooked them till they were black all over, some till they were just warm, others nicely roasted and starting to blister. After they cook the dogs to their standards, they can have a field day with the condiments.

Less work for you, more fun for them.

And the best part is that if you don't open all the packs of dogs, they can be left sealed and frozen for future chow.

Good luck!

[Firby13]

I made dogs this weekend. Served with chili, mustard and onions. Had some kraut going too for the non believers.

By chili I mean chili sauce not chili with beans in it. Here's the recipe I use. It's out of sight.

1 onion finely diced
1lb. ground beef.
2 cups water
3 Tbls chili powder
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. dried oregano
3/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Saute onion in olive oil till translucent.

Add spices and water, stir to combine then immediately add the ground beef and break it up in the water to make a slurry.

Stir that around and simmer until the meat is cooked through.

If the sauce gets too dry just add more water. It should look like liquid with meat in it.

Hot dog bun.
Chili sauce.
Finely diced raw onion.
Spicy brown or yellow mustard.
Hot dog.
Eat.

Thank me later.
__________________

Jason

This ^^^^^^

But I would use Whorles natural cased minis on mini buns aka Teos, a local hot dog joint.

TEO'S HOT DOG SAUCE

1/2 lb ground beef
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 large onion , finely chopped
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ketchup
1 pkg hot dogs

Saute beef, celery, and onion together.

Add all ingredients except hot dogs in pan and cook 10-15 minutes.

Always add uncooked chopped onions and mustard when serving the hot dogs for the real teos experience

Warning: AWESOME!!!!!!

Click here to view: http://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/boa...MAR/30276.html

[theTastyCat]

Alright - I did a dry run tonight in preparation for the real deal tomorrow! Had eight guinea pigs volunteer. I know that using hot dogs for one's first smoke is a bit akin to training wheels on one's first trip to Sturgis...oh well.

And of course I forgot to take pics until it was all over...but I will tomorrow!!

Unfortunately, both batches of dogs turned out a bit nasty, but I think I can explain.

Batch #1: On several occasions, there was lots of smoke. I believe I can attribute this to putting the dogs on before the Weber was really stabilized; lesson learned. I did witness the glory of thin blue smoke and will pursue it hotly tomorrow. So - there was a bit of bitterness to the smoky taste; not too pleasant. FYI I was using apple chunks throughout.

Half of the dogs I spiral-cut (there WAS a learning curve :) ) and the other half I wrapped in bacon. I sprayed the spiral-cut dogs with olive oil and put celery salt on them, but I think I overdid it on both :( too salty and GF said they were a bit greasy. Perhaps leave them off altogether?

I think I may have pulled them too fast; they were getting nice and dark, but perhaps not quite enough.

Batch #2: Thin blue smoke! 30 minutes or so at 325. I think they needed to be on for longer. Plus, I had more guinea pigs arrive than I was expecting, so I had them bring dogs, and unfortunately they brought some "smoked" sausage with cheddar inside; they just didn't taste good. HOWEVER, the smoky aftertaste in my mouth was really great!!! Just smelling these vs. the others showed a huge difference in smoke. Also, I gave each of these about 20 seconds over the coals before pulling them to hopefully get the best of both worlds in smoke flavor and little of that nice char. Man, did that bacon smell good when it was in those flames! Never smelled as good as that before or after, which was yet more evidence that perhaps everything needed to cook longer.

Now then - we need to talk. I made up a batch of Fingerlickin's chili sauce - SWEET JESUS. THAT stuff will preach!! He is risen indeed!! Quintupling the recipe for tomorrow. That with fresh onions, as pictured previously, is simply out of sight. Truly made up for the dogs' shortcomings!!!!! As I dumped all 3 tablespoons of chili powder in, I thought "hmm, this sure seems like a lot...I hope it's not too spicy..." but I resolved to make it exactly as it was and then amend later if needed. Man, am I glad I didn't - it was truly sublime. What a winner!! Saving that recipe forever.

As always, I have a litany of questions! Sorry to be such a pain.

1. Getting a seal on the Weber. It was also the maiden voyage of my Maverick 733, which is a truly lovely thing. I did have some problems getting the Weber to seal well since the Maverick wires were keeping the lid from really seating well; I would get smoke from around the lid, which probably also meant that air was getting in as well. I could route it through the top vents, but that would be a complete PITA when removing the lid...any great ideas? FWIW I'm almost done with the offset restoration, so I hesitate to drill into the kettle or anything such since I use it regularly as the fantastic grill that it is.

2. Temp control on the Weber. Sure enough, the Mav showed that dome temp has absolutely nothing to do with grate temp. So I ended up pretty much having to close off the bottom vents and even take the top to half-shut just to get down to 325; perhaps this is due to the lid's poor seal because of the Maverick. I'm looking for good info about which vents to monkey with or not, and there's a whole lot of conflicting info out there; what do you all recommend?

Well there it is!! Off to bed - going to be a crazy day tomorrow!!

You all are the best.

[93_confirmed]

Originally Posted by theTastyCat

As always, I have a litany of questions! Sorry to be such a pain.

1. Getting a seal on the Weber. It was also the maiden voyage of my Maverick 733, which is a truly lovely thing. I did have some problems getting the Weber to seal well since the Maverick wires were keeping the lid from really seating well; I would get smoke from around the lid, which probably also meant that air was getting in as well. I could route it through the top vents, but that would be a complete PITA when removing the lid...any great ideas? FWIW I'm almost done with the offset restoration, so I hesitate to drill into the kettle or anything such since I use it regularly as the fantastic grill that it is.

2. Temp control on the Weber. Sure enough, the Mav showed that dome temp has absolutely nothing to do with grate temp. So I ended up pretty much having to close off the bottom vents and even take the top to half-shut just to get down to 325; perhaps this is due to the lid's poor seal because of the Maverick. I'm looking for good info about which vents to monkey with or not, and there's a whole lot of conflicting info out there; what do you all recommend?

Well there it is!! Off to bed - going to be a crazy day tomorrow!!

You all are the best.

I'm bumping this in hopes of getting some advice relating to those two questions. I just picked up the Maverick 733 and I'm curious to know how you guys position the probe wires.

[rdstoll]

Originally Posted by peeps

Do the BIG Hebrew Nationals!

Hebrew National all the way. Best 'dogs out there.

[Starman]

Tasty Cat, I believe that you are over thinking things.

If I were going to cook hot dogs for 40, I would grill them for about 10 minutes, turning once. Put them in a foil pan and cover them until time to serve.

Serve with their choice of mustard, onions, relish, chili, cheese, maybe ketchup.

And any sides that you deem appropriate.

Done. Easy peasy. No need to stress.

Good luck however you do it.

[theTastyCat]

Guys, you are all amazing. The event went just amazing, but I've been reluctant to post any results because I forgot to take pics when I should have. The first two Weberloads of dogs, both spiral-cut and bacon-wrapped, were simply a thing of beauty!! Man, it really was incredible. The guests were all delighted. I made a metric buttload (quintuple recipe) of Fingerlickin's chili sauce, the vast majority of which was consumed. I smoked 75 bun-length Aldi dogs, and only eight survived (the last two of which were killed off today - SO good!!) I did learn several things.

1. Let the @$#%%#@ grill/smoker level out before putting food on! First batch on the trial run was gross, likely from bad smoke; on the day itself, the smoke was great. Wouldn't even mind more! And could even have left them on for more than 45 minutes.

2. Weber seemed to do OK with just (gently) closing the wires on the lid. It was really difficult to get the temp down to 250 and maintain it; I think it would have been easier with a good lid seal.

3. When stuffing my own fat face with this holy goodness, I quickly discovered that if you load anything smoked with too much topping, the smoke gets absolutely lost. If you keep it good and simple, the smoke shines and is AMAZING. Will ponder this lesson in my heart when I attempt ribs/everything else.

4. WRAPPING WITH BACON IS AMAZING. It took the smoke SO well and it suited it amazingly. The contrast in texture was phenomenal!

5. The Maverick 733 had to have been God's idea and Chuck Norris' manufacture. Being able to see the temp from indoors was GREAT. I can't imagine doing any length of cook without it! Hats off to Qers of yesteryear.

Two crappy pics of not anything particularly great:

A little thin blue goodness:



Crappy photo of the final batch of dogs; was totally dark by now. Didn't even have a chance to spiral the non-bacon ones. But they were still phenomenal.



Shout out to my mom; I was clearly channeling her photo-focusing skills on that last shot. I sure love her though.

MANY thanks, Brethren - you all made it a massive success!! Offset is ALMOST done - today I sanded it, washed it, and painted it - as soon as the legs come back from the machine shop (I grinded the bolts off the inside - guess I really didn't have to do that in hindsight, but now it needs some welding as the bolts were welded onto the inside of the leg) I'm putting that thing together and putting on a FATTY. This is gonna be serious fun........

[THoey1963]

Glad everything went well! It's too late at night for me to get hungry, but I did when I looked at your pics... Congrats!

[Sevengoals]

Well done!