Also called frankfurters, franks, weenies, wieners, dogs, and red hot, they consist of a combination or either beef and pork or all beef, which is cured, smoked, and cooked. Seasonings may include coriander, garlic, ground mustard, nutmeg, salt, sugar, and white pepper. They are fully cooked, but they are usually served hot. Sizes range from big dinner frankfurters to tiny cocktail size.
No one will ever know who invented the sausage, but one of the oldest forms of processed food is mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey in the ninth century BC. Other references go back further to 1500 BC in Babylon.
In 64 AD, Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar’s cook, Gaius, is often credited with discovering the first sausage. According to a legend, a pig was roasted. But, for some reason, it was not cleaned and gutted. When Gaius cut into the pig’s belly, to his surprise, out popped the intestines, and they were puffed and hollow. Gaius then stuffed the intestines with a ground beef mixture and some spices and tied the ends, thus creating the first wiener.
However, a Frankfurt man in Germany is usually credited with the origination of the frankfurter in 1484, five years before Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World. In the 1850s, the Germans made thick, soft, and fatty sausages from which we get the famed “franks.”
German immigrants appear to have sold hot dogs, along with milk rolls and sauerkraut, from pushcarts in New York City during the 1860s. Charles Feltman, a German butcher, is said to been he first vendor when he opened his pie wagon in Coney Island.
In 1893 in Chicago, the Columbian Exposition brought hordes of visitors who consumed large quantities of sausages sold by vendors. People liked this food because it was easy to eat, convenient, and inexpensive. That same year, sausages became standard at ballparks. A St. Louis bar owner, Chris Von de Ahe, who owned the St. Louis Browns major league baseball team, began this tradition.
In 1894, sausage vendors would sell their wares outside the student dorms and major Eastern universities, and their carts became known as “dog wagons.” The name was a sarcastic comment on the source of the meat. The slang term came from the popular belief that dog meat was used in making sausage.
The term hot dog was coined in 1901 at the New York Polo Grounds. On a cold April day, concessionaire Harry M. Stevens was losing money on ice cream and cold soda. He sent venders to buy up all the dachshund sausages they could find and an equal number of rolls. In less than an hour these vendors were hawking the dogs from portable hot water tanks. In the press box, sports cartoonist Tad Dorgan, not sure how to spell the word “dachshund,” simply wrote “hot dog!” The cartoon was a sensation; the term hot dog was born, and the rest is history.
No one will ever know who invented the sausage, but one of the oldest forms of processed food is mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey in the ninth century BC. Other references go back further to 1500 BC in Babylon.
In 64 AD, Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar’s cook, Gaius, is often credited with discovering the first sausage. According to a legend, a pig was roasted. But, for some reason, it was not cleaned and gutted. When Gaius cut into the pig’s belly, to his surprise, out popped the intestines, and they were puffed and hollow. Gaius then stuffed the intestines with a ground beef mixture and some spices and tied the ends, thus creating the first wiener.
However, a Frankfurt man in Germany is usually credited with the origination of the frankfurter in 1484, five years before Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World. In the 1850s, the Germans made thick, soft, and fatty sausages from which we get the famed “franks.”
German immigrants appear to have sold hot dogs, along with milk rolls and sauerkraut, from pushcarts in New York City during the 1860s. Charles Feltman, a German butcher, is said to been he first vendor when he opened his pie wagon in Coney Island.
In 1893 in Chicago, the Columbian Exposition brought hordes of visitors who consumed large quantities of sausages sold by vendors. People liked this food because it was easy to eat, convenient, and inexpensive. That same year, sausages became standard at ballparks. A St. Louis bar owner, Chris Von de Ahe, who owned the St. Louis Browns major league baseball team, began this tradition.
In 1894, sausage vendors would sell their wares outside the student dorms and major Eastern universities, and their carts became known as “dog wagons.” The name was a sarcastic comment on the source of the meat. The slang term came from the popular belief that dog meat was used in making sausage.
The term hot dog was coined in 1901 at the New York Polo Grounds. On a cold April day, concessionaire Harry M. Stevens was losing money on ice cream and cold soda. He sent venders to buy up all the dachshund sausages they could find and an equal number of rolls. In less than an hour these vendors were hawking the dogs from portable hot water tanks. In the press box, sports cartoonist Tad Dorgan, not sure how to spell the word “dachshund,” simply wrote “hot dog!” The cartoon was a sensation; the term hot dog was born, and the rest is history.