- I'm nervous.
(screams)
I'm nervous!
(ominous music)
Hey, what's going on everybody.
It's your girl Merle.
And I'm back with another vegan substitute.
I don't know how I feel about this.
We're going to be making hot dogs
out of carrots.
I know that's probably the most vegan thing
I have ever said in my life.
I'm as skeptical as you probably are.
But I do have hope for this recipe
because I've seen it done
by some seriously respectable vegan influencers.
One of which is the one and only Tabitha Brown.
(crowd applauding)
Come on.
With that, let's make this vegan hotdog.
So the first thing we're going to do is
we're going to take our carrots
and we're just going to slice the tops
and the bottoms off just like a half an inch.
Then we're going to go around the whole carrot
peeling the skin so that it's smooth all the way around.
This will help to make it look more like a hot dog.
Okay, so now that we've got our carrots all smooth
and hot doggy, we are going to take our scraps
and what are we going to do with them?
(baby babbling)
That's right.
We're going to compost them.
Duh-uh, don't you dare put that in the waste rubbish.
(laughing)
Waste rubbish?
Don't you dare put that in the trash bin.
I don't even say trash bin in real life.
I don't know where these words are coming from.
My love affair with hotdogs goes way back.
I used to work at a golf course.
One thing I used to eat every day,
'cause I had a comp lunch,
was there super deluxe hotdog.
I know what a good hot dog tastes like.
I know what a bad hot dog tastes like.
I used to eat gas station hot dogs,
where the expiration date for the bun
is like 50 years in the future.
So I used to really love hotdogs.
I'm going to be a real judge.
Doesn't matter if I don't eat them anymore.
I still remember.
I've seen these carrot dogs prepared two different ways.
One way is the way is the way Tabitha does it,
and the way I'm going to do it 'cause it's quicker,
which is to just make a marinade
and boil the carrots right in the marinade.
I've also seen people boil the carrots
and then let them marinade for like
anywhere from an hour to overnight.
But I'm not gonna do that because I don't feel like waiting.
So let's make our marinade.
So first we're going to add in two cups of water.
Then we're going to add one cup of amino acids or soy sauce.
Some liquid smoke, A1 sauce or any steak sauce,
as long as it's vegan.
Agave or maple syrup and some ketchup.
I am gonna additionally add some garlic powder,
onion powder, cayenne pepper, and black pepper.
Then we're going to boil our carrots in the marinade
for about anywhere from seven to 10 minutes.
We just don't want them to get too soft.
If they're still too hard,
you can continue to boil them for up to 10 more minutes.
It really depends on the size
and the thickness of the carrot.
I poured some cold water over my carrots
to stop them from cooking completely.
'Cause I saw that Edgy Veg did that.
And I thought that was a really good idea.
'Cause I know we don't want these to get mushy.
So we're going to let the marinade cool down
for about 20 minutes.
And then we're going to let the carrots marinate
in the marinade for about 20 more minutes.
(jazzy music)
Then it's time to dress these puppies up.
Oh my gosh, you know I just had the cutest thought.
What if we add mini baby carrots?
They could be like little mini dogs.
What are those called?
Hop pop?
Definitely not hot pops.
♪ I just thought of a brilliant hack ♪
♪ So that you don't have to wait so long ♪
♪ For your marinade to cool down ♪
I'm in a good mood today.
I just put the marinade in the freezer.
Duh, why didn't I think of that right off the bat.
That way we don't have to wait
like 20 to 30 minutes for it to cool down.
So you can put it in the fridge and put it in the freezer.
So it'll cool down quicker.
That's all.
I'm curious about this marinade.
I'm like how much magic can really be in this marinade?
I'm going to try it.
Like what is the essence of a hotdog?
(quirky music)
Tastes like baked beans.
Which I don't hate, but wow.
I was not, that is like spot on baked beans.
Maybe that'll translate with the sweetness
of the carrot to a hot dog.
I don't know.
I like it.
I'm just a little surprised.
And then dress it the way you would your favorite hotdog.
I'm going to use some relish, some onions and some ketchup.
(cheerful music)
All right.
I got my hot dogs right here
and if they taste anywhere near as good as they look,
we're in business.
I'm nervous.
(screams)
I'm nervous!
Okay, okay.
It's a hot dog.
(dramatic music)
(big cat growls)
(music abruptly stops)
I have a lot of thoughts.
First, it's good.
I'm honestly really impressed.
I will say compared to my expectations for this,
it has exceeded my expectations.
The marinade is awesome.
Is it 100% a hot dog?
No, it's not 100% of a hot dog.
But it gets really close and it definitely knows hot dogs.
You know what I mean?
Like it's met a hot dog or two in its day.
I knew Tabitha wouldn't steer me wrong.
I'd really be curious to see
how long it would take a meat-eater
to kind of suss out that this was a carrot.
(piano riff)
- I will say, I'm going to warn you right off the bat.
I'm not a big fan of carrot.
I only really like it when it's shredded or if it's pickled.
Like in a banh mi.
Whole carrot like this?
(groans) Well, I'm just gonna take a little bite of it.
It is a carrot, right?
(laughs) - It is a carrot, yes.
(dramatic music)
- Not as bad as I thought it would be.
It's softer than a regular carrot.
So it doesn't have, it's not crunchy, which is good.
'Cause I don't like the crunch of a carrot.
I'm not a rabbit.
And when I saw it looked like a practical joke at first.
Just like, you know, the carrot in the place of hot dog.
It's not bad.
I don't even eat hot dogs very often.
But when I do, I like how, I like the bite,
that juiciness.
If you were to taste it blind,
you wouldn't think it's a carrot.
That's where it has a good start, right?
Okay, so in terms of just overall taste, five.
Just keep it right down the middle.
We're going to go to Coney Island.
And you're going to sell these around,
around the Coney Island for the people there.
- Let me know what you'd like to see next
in the comments below.
And thank you so much for watching.
(chorus sings)
Woo hoo!
I don't know how to end this.
And for some reason I've done this a million times.
Don't not end it.
(upbeat music)
(Merle chuckles)