Hot dogs might be one of the most misunderstood foods around, and there's no shortage of myths
about them.
Want to know if hot dogs really cause cancer?
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While the inspiration for hot dogs likely does hail from Germany, most evidence points
not to Frankfurt but to Coburg — where, in the late 17th century, a butcher by the
name of Johann Georghehner invented a sausage known as the "dachshund."
Yes, like the dog.
This sausage appears to have then arrived in Frankfurt, where it was appropriated and
given a local name.
Even this is disputed, however, and other evidence suggests that Vienna could have been
a possible origin point for the sausages, known there as wieners or, literally, Vienna
sausages.
Wherever the origins of the original sausage might lie, until it made it to America, the
hot dog lacked one essential component: the bun.
Once again, there are a number of legends about the origin of the bunned hot dog, including
a report that attributes their invention to a German immigrant selling them out of a pushcart
in New York in the 1860s.
This, in turn, is said to have inspired Charles Feltman, a German baker, to open up the first
Coney Island hot dog stand in 1871.
Another theory suggests that they were popularized at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Either way, experts tend to agree on one thing: A sausage with bread may well be German, but
a hot dog on a roll is resolutely American.
"Hot dog?"
"Hot dog."
It would be easy to assume that hot dogs, like most sausages, are pork-based.
But this isn't necessarily the case.
While some hot dogs are indeed made with pork, including those from stalwart favorite Oscar
Mayer, those on either end of the quality spectrum are made with anything but.
Inexpensive hot dogs are often made from something known as "mechanically separated chicken."
As its name suggests, this is made by mechanically pulling the meat from a chicken right off
the bone.
Meat scientist Janeal Yancey tells Best Food Facts:
"It's not an unsafe or unwholesome product.
It's just a cheaper protein source."
The highest-quality hot dogs, meanwhile, are often made with beef.
This stems in part from the influence of Polish Jewish immigrant Nathan Handwerker, who, in
the 1910s, made his living working at a Coney Island hot dog stand.
He later launched the now-beloved Nathan's kosher frank, and since pork isn't kosher,
his dogs are made exclusively with beef.
Today, high-end brands like Snake River Farms pride themselves on using exclusively American
Wagyu beef for a top-quality dog.
Many mid-range hot dogs tend to use a mix of both beef and pork.
While hot dogs made either with exclusively beef or exclusively pork will say so on the
package, when only the word "meat" is used, it usually refers to a mix of pork and beef
— usually 40% of the former and 60% of the latter.
Perhaps the most pervasive hot dog-related rumor is that these beloved sausages are made
from scraps that no one would otherwise eat: you know, stuff like noses, tails, feet, lips,
and tongues.
Indeed, according to Best Food Facts, 43% of Americans are afraid to find out what exactly
is in a hot dog.
But they need not fear, as while hot dogs are indeed a great way to use up scraps that
would otherwise be discarded, their ingredients are nothing to turn your snout up at.
In her interview with Best Food Facts, Janeal Yancey reveals that, most of the time, hot
dogs are made with "skeletal meat" — basically, trimmings from the same roasts, chops, and
other cuts you're used to cooking at home.
According to her, the rumor that hot dogs are made up of leftovers isn't really true.
Yancey explains:
"The trimmings used to make hot dogs are pieces of the meat that don't make good steaks and
roasts because they aren't a certain tenderness, size, shape, or weight."
Given their inexpensive price tag and protein-rich nature, hot dogs have long been a popular
choice for those looking for a cheap, filling meal.
Indeed, when Nathan Handwerker launched his Coney Island hot dog stand in 1915, he was
selling what would become the now-famous Nathan's kosher franks for just five cents.
"Once the Depression rolled around, that's when the business started taking off, because
you could feed a family of four for under 50 cents."
Thanks to their low price point, hot dogs gained immense popularity during the Great
Depression, when vegetable stands started selling so-called "depression sandwiches"
— basically a hot dog topped with veggie scraps.
But just because they were inexpensive didn't mean hot dogs couldn't dress to impress.
When President Franklin Roosevelt hosted King George VI at a Hyde Park picnic in 1939, first
lady Eleanor served the royal couple grilled hot dogs, much to the king's delight.
He even asked for seconds!
Rumors of hot dogs' health hazards aren't entirely unfounded.
They are, after all, a member of the category of processed meats that have been classified
by the World Health Organization as Group 1 carcinogens.
This classification means that there is strong evidence in favor of their link with certain
cancers, such as bowel and stomach cancer.
And this risk is only increased when hot dogs are prepared, in time-honored tradition, over
the grill.
One 2010 research review from Vanderbilt University posited a link between the development of
certain cancers and exposure to heterocyclic amines, a class of chemical that develops
when red meat is cooked, particularly well-done or char-grilled.
But evidence of this alleged link is inconsistent.
Dr. Stephen Freedland, a cancer researcher at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,
tells TIME magazine that you would have to eat char-grilled meat two or three times a
week before the increased cancer risk became a problem.
So, while hot dogs are certainly not a health food by any measure, the real danger isn't
their possible carcinogenic nature, but simply the fact that they're quite high in fat and
sodium.
As an everyday indulgence?
They're not great.
But as a sometimes food?
You're probably fine.
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