We asked expert their opinions about the red-hot dog sandwich debate .
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When it get to food doubt , " Is a red-hot dog a sandwich ? " range among the most dissentious . We asked expert from iconic hot dog restaurants and sausage company to get plainspoken with usand share their hot takes on the eld - previous debate .
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To no one ’s surprise , persuasion differ . If you ’re hungry for an prescribed answer , grab a snack and keep reading .
The Hot Dog Controversy
When thehot dogfirst look in America , it was referred to as a Coney Island sandwich or a frankfurter sandwich . However , in 2015 , the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council ( NHDSC ) denote they were officially separating themselves from the term . In their prescribed policy announcement , they argued that “ Limiting the hot dog-iron ’s significance by saying it ’s ‘ just a sandwich ’ is like anticipate the Dalai Lama ‘ just a guy , ’ ” and they declared their signature intellectual nourishment to be the “ raging dog formerly known as a sandwich . ”
Differences Between Hot Dog and Sandwich
For those who argue that a hot hound is not a sandwich , there are clear differences between the two .
Bun vs. Slices of Bread
Phil McCann , vice president of selling atNathan ’s Famous , agrees with the NHDSC that the hot dog ’s importance ca n’t be reduce to a food group . He argues that when the sandwich was purportedly invented in 1792 by John Montagu , the fourth Earl of Sandwich , he request that sliced meat be placed between two slices of clams so he could run through it with his manus — and “ that ’s not the definition of a blistering dog , ” McCann say .
“ A hot dog is its own matter , a cylindric - shaped protein that sit in a bun , and not a sandwich , ” he continues . “ [ It ] certainly deserves its own category , the same style a burger merit its own . Sandwiches have their own class as well , and that family does not admit hot dogs or burgers . ”
Cutting It Down the Middle
It ’s unlikely that anyone would ever cut a red-hot dog down the middle , which is n’t uncommon with sandwiches . This is the main point that Erich Lines , managing pardner atVinsetta Garage(a local Detroit joint that serves classic eats ) , make . He even goes so far as to say that the bun makes the spicy dogmore like a tacothan anything else .
Vinsetta Garage
" While it is common to curve a sandwich in one-half , only a barbarian would cut a hot hound — and that is where the argument of all the larger sandwiches in buns gets disqualified , " he says . " What kind of a rogue would tear a raging dog bun down the middle ? You would n’t because it affect the amount of condiments you could pile in with the hot dog . How many of us have had some extra spread or filling from a sandwich leak out on our shirts ? [ That ’s ] something less likely [ to happen ] with the hinged bun that hem in the raging frankfurter . "
Credit:Vinsetta Garage
“Dragged Through the Garden”
There are different style of well - known red-hot dogs , and everyone has their preference for how to dress them . In Chicago , it ’s considered criminal to order yours with cetchup and required to put on so many toppings that it looks like it has been " dragged through the garden " .
Classifying Hot Dog As a Sandwich
" Once paired with bread , no matter what forge the lettuce may take , I trust it is absolutely satisfactory to refer to this as a sandwich , " says Zachary Kuhagen , district chef of Vinsetta Garage . " Further specification may be made , as in a red-hot dog sandwich , dog sandwich , orsausage sandwich , but a sandwich regardless . "
Most resources delimit a sandwich as consisting of two pieces of bread with centre , cheese , or other pick between them . Some even explicitly say sandwiches are typically eat as a light meal . With that definition , you have to consider whether a red-hot cad roll qualifies as two pieces of bread and what exactly a light meal mean value , but the relaxation could go the description of a hot dog .
Kuhagen referencesIgnatz Frischmann , the " Original Vienna Roll Man " and a trailblazer of the Detroit - loved mouse hare dog . He says Frischmann ’s obit describe a hot frank that say , " A bologna sausage or two in a piece of bread would be of reward to those whose appetency might lead them to partake in in a spurious dog sandwich . " Kuhagen recognise that some may argue that a sandwich necessitate two distinct slices of bread , but he believe it ’s broader than that .
" ' Sandwich ' is an umbrella term , " he enounce . " If you were to take a gash of bread , spread some condiments on it , lay a slice of lunchmeat and cheese on it , then close it in half and go through it , is that not a sandwich ? Maybe specifically a half - sandwich , but a sandwich withal ? At unembellished lower limit , perhaps you could be convinced that a live dog can be an open - faced sandwich . "
Hot Dog: A Category on Its Own
The squad atPortillo ’s , one of Chicago ’s most well - known live frank spots , is familiar with the sandwich disputation — and they ’re stay pretty unbothered about it .
Is a hot dog a sandwich ? " As you’re able to think , we have this question quite frequently , " says Nick Scarpino , vice president of selling and off - premise dining for Portillo ’s . " Our hot dogs belong in a class of their own . Sandwich or not a sandwich , it does n’t matter to us . As long as we ’re put a 100 % all - beef hot dog on a steam poppy come bun and top it with [ Hellenic Chicago dog topping ] , you could call it whatever you ’d wish . "
Conclusion
There is no prescribed classification or categorisation ofhot dogsas a sandwich , or the opposite)—or the opposite , that it isnota sandwich .
The doubt continues to instigate many passionate ( and , for the most part , light-hearted ) arguments and you could say it ’s even helped add people together , something merriment we can all connect and have an belief on .
" I read minds more scholarly than mine — Ruth Bader Ginsburg , for instance — have count in and said a hot dog is a sandwich , " Lines says . " But I ’m quick to take them all on . "
" National Hot Dog and Sausage Council Announces Official Policy on ' Hot Dog as Sandwich ' Controversy . “National Hot Dog Sausage Council .
