Hot Dogs: Venezuelan Style

While the hog dog may be considered to be an American fast food, I've found that surprisingly many countries have modified it into their own creation, and Venezuela is no exception.

Hot dogs are the definition street food back home. In the streets of any city in Venezuela, the easiest street cart to find is one that sells them. It wasn't until the 90's when they finally started to compete with other types of food such as falafel/shawarma carts. Tacos and other Tex-Mex like foods still remain a mystery.

The street dog vendors developed a particular recipe for the Venezuelan definition of a hot dog, which you can make at home, too. The traditional recipe is as follows:

1. Pork+beef-based frank, preferably "coney"-sized. Boiled
   
2. Long bun, not sliced from the side like you'd expect, but sliced from the top of the bun!
3. Chopped fresh cabbage (not sauerkraut)
   
4. Chopped yellow onion
5. Crumbled chips (we call those Papitas, which translates to tiny fries)
6. The holy trinity of sauces* (Yellow Mustard, Ketchup, and Mayonnaise)

May also include:

• American-style bacon
• Your average yellow cheese slice (like Kraft singles)
• Garlic sauce
• Cheez-whiz-based sauce
• and/or grated Parmesan cheese on top

And it may look like this:

Photo by Carren Jao

Looks messy but trust me, it's delicious!

Now keep in mind that this are the kind of hot dogs I know of are in the eastern side of Venezuela, and they may vary depending in other regions. I've run into recipes of Venezuelan hot dogs online which I never even seen.

If you're interested in other kinds of hot dogs, check out Hot Dog Variations design article which is what reminded me to make this blog post. You could also read the Wikipedia, of course.

* The holy trinity of sauces is a very well known Venezuelan sauce combination which can also be found in sandwiches and hamburgers. Basically if you want any fast food to taste Venezuelan style, you add the three sauces.