Summer Means Hot Dogs — and You Can Eat Them for Breakfast

America loves their hot dogs, especially in the summer. We even have a holiday set aside in July — National Hot Dog Month — which celebrates the cooked sausage and the many ways you can dress them up. The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council estimates over 7 billion hot dogs will be eaten by Americans between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

During the July 4th weekend alone (the biggest hot dog holiday of the year), 155 million will be consumed. This does not even take into account the hundreds of hot dogs eaten at the 2017 Hot Dog Eating Contest at Nathan’s in Coney Island.

The term “hot dog” is credited to sports cartoonist Tad Dorgan. In 1901, Dorgan attended a baseball game at the Polo Grounds in New York and could hear vendors shouting, “Get your dachshund sausages while they’re red hot!”

He sketched a cartoon depicting the scene, but wasn’t sure how to spell “dachshund” so he called them, “hot dogs.”

What goes into making a hot dog should probably remain a mystery. In preparation for National Hot Dog Day on July 23, here are nine scrumptious topping ideas from Personal Creations. These will leave the traditional ketchup, mustard, sauerkraut and relish hot dog topping out in the cold.

1. You can even eat a hot dog for breakfast. We have a breakfast burrito, so why not a Breakfast Hot Dog? Wrap it in bacon atop scrambled eggs with melted American cheese sprinkled, siracha and chives.
2. The Tijuana Dog is also bacon-wrapped treat. It has onions, pickled jalapeno, tomatoes and drizzled with crema.
3. The Japanese hot dog features Kewpie Japanese-style mayo. It is topped with grated daikon and dried seaweed.
4. Streetcorn is inspired by Mexican street corn. The toppings include corn cotija cheese, lime juice, and tajin powder — a Mexican spice made with lime, world-class chilies and sea salt. This one requires a buttered bun.

    

5. BLT is just what you would expect — bacon, lettuce and tomato with mayo on a buttered bun.
6. Vietnamese is similar to the Japanese-style hot dog with pickled daikon topping. It has shredded carrots, cucumber, cilantro and jalapeno for an added kick on a bun with mayo.
7. Animal Style has American cheese, onions and Thousand Island dressing. Why it’s named ‘animal’ is curious, but how can you go wrong these ingredients?
8. This is famous Coney Island Hot Dog made famous by Nathan’s. It has chili, grated cheese and onions — which can only be on top of a Nathan’s hot dog.
9. To top it all off is the Reuben, which takes all of its ingredients from the Reuben sandwich of pastrami with melted swiss cheese. The old stand-by sauerkraut makes an entrance dressed with Thousand Island dressing.

Of course you’ll need a creative way to cook your hot dogs. The Bitty-Q is a portable BBQ you can fashion from home items. All you need is an empty can of soda, coat hanger, some coals and 4″ U-bolts.

So fire up the grill and dig into some gourmet hot dogs!