I got an email from a student of mine asking my opinion about cooking methods. Thought you could benefit from the answer…
Q: “Steve, I bought your book etc. and have been listening to the cd’s on the way to & from work. I wish i’d have bought them sooner. I’m planning on purchasing a Top Dog hot dog cart and will have the capability of griddle “flattop” cooking. Don’t they taste better that way? Thanks, Dave J. – Dave’s Dogs”
A: Hey Dave! Grilling and steamimg are two very different prep methods which produce very different tastes even in the same hot dog brand. Now I’m a Chicago guy so I grew up on steamed Vienna Beef franks in a nice soft steamed bun (so soft that it sticks to the roof of your mouth…mmmmm.)
Having said that, there are a whole slew of folks who will violently disagree with me. For them a slightly blackened crispy-smokey dog is heaven on a bun and I must admit I like those too!
Steaming is covered in my Carts of Cash course, but if you are grilling here’s a trick you’ll want to know. Whether you use an open flame or a flat top, grilling dries the hot dogs out very quickly. What you want to do is grill them to perfection, then pop them into the steamer to keep them warm without turning them into jerky.
Do not put them directly into the water, rather place a perforated insert into your pan to keep the dogs high and dry but still warm and steamy.
But remember this – you are not your customer. It makes no difference what YOU like. The trick is to know which ones your CUSTOMERS prefer. For more on finding out exactly what will sell in your particular area, read this.
Now that I’ve given you something to chew on, let me know what works for you. Join the conversation by leaving a comment below…
Happy grillin’ (or steamin’ )
-Steve
Thanks for the info. I was thinking about the same dilemma, steam or grill or both. You definately clarified for me, and as a bonus told me a new trick about grilling some first then steam table…great tip!
I boil mine, due to the amount of customer traffic. I can present a hot dog from frozen stage to customer in 3 min. Also , the Health Dept. in MI, requires stock to be kept at -40* (dry ice) I have 4 pans and transfer to the steamer for holding. I agree @ a steamed hot dog with a soft bun. yummmmmm!
Steve in your book you talk about wrapping the hot dog in wax paper and cradle it in your menu. A great idea But for us very new people how about a lesson on how to wrap that hot dog covered with everything without making a mess that your customer would be mad about? Dwain
I myself say steam. if you steam the bun. just make sure you put papertowels down on the steam pan. If you grill you can offer more product down the road.. PS you shouldnt keep you dogs frozen.
Steve,
As an alternative, could one not keep the franks cooked in the steamer, then grill to order for a minute or two to brown the casing for any customers who request the grilled option?
In this part of Ontario most people have only experienced grilled dogs. Old habits die hard, but I’m looking forward to being able to offer both and expand some horizons to include the Chicago-style and Montreal-style ‘steamies’.
I’m also going to offer sausages on the grill, which is practically mandatory in this region. Almost every time I have ever made an impulse purchse from a cart it was due to the smell of sausages grilling.
Dwain,
Ask the customer if they want it wrapped or if you should leave the wrapper open so they can eat it right there.
The best things in life tend to be messy. A good hot dog is no exception!
-Steve
P.S. Don’t forget to send me those pics we talked about…
I’m not sure what you all are referring to when you say steaming. I’ve purchased dogs in many cities and airports, etc, and it seems they are either grilled, on rollers, or in a pan of water (boiled). Is what I am calling boiled what you are referring to as steamed?
John,
When I say steamed I am referring to placing your hot dogs in a covered steam pan on a perforated insert above the water.
Steaming can also be defined as warming the dogs in hot water, as long as it isn’t boiling. This is also a very common practice.
When I say grilling I’m talking about either a flat top grill or open flame.
Just out of curiosity, how many of you guys use roller grills? I never have…
-Steve
On wrapping the dogs in paper, I had an idea this weekend while in the grocery store that I think we will give a try in practice this weekend.
Brown paper lunch bags have a somewhat waxy content to them and cost $2.00 for a bundle of 100. I’m thinking that if I slice them in half lengthwise with a paper-slicing guillotine, I will have 200 perfect 3-sided paper pockets in which to cleanly serve the product for a penny a piece. Any thoughts?
Darren,
Brown paper bags absorb grease like a sponge.
Having said that, the hardcore Chicago hot dog stands (brick and mortar stores) take a brown bag and fill the bottom third with greasy fries then place your wrapped hot dogs on top.
It’s a greasy mess but everyone loves it. It’s a tradition!
-Steve
I use steamed Vienna Beef hot dogs and steamed buns. Hardly anyone here in North Dakota knows what a steamed hot dog is, let alone Vienna Beef. But once they try it, they always want another.
I think it depends on the type of hot dog you use. I have tried grilling Vienna Beef hot dogs before and they just don’t taste as good as steaming. They get a little tough when grilled and the smoke covers up the hot dog’s flavor. On the other hand, some hot dogs taste better grilled, like many beef/pork hot dogs.
I serve them on a sheet of tinfoil and ask the customer if they want it wrapped up to go. However, when I do large festivals or events, I serve the dogs on paper hot dog boats because they are faster. I still have my tinfoil handy because sometimes I get larger orders where one person is ordering for a group and then they like them wrapped up so they can carry everything.
Hope that helps,
Andrew
Due to restrictions, I steam my dogs. I use one 1/3 deep pan for steaming the buns, six at a time. My 11 year old son came up with an idea that works wonderfully! Steaming the buns too much or too long will make them hard or go soggy. We use a piece of tissue/foil that we buy in bulk. We wrap the buns in this separating the buns in the middle to allow the steam access inside. The other benefit to this is that the buns don’t need to be split then. Saves time and speeds up the line. We just pull the bun out of the pan already opened and warm and plop in the dog and hand it to the customer. Works great!!
Hey guys my biggest prob is the bun i know what bun to use but I can not get that steamed bun down. To me thats part of a quality hot dog..A steamed or boiled hot dog with onion relish mustard/no ketchup a perfect sliced dill pickle tomato wedged. and a perfect steamed soft warm bun.. But I cant get the bun warming down …HELP!!!
Hey Guys!! Can I steam a Sabrett and Vienna Beef dog in the same steamer? Running low on pans!!
Hey Danita,
Sure. Just make sure they promise not to fight with each other in there. The noise scares off customers.
Welcome aboard!
-Steve
Hi All,
Can you steam Italian with hot dogs ,same as Danita running low on pans.Thank you
Thanks Steve! As a newbie to the hotdog world, no questions is silly….but that was a great laugh loved it and the answer! Glad to be aboard 🙂 Over the past 3 months I have enjoyed and learned so much from the blogs, and your site. “The Dog Out” opens up in 10 days! Looking forward to posting success stories of our own! Thanks everyone :>)
I have a two pan steam table and my wiener buns get hard on the bottom. I was wondering if anyone new a set up I could use so this doen’t happen any more. I keep them in the bag and they are cooked. I put two bags in at a time and I always have to throw away the bottom layer. HELP
You need to have steam in the pan. Put an inch of water in the pan then put a perforated insert in the pan to keep the buns out of the water. Putting buns in a dry pan will definitely make them hard.
What an awesome site! I have been reading the different ways to cook hotdogs here and compare them to what I do myself. Hotdogs are a treasure here in Alabama also and every place is different. I go to the local Costco for lunch sometime where I get a tasty boiled beef dog with a soft steamed bun, a stip of mustard and a 20oz Coke for $1.50…was told they put an onion in the water during boiling. The carts around town also give us a New York/Chicago feel here in the south when we can’t afford to sample the true dogs that are very good.
Me? I use to be hooked on grilling just enough that grill marks are left on the dog (and none of the gas grills either! LOL!). Other grilling methods include wrapping the hotdog in a strip of applewood smoke bacon and smoking the dogs on a smoker with plenty of good wood in the fire and flavored wood chips in the water!
Now my boiling is simple…I add a small amout of sea salt to the water they boil in (still want to try the onion idea of Costco) and before they start to swell I pull them out and put them directly into the buns…then put the bunned dogs back into the bag the buns came in and twist the bag tight and sealed and let them set for 10 minutes (also do hamburgers in the buns the same way to “steam” the hotdog buns like you would taste at a Krystal/Whitecastle…Krystal for us down here). This is the time of year when Hotdogs sale really well here because most weekends everyone is grilling out for football!
You are obviously passionate about the greatest American food Jared. My kind of guy!
Great steaming technique. I’m going to try that.
Thanks for the great comment!
Do you suggest freezing buns you don’t use?
I do. They keep surprisingly well in the freezer.
What a great site!
Are Nathan’s skinless franks okay for steaming?
Yes they are.
I bought a Star Hot Dog steamer…gonna steam dogs/buns for Relay for Life function…was gonna buy all beef hot dogs, but then a friend that owns a local coney island place…told my partner, that coney dogs are grilled,not steam..no problem..but certain hot dogs are for grilling ONLY, not good for steaming??? so what do i purchase, was gonna just buy hot dogs, all beef, from Gordon Food service, but undecided now..can you clarify this to me…thanks
Any quality all beef dog can be steamed or grilled. Your Gordons will work just fine either way RJ.
I just old opened a gourmet hot dog trailer and found that roller grilling and then putting them into a steam pan keeps the dogs from drying out and yet keeping them plump in size..one delemia I have is the coloring when this is done this way…makes the dogs look brownish in color and dont retain its redness…is this normal and excepted?
Yes, it is normal Howie. The amount of “browning” seems to be dependent on the fat content of the dog, but folks do expect it so not a big deal.
Dear Steve,
Looking over the internet about this topic steamed VS grilled hot-dogs I came across this very interesting forum. Thanks for sharing all of these useful information’s. I am planning to open e gourmet hot dog fast food restaurant, but I don’t know should I use steamed or grilled hot-dog for this kind of a hot-dog. My second question would be regarding the sausage, here we don’t have the Vienna beef but only chicken sausages, are these sausages OK for grilling, and are they OK for hot-dogs.
Is this option OK? To steam the sausage and them when served to put the sausage in the grill few seconds, to taste bit better.
Best regards,
Ardian
Hi Ardian,
Yes, chicken sausages sound delicious. If that is all you have then I say go for it! Steam some and grill some, then see which ones you and your friends like best. Do a taste test and let the people decide. Good luck!
=Steve
Thanks Steve!
I have purchased a used Kahn’s hot dog cart with unbrella. I’m not sure the proper way to use it ? It has two compartments. 1 for buns and 1 for the hot dogs. My questions is does water go in the bottom ? And the bottom only? I’ve used it ones and put water in the bottom and in with hot dogs and after a while the hot dogs didn’t taste good. They were ballpark hot dogs. Another question do I even put any water in the cart or does the heat just steam them?? Any help much appreciated
Hi Teresa,
I saw your question on my newsletter and thought it deserved a personal reply.
Yes, you need water in the pans. If you turn on the burners without water in the pans you will wreck your pans. Expensive mistake, lol.
There are two ways to cook the hot dogs. You can steam them or boil them. Each method requires different types of pans.
The reason your hot dogs didn’t taste good is probably because they were Ball Parks. These are not the kind of hot dogs that work well on a cart.
As far as commissaries, permits, locations, inspections, and all the other details required to be successful, I’m going to give it to you straight.
Here’s what I recommend:
If you’ve never done this before, you need to join my Hot Dog Profits Premium membership. You’ll learn more there than you would in a month of expensive and stressful trial and error at the job site.
Plus I come with it. There are question and answer forms at the end of every lesson. I go into the members area every day and answer all the questions. You will never be alone in your hot dog journey!
It’s really an investment in your success. You can get more info at http://HotDogProfitsPremium.com
Go ahead and sign up today. I’ll see you inside.
Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you!
-Steve
Hey, all. I was curious if anyone is doing an all pork dog? I’m from Iowa and everyone around here loves local pork. I’ve found a great all natural product with natural casin that’s local and affordable but do I steam or grill?
Hi Taylor, try it out! I would steam them. Let us know how it goes.
I have been practicing boiling and grilling my dogs. Boil I add a pinch or 2 celery salt and 2 bullion cubes to the water pit the dogs in till they float then remove. I take my perforated pan and Line it 3/4 way up with foil to keep them hot. Grilled I use a propain grill and grill the dogs to were they just start to carmalize to a nice Brown color. I can also put the grilled dogs in the steam pan with foil and they do not wrinkle up. To steam the pan put 1 or 2 buns in after there orders in the same steam pan with foil for 10-15 seconds they will come out soft and hot. I practice alot will be full time after christmas.
Good for you Tommy! Thanks for the tips.
Hi. I entertain in the yard a lot. Was looking to either buy a hot dog steamer or hot dog grill. Not sure which one to get any suggestions? Also, some steamers have bun warmers. Wondering if the buns would get soggy? I just want to have a hot dog ready for whenever people get hungry. I don’t want to have to get out of the pool constantly.
I’m not too familiar with consumer level hot dog steamers but a quick google search will get you many results. Read the reviews to get an idea of the quality of the unit.