In our Food Fight series so far, we have acknowledged there's just something about certain foods or ways of preparing dishes that people can be insufferable about. There is no debate; this is how it should be done, they say. We've covered everything from scrambling eggs to toasting marshmallows. This week, in honor of the start of baseball season, we turn to hot dogs. We've invited a hot dog connoisseur to explain why he feels so strongly about the ballpark staple.
Spend any time with Steve Schussler and you find a man who has strong opinions about hot dogs: No boiling a hot dog. It must be grilled, served on a toasted bun and, for goodness sake, no ketchup. People who put ketchup on a hot dog "were not raised right," he says. • The founder of the Rainforest Cafe chain and T-Rex Cafe at Downtown Disney in Orlando, plus other theatrical restaurants and attractions, has now become an aficionado of the tube steak. In 2014, he opened the Hot Dog Hall of Fame at Universal Orlando's CityWalk, a food stand that serves as a tribute to the iconic baseball park food.
It has real stadium seats from real baseball parks for customers to sit in as they chow down on a Chicago dog or a Milwaukee bratwurst sausage (on a hoagie roll with grilled onions and spicy brown mustard, of course).
His company has spent years studying them, opening the first Hot Dog Hall of Fame in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in 2008. The Orlando spot opened in September with a mustard bar curated by the National Mustard Museum in Wisconsin and a selection of dogs including Vienna, Nathan's, Kayem, Koegel, Farmer John's and Sabrett, as well as bratwurst sausages. It also sports a variety of toppings, from neon-green relish (for Chicago) to pulled pork and coleslaw (Kansas City).
In addition to his ketchup aversion, Schussler shares other theories in his quest for the perfect hot dog.
When you bite into a hot dog, he said, "You want it to bite back."
"You don't boil a hot dog. You end up biting into a squeeze of hot water! That's why grilled is better," Schussler said, "because whenever possible you want a little crunch."
Mustard should get almost equal billing with the hot dog, he says. The Hall of Fame offers 12 different kinds.
Some toppings, like the Chicago dog's neon-green relish, are good for that dog alone, he says firmly.
The bun, he believes, is merely "a facilitator" that sometimes gets more attention than it deserves and can have so much volume that it overwhelms the other components.
"I like my bun toasted, other people like a bun steamed, but one thing that's for certain, it can't be so doughy and so large in width and length that it overpowers the taste of the dog. Whenever possible, the dog should be a little bit bigger than the bun on both ends."
His favorite, he says, is the Chicago dog — a Vienna all-beef dog in a poppy seed bun with that neon-green relish, peppers, diced onions, tomatoes and celery salt. It is "a staple for anybody that likes hot dogs."
When he's making one just for himself, he likes it deep-fried and then finished on the grill to get that crunchy snap, with some German mustard on a toasted bun. And if he's adding sauerkraut, he adds it last so that the bread doesn't absorb any of the kraut juice.
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Explore all your optionsThough his opinions can seem authoritative, his customers often tell him he's wrong.
"You know how smiling is contagious?" he said. "So are hot dogs. Everybody likes their hot dog a certain way."
And because he understands that and is a businessman, ketchup is available. But you have to ask.
Contact Sharon Kennedy Wynne at swynne@tampabay.com or (727) 893- 8595. Follow @SharonKWn on Twitter.
