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Hi,

I'm in a country where I do not have access to Sabrett, Nathan, Best's Kosher and other "popular" frankfurter suppliers for hot dog businesses. I'm hoping to start a hot dog business and have not been impressed by the local sausages. Fortunately, I have been able to make friends with a sausage making company who is willing to make custom sausages for me if I can bring them a recipe that I like.

Does anyone here have a great tasting "American style" frankfurter recipe that would be great for a hot dog business? I'm looking for something that will have people coming back for more, cheap enough to produce, etc. Also, I'd like to offer a small variety of sausages (maybe one is just the regular, one is the spicy one, etc.).

Any recipes, tips, etc. would be highly appreciated!

PS - Also, I am not adverse to using MSG.

welcome SausageMakerNewbie, Where abouts are ya located?
Are you looking for a US style hot dog or Frankfuter. two different things to me

Hi, I'm originally from the US. Lived mostly in Hawaii, but been to NY, Chicago, etc. Loved the hot dogs there! I live in the down under now.

I'm not familiar with the correct terminology. I thought a hot dog was a frankfurter.

So, any recommendations?

Sorry your terminology is probably more correct then mine, but to me a hot dog is loosely based bolagna recipe,. And a frankfuter is more of a traditional german style wiener. Are you going to do sample batchs and twick the recipes till ya get it right?
Two recipes that are not mine, but I like a lot are;
From Len Poli, this is a bolagna recipe but stuffed in to a 24-26 casing it makes an awesume ball park dog.

http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Bologna.pdf
These are a big hit around here, I've adjusted the spices to more suit my tastes and increased the amount by 10% or so. I also left out the liver or bacon.

From the Marianski's: more of what I'd call a frank;

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-recipes/wiener

Again I've twicked it to my liking. this is another favorite of ours.

Hope this is some help.

Thanks. I'll look into these recipes and discuss it with the company. Always nice to have someplace to start.

Nathan's, Sabrett's and Vienna Beef are all, of course, all-beef franks.
Best's Kosher are, unfortunately, no longer made.

Anyway, I would start with the following recipe....
Adapted from Charcuterie by Ruhlman and Polcyn.

All-Beef Franks

1 Kilo Beef Chuck (2.2 lbs.) (20-25% fat)
15 grams salt
1/2 tsp. Cure #1
1/2 to 1 cup cold water
1 Tbsp. Colman's Mustard Powder (9 grams)
2 tsp. Hungarian Paprika (6 grams)
1 tsp. Ground Coriander (3 grams)
1/4 tsp. Ground White Pepper (1 gram)
1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder (1.5 grams)
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup (30 ml.)

If the texture is too soft you may want to consider adding phosphates.

Step One: Grind beef through small dye.

Step Two: Add salt, pink salt, and water to meat and combine by hand. Let cure in fridge for 24 hours.

Step three: Add remainder of ingredients and mix thoroughly by hand. Freeze mixture.

Step Four: Regrind mixture through smallest dye. Freeze mixture.

Step Five: Puree in food processor into uniform paste. Freeze mixture.

Step Six: Stuff mixture into casings. Twist off into 6″ links.

Step Seven: Hot smoke hot dogs to safe internal temp. (I cold smoke mine, then steam to proper temperature.)


Here's a great article by Michael Ruhlman written for Gourmet Magazine about the making of franks at Vienna Beef.
Some very interesting information.....

http://ruhlman.com/2006/11/dogs/

Just an observation, but it seems to me that if you are opening a hot dog business, you should know hot dogs, first.

vagreys wrote:Just an observation, but it seems to me that if you are opening a hot dog business, you should know hot dogs, first.

Hmmm...
That sounds rather harsh!
He did ask for a recipe for a specific style of frank, not criticism, or at least I think he did.

In this neck of the woods franks, frankfurter, hot dog, dogs, hots, wiener and sometimes coney are all used pretty much interchangeably. Each name may mean something specific to some people, but for the most part the names are informal.
I'm sure it's different in other areas of the country.

A quick check of the Nathan's Famous website shows that they refer to their product as Frankfurters, Franks and Hot Dogs.

Nearly the same in the case of Sabrett's, Frankfurters and Hot Dogs.

So, I think he asked the proper question!!!!

SausageBoy wrote:

vagreys wrote:Just an observation, but it seems to me that if you are opening a hot dog business, you should know hot dogs, first.

Hmmm...
That sounds rather harsh!
He did ask for a recipe for a specific style of frank, not criticism, or at least I think he did...

Perhaps, perhaps not - ascribe whatever tone you will. Business is harsher. The food business harsher, still. I wasn't quibbling over his choice of term for a hotdog. I was observing that, in my opinion only, he was putting the cart before the horse. If you are going to be successful in business, you have to know your product and your customers. While the terms may be being used interchangeably (I agree, and as far as I can tell, true all over the US), even so, there are significant differences among "American style" hotdogs (by whatever name) - for example, Chicago-style, New York-style, Red Hots, White Hots, Coneys, All-Beef, Beef Kosher, All Pork, Beef and Pork, and all combinations of beef/pork/veal/chicken/turkey, with and without heavy garlic, with and without milk. One would hope the OP knows what the target taste and texture are for the hotdog the OP is going to launch as a business marketing to Australians.

Theoretically, the OP is asking for a recipe for a "hotdog business". The examples the OP gave were for all-beef hotdogs. Assuming that "down under" refers to Australia, while the OP isn't impressed with the local sausages, whatever their composition, THOSE are what the locals know and eat. There are reasons for that, and the OP needs to understand why.

The OP may miss a good, all-beef "American" hotdog (clearly what's coming to the OP's mind), but all-beef may or may not be appropriate in that state or territory or for the majority local population, or maybe the hotdog formula shouldn't include (non-fat dry) milk with the meat (several of the examples the OP gave were Kosher), or maybe the local population isn't as big on garlic as the OP. Maybe the OP wants to appeal to the locals or maybe the OP only wants to appeal to ex-pat Americans - all well and good - but knowing the product is still important, and will help in finding not just "a" recipe, but the "right" recipe for a successful hotdog business, in more ways than one.

If I was harsh, it was meant kindly. I wish SausageMakerNewbie every success, and good luck in the search for the perfect hotdog.

"Heh, that's not a hotdog, mate. THIS is a hotdog."

SausageMakerNewbie, if you are wanting to reproduce a commercial hotdog, you may want to take a look at a book called Sausage and Processed Meat Formulations by Herbert Ockerman. It is available, free, for download, here. Check out the section on hotdogs, weiners and frankfurters. Lots of different formulations in there that might spark some ideas.

vagreys wrote:

SausageBoy wrote:

vagreys wrote:Just an observation, but it seems to me that if you are opening a hot dog business, you should know hot dogs, first.

Hmmm...
That sounds rather harsh!
He did ask for a recipe for a specific style of frank, not criticism, or at least I think he did...

Perhaps, perhaps not - ascribe whatever tone you will. Business is harsher. The food business harsher, still. I wasn't quibbling over his choice of term for a hotdog. I was observing that, in my opinion only, he was putting the cart before the horse. If you are going to be successful in business, you have to know your product and your customers. While the terms may be being used interchangeably (I agree, and as far as I can tell, true all over the US), even so, there are significant differences among "American style" hotdogs (by whatever name) - for example, Chicago-style, New York-style, Red Hots, White Hots, Coneys, All-Beef, Beef Kosher, All Pork, Beef and Pork, and all combinations of beef/pork/veal/chicken/turkey, with and without heavy garlic, with and without milk. One would hope the OP knows what the target taste and texture are for the hotdog the OP is going to launch as a business marketing to Australians.

Theoretically, the OP is asking for a recipe for a "hotdog business". The examples the OP gave were for all-beef hotdogs. Assuming that "down under" refers to Australia, while the OP isn't impressed with the local sausages, whatever their composition, THOSE are what the locals know and eat. There are reasons for that, and the OP needs to understand why.

The OP may miss a good, all-beef "American" hotdog (clearly what's coming to the OP's mind), but all-beef may or may not be appropriate in that state or territory or for the majority local population, or maybe the hotdog formula shouldn't include (non-fat dry) milk with the meat (several of the examples the OP gave were Kosher), or maybe the local population isn't as big on garlic as the OP. Maybe the OP wants to appeal to the locals or maybe the OP only wants to appeal to ex-pat Americans - all well and good - but knowing the product is still important, and will help in finding not just "a" recipe, but the "right" recipe for a successful hotdog business, in more ways than one.

If I was harsh, it was meant kindly. I wish SausageMakerNewbie every success, and good luck in the search for the perfect hotdog.

"Heh, that's not a hotdog, mate. THIS is a hotdog."

This is the only question he asked.....
"Does anyone here have a great tasting "American style" frankfurter recipe that would be great for a hot dog business?"

If he specifically wanted business advice, seems like that's what he would have asked for,

I simply answered the question as asked. He mentioned Nathan's, Sabrett's and Best's which are all roughly the same style all-beef frank where the predominate spice is ground mustard, which led me to post what I did above.

Anyway, it's all good!

What just happened?

Not enough smilies

firstly - great post vagreys - and great advice!!

vagreys wrote:......One would hope the OP knows what the target taste and texture are for the hotdog the OP is going to launch as a business marketing to Australians.

Speaking as an Aussie - I couldn't agree more!

Not sure if you have noticed, but in Australia - it's not about hotdogs - It's about sausage & onion sandwiches! - Hotdogs are not that popular here.

I'm not trying to be an arse.. just trying to give you some honest advice.

The premise that Aussies don't like hotdogs that much because they haven't tried proper USA ones.. may not be a safe assumption to make.

If you do it - you should have America or USA in the title somewhere. People will be more likely to try it if they think it is genuine/authentic.

They tried to sell Pop Tarts here once.... Once.

Anyways - take this anyway you like - feel free to tell me to shove it if you don't agree... you may have experience or market research that proves me wrong....that's all fine - just voicing my opinion and trying to be constructive.

Hi All, thanks for input. I'll try the sausage recipes. Thanks DanMcG and SausageBoy.

I also appreciate all the business advice, but they were unnecessary. My question only dealt with the sausage recipe. Once we figure out a recipe that's great that we can produce cost effectively, the next phase would be to do market testing. If that fails, we're back to step 1: find a product that will sell. We are merely at the product development stage.