101 Ways to Prepare a Hot Dog

The days of plopping a hot dog on a bun, squirting a squiggle of school bus yellow mustard on it, and calling it lunch are over. Our 101-Plus Hot Dog Variations elegantly jazz up flavor and aesthetics. What better way to celebrate a meal than boiling, grilling, steaming, or baking hot dogs and then jazzing them up with Swiss cheese, fancy mustard, piccalilli, or a dozen other fancy condiments.

Here's a sampling of what's in the book.

Chicago dogs: Dressed with yellow mustard, dark green relish, chopped raw onions, tomato slices, celery salt, and a poppy seed bun.

Tex-Mex dogs: Toppings include salsa, Monterey Jack cheese, and chopped jalapeno peppers.

Pigs in a Blanket: Wrapped in pastry and baked in the oven until toasty warm.

Baltimore Frizzled: Split open, then deep-fried.

Kansas City dogs: Sauerkraut and melted Swiss cheese served on a sesame seed bun.

New York City dogs: Replete with steamed onions and pale yellow mustard sauce.

Coney Island dogs: Topped with the legendary spicy meat mixture.

The Francheezie: A jumbo hot dog split down the middle and filled with either a generous dollop of Cheddar cheese or Velveeta. Wrapped in bacon and deep-fried, it's served on a toasted bun.

Southern slaw dogs: Served with a mound of juicy coleslaw on top.

Corn dogs: The venerable carnie dogs, skewered with a stick, dipped in cornbread batter, and then deep-fried.

Tex-Mex dogs: Toppings include Guacamole pure, salsa, and Monterey Jack cheese.

While hot dogs are as American as apple pie, they are also wildly popular around the world. So it should come as no big surprise to learn the international section of this book details how hot dog aficionados around the world prepare hot dogs, including The Basque Country, France, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Japan, and Australia.

Besides the multitude of recipes for assembling the tastiest hot dogs (domestic and international), we've included recipes for blending condiments in your own kitchen such as:

• Homemade mustard
• Coney Island Sauce
• Salsa Rosada
• Guatemalan Chirmol
• Sauce Amricaine
• Flo's Hot Dog Relish
• Coca-Cola Caramelized Onions
• Hot dog Slaw
• Marmet Famous Yellow Slaw
• Texas Yellow Coleslaw
• Rmoulade
• Utah Fry Sauce
• Hawaiian Salsa
• Guasacaca