A Hot Dog is...

The fine folks over at the Merriam-Webster Dictionary has somehow come to the ridiculous conclusion that a Hot Dog is a sandwich.

Now, I have been hearing this argument since last year, and it makes little sense.


A hot dog isn't a sandwich.


In my 56 years I've never answered "hot dog" when asked what kind of sandwich I wanted to eat.



In all the ballparks... Tiger Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, or Yankee Stadium...never have I heard a fan say the words "sandwich" and "hot dog" in unison with each other.


Have you ever heard a hot dog vendor yell out "...peanuts, popcorn, cracker jacks, sandwiches..." at a ball game?

Absolutely not.

I doubt this young fan asked his Dad for a sandwich at Fenway Park.



The dictionary folks are saying because you "split" the bun to place the dog inside, that makes it a sandwich.

Nonsense.


The hot dog is not a sandwich, it is a entity all itself, and delicious mixture of meats on a casing that snaps when you bite into it.



The only time a slice of bread for a sandwich snaps is if the bread is stale.



Hot Dog buns at the ballpark are steamed, soft buns, with a delicious frankfurter inside, ready to be dressed with mustard, ketchup, relish...some fans even put the evil onion of their dog...yuk!



The hot dog is a food eaten by baseball fans at ballparks all across the country, and American staple handed down by 100 plus years of baseball families...you don't hand down ham and cheese sandwich recipes for 100 years.

I will never call a hot dog by any other name...it's a name earned since before the American League started playing baseball in 1901.



This is the 100th Anniversary of Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs on Coney Island, New York, and I betcha that not once in all the millions of customers that ordered a hot dog ever called out... " give me 2 hot dog sandwiches all the way."

So, remember,  a grilled cheese sandwich...delicious...is a sandwich, and a juicy, fresh made hot dog is... a hot dog. 


Play Ball!