Chicago Style Hot Dog

A traditional Chicago style hot dog!  Vienna Frank and Neon Relish!
  
     You may think that this is just a hot dog with ordinary toppings.  There are a few ingredients on this hot dog that are hard to find outside of Chicago!
     A die hard Chicago Hot Dog fan will laugh at a cook who tries to sell a Chicago hot dog that is not made with the official ingredients.  The flavor of a Chicago hot dog is like no other hot dog.  The ingredients combine to give this hot dog a very special summertime flavor!
     A look at the pictures above will show how a properly assembled Chicago style hot dog should look.  Keep in mind, no ketchup is allowed!
     Neon relish can be hard to find, but it is available at Amazon online.  An Amazon search box is located at the bottom of this page.
   
     Chicago Style Hot Dog Ingredients:
     •  Neon Relish is a neon green colored pickle relish.  Neon Relish is required for making a Chicago style hot dog official!  Regular sweet pickle relish is not an acceptable substitute.  A Chicago style hot dog requires a generous amount of Neon Relish.
     •  The best pickle slice for a Chicago Dog is a spicy kosher dill pickle that also has a slightly sweet spicy "Bread and Butter" pickle flavor.  This slightly sweet and spicy dill pickle is a local Chicago product.  Any spicy dill pickle can be used.
     •  The peppers are pickled sport peppers.  Sport peppers have the stems cut off before they are placed in a jar.  Sport peppers are not easy to find outside of Chicago.  They are available at Amazon online.
     •  The choice Chicago hot dog is a thick Vienna style all beef hot dog.  A Chicago hot dog is slowly grilled over low heat and it is never boiled or steamed.
     •  Yellow mustard is the official mustard.  I personally prefer dijon mustard.  The mustard can be spread on the bun or squirted over the hot dog.
     •  The one Chicago style hotdog ingredient that most chefs overlook is celery salt.  A light sprinkle of celery salt gives this hot dog the official Chicago style flavor.  Some people like a generous amount of celery salt on a Chicago hot dog instead of a light sprinkle.
     •  The Chicago style hot dog bun has to be a poppy seed coated hot dog bun and not a plain hot dog bun.  The bun must be warmed in an oven or on a dry grill.
     Chopped onion is required.
     •  The last ingredient is a slice of tomato that is cut in half.
   
     Warm a poppyseed hot dog bun, grill a Vienna hot dog over low heat and assemble the the hot dog ingredients, so the the finished product looks like the one in the pictures above.  That is all there is to this gourmet hot dog recipe!
  
   
     To tell you the truth, it is the Neon Relish that is the most fascinating part of a Chicago Hot Dog.  Nobody seems to want to know how Neon Relish is made.  There are some things in life, that are better left as a mystery!  Yum!  ...  Shawna