Chicago Hot Dog Culture & History
There is no sandwich more strongly associated with American culture than the hot dog. Hot dogs are synonymous with uniquely American cultural elements like fast food, baseball games, and state fairs. As Bruce Kraig says in the introduction to Hot Dog: A Global History; “It is one of the symbols by which Americans have identified themselves and to some extent still do.” Naturally, the hot dog and the culture associated with it has taken on regional identities in different American cities and remains a major part of the culinary culture of those cities.
Hot Dogs in Chicago
The history of hot dogs in Chicago started when sausages were first brought to the city by European immigrants in the nineteenth century. Pork was, and still is a popular filling for sausages in Europe, but many migrants to Chicago were Jewish which meant that kosher beef became the standard for sausages in the city. One of the early Chicago sausage makers was Vienna Beef, a company named after the Austrian city where the founders were from.
An account of Vienna Beef serving sausages in buns at the Chicago World Fair in 1893 is sometimes cited as the origin of the hot dog. Older accounts however, suggest that the hot dog likely originated in New York and traveled westward over time. Nevertheless, by the turn of the century, hot dogs had become a staple of Chicago street food and Vienna Beef sausages were increasingly being used by vendors across the city. At this time, hot dogs everywhere in the United States were made in a similar manner, consisting only of the sausage, the bun, and a few simple condiments. By the 1920s however, regional styles started to emerge, typically based on the composition and cooking of the sausage as well as additional ingredients added to the hot dog.
Many regional styles of hot dog that emerged during this era featured a type of meat sauce spread across the sausage. Examples include the Midwest’s Coney Island Hot Dog with a tomato based, Balkan seasoned, beef heart stew slathered on the hot dog, the Cincinnati Cheese Coney topped with a local sauce similar to chili con carne, kidney beans, and onions, or the Rhode Island Hot Weiner sometimes called the New York System Weiner. All three feature a meat sauce inspired by local taste, and a name that references Coney Island in New York City.
The Chicago-Style Hot Dog
Completely unlike these however, was the Chicago-Style Hot Dog. Instead of a meat sauce, it’s topped with yellow mustard, neon-green sweet pickle relish, chopped white onion, tomato slices, pickled sport peppers, celery salt, and a dill pickle spear. With so many fresh ingredients, and such vibrant green colors, it is often described as a hot dog that has been dragged through the garden. Kraig says that the combined ingredients of the Chicago hot dog all contribute to “a sweet-sour-spicy flavor profile that was dear to East European and Mediterranean taste buds.” This was due to the many Greeks, Italians, and Germans that lived in Chicago when this style of hot dog took shape. The pickle, mustard, and celery salt were present early in hot dog history, as they were eaten by the same German immigrants who introduced sausages to America. Tomatoes, peppers, and piccalilli on the other hand were enjoyed by Greeks and Italians. Kraig ultimately surmises that “the Chicago hot dog is a palimpsest of early twentieth-century Chicago ethnicity.”
In addition to ethnicity, the economy played a role in shaping the Chicago-Style Hot Dog. The Great Depression led to vendors piling fresh produce on their hot dogs so that customers would perceive the sandwich as a budget friendly and healthy lunch option. The oldest oral account of this practice comes from Fluky’s, a locally famous fast food restaurant that claims the Depression Sandwich sold at their location on the corner of Halstead and Maxwell Street was the original Chicago-Style Hot Dog. Joe Fluky started selling his hot dogs from a vegetable cart, and naturally had the food items to stack on the hot dog at close hand. These Depression Sandwiches only developed into proper Chicago-Style Hot Dog sometime after the Second World War with the addition of the poppy seed bun. There is no consensus as to why this bread became the norm, according to Chicago restaurateur Doug Sohn however; “it’s a demarcation as to who’s serious and who isn’t” meaning that it’s now seen as the mark of authenticity for a proper Chicago-Style Hot Dog.
Despite the seemingly rigid rules about what goes on a Chicago-Style Hot Dog, there are some differences that define different hot dog vendors in the city. At The Wieners Circle, a legendary late night spot known for lewd behavior, the sausages are exclusively char-broiled instead of steamed. At Superdawg, one of the oldest, original drive-in restaurants in America, they serve pickled tomato instead of standard fresh slices. At Portillo’s, probably the most popular place serving Chicago-Style Hot Dog, they also sell Chicago’s other iconic sandwich, the Italian Beef, and Chicago’s lesser known hot dog; the Maxwell Street Polish.
The Maxwell Street Polish
As the Chicago-Style Hot Dog was growing in popularity, another style of hot dog was starting to take shape. This was the Maxwell Street Polish, created by an immigrant fleeing the growing instability in Europe during the lead up to World War II. The most notable difference is the use of kielbasa, a spicy polish sausage made with ground pork and beef. Kielbasa is typically longer than a wiener, so they need to be cut to fit into the hot dog bun, giving the Maxwell Street Polish a unique look compared to the typical hot dog. Sizzling hot, slow cooked onions that are caramelized to perfection are placed on the sausage. The sweetness from the onions is countered with some spicy sport peppers and tangy yellow mustard. Jim’s Original, the restaurant that first made this style of hot dog, still serves them, but now several other restaurants offer them as well.
The Maxwell Street Polish is sweet and smoky, while the Chicago-Style Hot Dog is crunchy, and tangy. Both hot dogs have mustard and sport peppers in common, but those ingredients play in the background and compliment the more dominant toppings. Both have also inspired a local culture of exotic hot dogs with ornate and often expensive toppings.
Gourmet Chicago Hot Dogs
The restaurant most associated with gourmet hot dogs in the United States was Hot Doug’s, the subject of a documentary and appearances on television shows like Food Paradise and No Reservations. Hot Doug’s began when a friend of Doug Sohn complained about a bad hot dog. Sohn felt that hot dogs were almost always good, but he explored the idea of making perfect hot dogs. The result was a restaurant with a line so long that it took no less than two hours to get inside. Some people joined the line for a classic Chicago-Style Hot Dog, but most were there for one of the more exotic items on the menu; Sandwiches that follow the ethos of Chicago hot dog culture, but upgrade the mustard and onions for ingredients typically found on the menu of a fine dining restaurant. Options on the menu included a Port Wine Elk Sausage with Foie Gras Aioli and Aged Centenol Cheese, a Chardonnay and Jalapeno Rattlesnake Sausage with Black Garlic Rouille and Cheese-Stuffed Hot Peppers, or a Pernod-Infused Pheasant Sausage with Rhubarb Mustard, Goat Cheese and Truffled Radishes.
For those seeking more familiar fast food flavors, there was a take on the BLT sandwich using Bacon Sausage, Avocado Mayonnaise, Iceberg Lettuce, Cherry Tomatoes and Hickory-Smoked Sweet Swiss Cheese and another with a Bacon Cheeseburger Sausage, Coca-Cola BBQ Sauce and Maple-Smoked Cheddar that channeled the flavors of a backyard barbeque in every bite.
When it was announced that Hot Doug’s would be permanently closing their doors in 2014, many lamented the loss of a local culinary institution. In the time since however, some of their sausages have become available through retailers, Sohn does the occasional pop-up, and two of his former chefs continued his legacy for a few years through their own gourmet hot dog restaurant called Hot “G” Dog. With encouragement from their former employer, they made some of his classics, and also created some interesting hot dogs of their own. Among these interesting creations is a Garlic Venison Sausage with Dijon Mustard with Garlic, Cherry Peppers & Goat Cheese, and the Pheasant Sausage with Truffle Mustard, Fried Prosciutto and Drunken Goat Cheese. Among the classics from Hot Doug’s that they continued making, none was more iconic than the famous Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Fleur de Sel.
Duck & Foie Gras Hot Dog
In 2005, renowned Chicago chef Charlie Trotter took a public stance against serving foie gras at any of his restaurants. He claimed that a visit to a farm opened his eyes to the animal cruelty involved in producing the decadent delicacy. While he got support from animal rights activists and politicians, he received significant pushback from the culinary world.
Questions arose as to when Trotter even visited a foie gras farm, since the only evidence of him ever having done so was for a photoshoot in the early nineties. Comparisons were also raised about ethics in other forms of poultry farming. A duck being force fed so that the fattened liver can be used for foie gras experiences a life not much different from that of a commercially raised chicken. It could even be argued that the cooped up and cramped chickens experience a far worse life, and that the industrial chicken farms accounted for the vast majority of cruelty against animals in the food industry. Ultimately, a French food with a funny sounding name typically served at fine dining restaurants had few defenders outside of the culinary world, so less than one year after Trotter expressed his issues with using Foie Gras, the delicacy was banned in Chicago.
The majority of restaurants in the city opted to stop serving it, or serve it secretly. The exception was Hot Doug’s, at that time a relatively little known restaurant about half an hour’s train ride outside of downtown Chicago. Not only did they still serve foie gras in the open, but they actively posted on social media about their hot dog made with duck and foie gras sausage. When they became the first restaurant in Chicago to be fined for serving foie gras, they skyrocketed in popularity due to the national news coverage that made people aware of the fact that they were selling what was arguably the best hot dog in America, for just a couple dollars more than a hot dog sold at a baseball stadium.
The ban would eventually be lifted, but the incident led to Hot Doug’s becoming world famous and earning their place alongside Portillo’s, Weiner’s Circle and others in Chicago hot dog history. It also led to the Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage Hot Dog earning a place alongside the Maxwell Street Polish and the Chicago-Style Hot Dog as an iconic Chicago Hot Dog.
