Taste The Maction: Week 10

Picking this week’s site for Taste The Maction was a no brainer. Our inspiration this week was the rematch of the last three MAC championship games. The NIU Huskies have been in 6 consecutive MAC championship games in a row. Ok, it’s a battle of cellar dwellers and I just wanted some Chicago dogs for dinner tonight.

Another reason I chose the dogs is because they are so simple. It was very frustrating listening to a writer here, who is in college, complain about his frozen pizza TWO DAYS after the pizza Taste. And I quote me, “Three, Pizza is super easy to make. You have no idea how annoyed I am that frozen pizza is the fastest growing segment of the pizza industry. A lot of the chains are using more and more frozen ingredients, too.” Why? Why would he make a frozen pizza? Didn’t I show him the light? So tonight I picked something easier than a pizza. The reader can run out at halftime of the Bronc, I mean the Northern Illinois game, grab the ingredients, and put the dog together before the second half kickoff.

Ingredients:

Anna Jones

Yellow Mustard.

Red Onion.

Green Pickles. I prefer the garlic kosher spears from Mt. Olive or Clausens.

All Beef Hotdogs. Any will work, these are the “real” ones, and the best ones.

Hot Italian Giardiniera. A lot of recipes will call for stadium peppers. I borrowed these from another Chicago tradition, the Italian Beef Sandwich.

Bun. Any bun will do. Poppy seed buns are “official”, but I love the split top buns.

Directions. I’ll type real slow so a certain college kid can follow along. Turn on a heating device. I preheat our convection oven to 375. A toaster oven works well, too. Or you can pan fry, boil, microwave, or grill. Cook the dogs for about 10 minutes, rotating so you spread around the char marks.

If you want a toasted bun, open it up about three minutes before the dogs are done and bake/fry/grill it with your dogs. This will firm the bun so it’s a little less messy. If you like a steamed bun, throw it in the microwave for 20 seconds. I recommend putting the hotdog in the bun when doing this to absorb some of the fat/flavor.

Anna Jones

It should look something like this, Matt. if it doesn’t, go back and try again.

Next, add the condiments of your choice. Except no ketchup. It’s against the rules, and they will find out. I dice the onion really fine. I also only use half of a spear sliced longways, so it doesn’t take over the entire dog.

The finished product looks something like this.

Anna Jones

Delicious!