I live in Chicago & eat Chicago dogs all the time. Don't worry about not finding the sport peppers if you are in a different area, I think most people pick them off anyways cause they are spicy.
Also, most hot dog stands here use Vienna hot dogs that should be in stores. They have a nice skin with a snap. They make for the best hot dogs.
Born and raised in the shadows of Wrigley Field many decades ago, I can tell this is the correct and appropriate Chicago-style hot dog recipe. A couple of notes: when you are in the city and ordering a "dog", when they ask "what would you like on that?", it is appropriate to say "hey, drag that dog through the garden, would you?". As far as cucumber versus dill spear, this depends on the neighborhood. So if you always ordered at the same dog stand, you might not realize the stand about 20 miles away uses celery salt and a dill pickle. My suggestion: Try them wherever you go. Oh, and my thanks to Rachel Ray - the best thing for low-carb diets...the Chicago Style Hot Dog salad. I had these for a week when my husband was on a business trip, and I actually lost more than 5 pounds. Thanks Vienna Beef (hey, I think their outlet store is still on Damen Ave. Seconds are excellent!)
Ahhhh sweet home Chicago; one of the reasons I love this city. This is the ONLY way to eat a hot dog around here. And do not, do NOT ask for ketchup, ever! For those of you having trouble finding sport peppers, they're sold by other jarred pickle/pepper products. They range from a light to dark green, and are about the size of your pinkie. They CAN be spicy, depending on your spice tolerance, check out viennabeef.com and click on products until you find the sport peppers. It is true most people (aka tourists) pick them off anyways! But to each their own; you haven't experienced Chicago until you've had a true Chicago style hot dog!
This was the best hot dog ive ever had in my entire life. I grilled the dogs baked the buns and used pepponcini peppers instead of the sports peppers. omg!!!!yummy!!!! i will always use this recipe when preparing hotdogs! thank you for the recipe!
This "recipe" doesn't cut new ground but if you're not in Chicago this is nice to have as a guideline for the required ingredients to assemble a Chicago Hot Dog properly at home.
These made our Super Bowl party complete! My husband is a Bears fan so I wanted to have Chicago dogs for him and his friends and they were a huge hit!! No one has ever heard of "sport peppers" in my area but after some research I found that Poblano peppers are pretty close so that's what we used. Poppy seed hot dog buns are not available in my area so I steamed regular buns and while they were still moist rolled them in loose poppy seeds. These dogs were sooo good that we've now implemented them into our NASCAR get-togethers! Thanks so much!
I hate hotdogs. Except for my beloved Gold Coast Dogs in Chicago. I lived there for years and had them for lunch often. Then we moved to Michigan. No more Gold Coast Dogs. So I searched and found this recipe. 100% perfect!! Just be sure to use an all beef Kosher type dog rather than a small mix hotdog. There are times that a turkey-dog won't cut it and this is one of them.
Not being a pickle or pepper fanatic I like mine with cucumber wedges instead of the pickles and peppers. For the record I got a dog this way from a pushcart in Chicago.
Chicago Dogs are a childhood favorite of mine since my family owned a restaurant that specialized in Vienna Beef Hot Dogs. They aren't a Chicago Dog without the celery salt and pepperocini peppers have the perfect flavor to top the dogs. Of course they really aren't a hot dog but a GOURMET hot dog...Enjoy!
I visited my sister in Chicago last year and was soo excited to taste the famous Chicago hot dog..And I gotta say I wasn't very impressed...Kinda a let down for me...I couldn't really taste the hot dog with all the toppings on it.
