Hot Dogs

Of course, I'm not going to tell you how to cook a hotdog.  Any dummy can do that and there are a thousand different ways to do it.  I'm going to tell you how to buy the most awesome hotdogs EVER.  Sorry to my out of town readers.  My advice is to find a local source for these kinds of dogs..

One of the many great things I gained in marrying well was an instant relationship with the family butcher.
 
My mother-in-law introduced me to Rudolph's Meat Market in downtown Dallas a few years into the marriage.  For some reason that I forget there was a meat shortage one year and grocery store cases were empty of fresh meat.  Some of them had even taken to filling the chests with canned hams and tuna.  I am not kidding.  I saw this with my own eyes.

Blanche Els was never one to take any kind of restriction given her. She was the kind of woman who lit a cigarette on the way home from lung cancer surgery. So, when the meat section at the grocery stores emptied out she packed me up and took me to Rudolph's. 

They had all the standard meat you see in any butcher shop.  But they also made their own hotdogs.  The kind that are connected to each other by the casing.  Those long strings of hot dogs.  Beaven grew up on them and I always try to have them at those special hotdog occasions like July 4th.

I'm sure their regular meat was a cut above the rest but the location wasn't convenient and I've never been that picky so I only patronized Rudolph's when I needed hot dogs. One visit I was checking out and realized I had left my checkbook at home.  The guy waiting on me asked my name and was going to set the package aside for me until I returned.  When I told him "Els" it was like the massive doors to the City of Oz had flung open to me.  "Els?", he asked, "Are you from the Els family?"  Only a few sentences later I had my package in hand and was trusted enough to take the hot dogs with me until I returned with the money. Say what you like about girl power but it still pays to take your husband's last name sometimes.

I digress.  The point of the story is this:  Rudolph's Meat Market in downtown Dallas, Deep Elm, to be exact, is the only place I've ever seen who makes them strung together by the casing.  They are seasoned a bit more and are leaner.  My pickest eater, the granddaughter who will not allow her cheese to touch her meat patty,  loves Rudolph's hotdogs.  You have time to get some before July 4th.  Go ahead and get them now. They don't have the preservatives needed to keep them in the fridge very long.  Either eat them within a couple of days or freeze them.