Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I enjoyed the article. But Mr. Poulos isn't telling the truth when he says that his dogs are made specially for him. They are the standard natural casing 10 to a pound Sabrett all beef dog. I got this information from Sabrett distributors, a guy whose father drove a Sabrett truck for 40 years and actually delivered to Papaya King, and the person in charge of private label at Sabrett (Marathon). This person told me that they only have 2 recipes, one for all beef and one for the beef/pork dog that is used in Jersey at Callahan's, Hot Grill, and the Windmill. I was told that it is too labor intensive to have a different recipe for each client, although it is done in rare cases, but not by Marathon. I was given the code number for the Sabrett dogs used at Gray's and Papaya King, and they are the same. Katz's uses a slightly bigger dog, but it's the same recipe. Mr. Poulos likes to say that the Papaya King dog has an extra spice that the regular Sabrett dog doesn't, but this is also not true. Again, this was confirmed to me by the person in charge of private label at Marathon. I relayed the information to Ed, who used it in his article about New York Hot Dogs.

Claiming that your hot dogs are made specially for you is common in the hot dog business. I see it all the time. Some places selling dogs even claim to make them on premise. Katz's is one, depending on who you talk to. I always ask to see the sausage making equipment. A popular place in New Jersey claimed to make their own dogs. When I called them on it, the owner then said that they were made by his brother at a nearby pork store. I noticed a similarity between these dogs and Hofmann's of Syracuse. When I saw an article that stated the owner was from Syracuse, I thought it was too much of a coincidence. I found out from someone at Hofmann's that they supply this place with dogs. Hot dog purveyors want you to think that their product is unique and that you can only get it at their place.