Hot Dog of the Week: Danish Hot Dog
"The signature of the Danish Hot Dog is the mountain of crispy fried onions—pretty much exactly like the canned French fried onions."
[Original artwork: Hawk Krall]
This week marks the first Hot Dog of the Week outside of North America. Unique hot dog styles are evolving on every corner of the planet. Brazil alone has three or four unique styles. Japan probably invented four new hot dogs while I wrote this article.
European hot dog variations are extra fascinating because the dogs themselves are closer to the original German wieners, yet many of the serving styles and toppings are influenced by American hot dog variations.
I was thrilled when my fellow illustrator-food blogger Kris Chau came back from Copenhagen with a camera full of hot dog pictures. I've heard about Denmark's hot dogs from many who consider them to be some of the best in the world. Hot dogs, known as Polser in Denmark, are in fact the country's most popular street food, available all over from polsevogns (literally "sausage wagon") that offer hot dogs and sausages in a myriad of styles.
[Photographs: Kris Chau]
The Danish Hot Dog is a natural casing wiener, often dyed bright red. Cooked on a flat grill, the extra-long dogs extend far beyond the boundaries of the bun, and are topped with crunchy fried onions, raw onions, thinly sliced pickles, and your choice of sauces ranging from mustard to ketchup or remoulade.
The signature of the Danish Hot Dog is the mountain of crispy fried onions—pretty much exactly like the canned "French fried onions" one might use to garnish a tuna casserole.
The dogs themselves are made from pork, and a touch more flavorful than their American cousins. They're still definitely in the wiener-frankfurter category (rather than sausage) though the vendors also offer Danish specialties such as the spicier Medister Polse.
Also common is the Fransk Hotdog or "French Hotdog" which is a toasted baguette-like roll with a hole bored through the middle, similar to the Hawaiian Puka Dog (filled with creamy sauce and stuffed with a hot dog). They even have bacon-wrapped hot dogs known as Polse I Svob served with the bread and sauces on the side.
Danish-style dogs seem to be taking off in popularity all over the world. Especially popular in Sweden, served right alongside Sweden's own wild variations - hot dogs topped with everything from creamy shrimp salad to mashed potatoes.
In the United States, you can find Danish Polser at Skagenhus in Wisconsin, a Scandinavian gift shop and tea room, or at F&B Gudtfood in Manhattan, a European-style sandwich shop that even makes a vegetarian Danish Dog.
Polsevogn
Every street corner, Denmark
Skagenhus
208 Elkhorn Road, Williams Bay WI 53191 (map)
262-245-1911
skagenhus.com
F&B Gudtfood
269 W. 23rd Street, New York NY 10011 (map)
646-486-4441
gudtfood.com
Hawk Krall is a Philadelphia-based illustrator who has a serious thing for hot dogs. Dig his dog drawings? Many of the illustrations he has created for Hot Dog of the Week are available for sale: hawkkrall.net/prints/.
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8 Comments:
i tried one of these with "everything" while i was working in copenhagen. as far as street food goes, their shawarma is way better! as a true new yorker i prefer dirty water dogs!
soopi25 at 2:10PM on 11/13/09
The Danes have perfected street food. Every night, people come to walk on a pedestrianised street overlooking the harbor, and graze on small bits of food from the countless food carts. A small roll with herring and pickles here, a ripe peach there, a small bowl of soup with dumplings. It's the way to live.
NotAmerican at 2:17PM on 11/13/09
i love the fransk hot dog so much from my year living in denmark that looking for the sauce has become a bit of an obsession. so good.
allot at 3:30PM on 11/13/09
Danish Hot Dogs: A Primer:
There exists a certain patois among hodder connoisseurs. The gist of it is the inventiveness of conveying the simplest of terms, such as:
Svend Tveskæg (Sweyn Forkbeard) = split sausage (well done)
Sovepose (Sleeping bag) = French style
Bræk, skrald, støk (Vomit/Trash/Noise) = the works (ie catsup/mustard/onions/etc)
Kradser (scratchy) = roll with mustard + onions
Lædervest (leather vest) = wrapped
Skinkesøm (ham-nail) = pork sausage
Kommunist (commie) = red sausage (a popular danish sausage made from the worst meat ever and lots of red food coloring)
Just a quick glossary of the most important phrases, the really good ones are insane combinations:
- Et par dameben i forbudstiden (A pair of lady legs, prohibition-style) = couple weeners w/ ketchup tween em
- Røvhul med fyld (An ass with filling) = French style
etc etc etc
Mikkel at 7:49PM on 11/13/09
I was at F&B about 7 years ago. I had 2 dogs there; the Top Dog, and the Polser. The Top Dog was a Usinger's beef/pork dog that was quickly flash fried. Ok, but the Usinger's beef dog is much better. This one would have been better grilled. I actually like the Polser better. It had a bright red color (food dye) and a spicier taste than what you normally find in a dog containing pork. Unique and good. Also quickly flash fried. Don't know if either dog is the same 7 years later.
hotdoglover at 8:05PM on 11/13/09
I love Polsers! I lived in Copenhagen for a year about a decade ago and ate polsers for dinner about every other night. (yeah, I know)
The best part, though is that the traditional Danish way of eating them on the street is that the bun and the polser are served and eaten separately! (You can see them separated in the cart menu pics in the article above) One in each hand- bite the polser, bite the bun, one after the other. This never ceased to baffle and amaze me. I had to stop myself from walking up to people and suggesting that they place their polser in their bun and eat them in one happy union. Copenhagen is filled with lots of these weird little intricate oddities and thats what makes it a great place.
SmokedMeat at 8:56AM on 11/14/09
Believe it or not, that's the way most of Germany eats a hot dog. Only they don't call it a hot dog. A frank is served with some mustard on a plate next to a small semmel roll. The frank is dipped in the mustard and a bite is taken followed by a bite of the roll.
hotdoglover at 8:42AM on 11/15/09
...and the Hot Dog Polser is now available as an 11x14 giclee print!!
get your holiday orders in NOW!
hot dog print store
Hawk Krall at 11:49AM on 12/02/09