Whether it's , bratwurst, or any other encased meat enjoyed on a bun, it's commonly understood that their history began in Germany. However, the story of the hot dog and its bun, a quintessentially American dish, is still debated today. The North American hot dog is best characterized as either all-beef or containing a mix of various meat trimmings, and historians attribute its birth to European butchers of different nationalities.
Frankfurt, Germany, and Vienna, Austria (home to the Frankfurter and the Vienna wiener respectively), both claim to be the originators of the hot dog. Regardless, after German immigrants brought the sausage to the States in the 1860s, a few different tales cropped up explaining why they're called hot dogs and why we eat them on a bun. Here's why you ask for a hot dog at the and not a "dachshund," and why that meat is served nestled between pieces of bread instead of all alone.
The stories behind the name 'hot dog' One of the most commonly known (but also debunked) stories behind the hot dog name credits a cartoonist at the New York Journal with coining the term. The story goes that Tad Dorgan saw vendor Harry Stevens selling sausages during a 1901 polo game while shouting "Get your red-hot dachshund sausages!" Dorgan then drew a cartoon of what he saw featuring an actual dachshund dog between a bun. The illustration has never been found, though, and many say the story came from the fact that Dorgan and Stevens were friends.
Bruce Kraig, professor e.
