The hot dog is, to use a food-related aphorism, as American as apple pie. At cookouts and ball games, there is no treat as welcomed as a juicy frank served hot and fresh in a soft bun with your choice of toppings. Purists will quibble on the specifics of the best hot dogs : Is a Chicago-style dog with pickle and celery salt (and absolutely without ketchup) the definitive weenie? How about the Coney hot dog, with its loving application of chili under a swath of mustard and crisp, pungent diced onion? There's no universal consensus.
Enter, a unique and unexpected contender: the Filipino hot dog. Over 4,000,000 people of Filipino descent live in America and, among the delicacies they've woven into the fabric of our melting pot culture, is their spin on the hot dog. According to Richard Pink, co-owner of the famous Pink's Hot Dogs, in an interview with the Asia Society , "Filipinos like American products .
.. Certainly, the hot dog is an iconic American food.
" A Filipino hot dog is fried or grilled and topped with the tasty accoutrements that make it so unique. Sometimes, it isn't even served in a bun but beside rice and a fried egg instead. Garlic oil and a pickled papaya condiment called atchara are typical accompaniments, but the real star of the Filipino hot dog is its special sauce: banana ketchup.
The secret is in the sauce The concept of banana ketchup could leave some Americans scratching their heads ...
until they try it and realize what they've been missing. Banana is th.