I’m a Hotdog Overachiever. A No Fireworks 4th. An Impossible Sloppy Joe.
Who starts cooking 3 hours ahead just to make hotdogs?
Me. I do.
I like the 4th of July. It’s a day of cooking and communing with folks that refills my patriotic soul and helps us all forget about the small, loud, minority of bigoted a-holes that are ruining everything for the rest of us.
These small potatoes are perfect for making them smashed and fried. Oiled and salted I folded to foil to cover them completely and baked for 30 minutes at 375.
I gather the basics for crème fraîche. Mine will be heavy on the lime flavor. I prefer to make it with buttermilk but I forgot to pick some up. If this happens just add a tablespoon of vinegar to the milk, you’ll be fine. This will be the sauce for my potatoes.
Just for fun I added some Cajun seasoning. This will sit in the fridge for 3 hours.
I poked holes in my dogs with a skewer before the bacon wrap.
I hit the bacon with some maple seasoning. This sits in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. If the bacon is cold when it’s deep fried it will hold its shape better.
“…with liberty and justice for all.”
The potatoes were done. I treated them just like I would French fries. I let them air dry a little then they were deep fried twice.
Then, inspiration struck. I was only cooking for 3 people, myself included, but I tend to just go ahead and cook the whole packet of hotdogs at once. Since I had 2 that I didn’t bacon wrap I switched it up.
I smoked them in the oven.
Below you can see my impromptu smoker. I burned the oak shavings and as the flame died I covered everything with more foil and left it in the oven for 40 minutes, letting the residual heat from the baked potatoes cook the wieners.
Hear me out…
I still had a few of the Impossible burgers left. I know most would just make the damn burgers and forget about it.
But when have I ever made things easy on myself?
I made Sloppy Joe. I started by following a simple recipe that anyone can find online.
Think about how much damn sense this makes. What are the things everyone is inclined to put on hot dogs? Chili. Mustard. Ketchup. Onions.
Now, think about what goes into a Sloppy Joe. It’s meant to be.
I decided to go a bit California for the smoked dogs. I had an avocado threatening to commit seppuku by oxidation so that went in the food processor with lemon juice, avocado oil, cumin, salt and sweated garlic and onions. I started off slow and then turned the speed all of the way up to whip it into a mousse.
The smoked franks were done and smelled amazing.
I fried the potatoes once, took them out of the oil. I fried up the dogs. This is the exact color you should be looking for. If you look closely you can see how the edges of the bacon are caramelized. The skewers can be taken out and everything will hold it’s shape. While those rested the potatoes got their 2nd oil bath.
Fried potatoes got the sauce I made earlier. The smoked dog got the avocado mousse, yellow mustard, sweet relish, and tomato. The bacon wrapped got yellow mustard, same relish, the Sloppy Joe chili, and topped with gouda.
I got these buns at the good grocery store in a little town near me called Gretna. For whatever reason they have a fancier store there.
There’s no fireworks tonight due to rain. So our mayor moved it to Saturday but added a few bands just turned the whole thing into a little festival. I’m looking forward to taking some pics of that.
Happy 4th, folks.
