Hot Dog Art

I’ve been eating a lot of hot dogs lately. In doing so, I have realized a hidden talent of mine – the ability to carve designs into the uncooked dog with a knife. While they are very difficult to see in raw form, the cooking process transforms them into beautiful pieces of art. As they blossom, the cuts open to reveal the pink insides of the dog, which stand out in contrast to the brown casing. Different effects can be realized by varying the depth of the cut, as a deep cut will open much wider than a shallow one. I started with simple patterns on the dog (checkers, squiggly lines, polka dots…), from there moved on to writing messages (HOT DOG !, LUECKE…), and finally I attempted a drawing (a dog next to a tree)… yes, I have been eating a LOT of hot dogs lately.

But if carving these creations has taught me anything, it is this – it takes a long time to do this by hand. So I propose that hot dogs be manufactured with designs already cut into them. I imagine that it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to do. As the dogs come off the line, but before they are packaged, they are simply stamped with (or rolled over) a shaped-knife pattern (cookie cutter technology). Then they could be sold in packages with an assortment of designs. There could be basic designs such as patterns or sports drawings, seasonal patterns, and even marketing related patterns (Shrek dogs would be popular right now). The real fun in these would be that the kids are relatively clueless as to what picture their food is going to have on it until it is cooked.

PS. I suppose that this idea is pretty similar to the “Laserfurterator” (see link), but thought it deserved its own posting based on the “element of surprise” and the fact that it is a bit more practical.