Hot dogs are made by injecting a batter of meat and meat by-products in to a tubular casing, twisting the casings at intervals to create the individual "links" then cooking the result.

As a specialty kid's food, inject the pink goo in to 3 dimensional molds, e.g. dinosaur shapes and cook to create bite-sized individual morsels.

Since the pink color of hot dogs is due to red food coloring, these likely could be made in, uh, let's say "interesting", colors like purple. Good for adding to those theme-pasta macaroni and cheese products.

(This might well exist, but I couldn't find anything and ran out of new search terms to try.)
-- half, Mar 08 2005

Similar Hot_20Dog_20Art
Yet different [DesertFox, Mar 08 2005]

Flash Bangers Flash_20Bangers
by my face your. [calum, Mar 09 2005]

cheerio octopuses (USian: 'weiner' octopuses) http://www.kraftfoo...MacaroniCheese.html
Also hugely popular in Japan as lunch box item - fried [ConsulFlaminicus, Mar 10 2005]

Sausage Hedgehogs http://www.katerynd...yn.org/sausrec3.htm
(at bottom, below 17th century sausage recipe) [ConsulFlaminicus, Mar 10 2005]

//dinosaur shapes // & //"interesting", colors like purple// Are you suggesting Barney Burgers? That is sooo sick.
-- TolpuddleSartre, Mar 08 2005


No, I didn't think of that...glad you did.

Can you maybe also help me think of replacement for this lame title?
-- half, Mar 08 2005


Meat Whip Action Figures

Sorry, "Green Army Man Ham & Eggs" just wasn't coming together.
-- reensure, Mar 08 2005


Ithyphallus - edible, purple but not for kids
-- DenholmRicshaw, Mar 08 2005


Urgh! Purple hot dogs.... Yuck! Makes me queasy just imagining them. Urk!
-- DesertFox, Mar 08 2005


[DesertFox], pass the barfbag this way, please! And quickly!
-- Machiavelli, Mar 08 2005


[half] - what about "I can't believe it's not food"
-- neilp, Mar 08 2005


They're made out of whatever hot dogs are made of. I reckon they could be all beef kosher for those who answer to a higher authority.

This would be marketed toward children. I fear that "Meat Whip Action Figures" would attract a crowd that children shouldn't associate with.

It's all in your head [DF]. As far as I know there's still purple and green ketchup on the market. On the other hand, there have been successful gross-out candies marketed to kids. We could take advantage of that by marketing edible purple "bruises" and such. How's that queasiness doin' now, [Machiavelli]? Better?

Colors were an afterthought. Purple seemed a better choice than green.
-- half, Mar 09 2005


There could be little kidney shapes and little pancreas shapes -- to refer back to where the hot dog substance came from -- sort of like art imitating life. Organ dogs.
-- JesusHChrist, Mar 09 2005


Colored meat. They did a psychological survey or test a while back, and most people said that meat that wasn't it's usual color made them feel nauseous.
-- DesertFox, Mar 09 2005


A select few will prefer condom casings.
-- FarmerJohn, Mar 09 2005


An odd few, perhaps.

[DF], you've made my point precisely. One of my former clients is a meat company. Through them, I am also aware of hot dog products that are made with huge amounts of red food coloring and sell well in the countries to which they are exported. They aren't appetizing to me because of the color. But, it's all in my head. Kids may not yet have the same prejudices.
-- half, Mar 09 2005


Don't forget the Llama and Alpaca shaped nuggets.
-- MrDaliLlama, Mar 09 2005


Psst.. [Brau] That gag's already been done...
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 09 2005


Could I be next to kill off barney? Coincidently, I found a video clip online called 'death of barney' (I'll put the link so Brau can enjoy).
-- froglet, Mar 09 2005


You can already buy Dinosaur Shapes - again, just shaped chicken nuggets. Also, Little Princess ...err... things, which are heart or crown shaped (again, chicken nuggets).

So I can't see any problem with this... also, isn't most meat treated to make it a MORE appetising colour? For instance isn't minced beef made to look more red so you think it's fresh?
-- kmlabs, Mar 09 2005


I don't think beef should look red - if it is red, it hasn't been hung long enough.
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 09 2005


The recent furore over Sudan 1 is grossly exaggerated. I understand that the additional risk of cancer attributable to the amount of it in a reasonable consumption of the affected products is equivalent to smoking one extra cigarette in a lifetime.
Having said which, I tend not to eat the type of "food" which would contain it anyway.
-- angel, Mar 09 2005


The recent Sudan 1 scare listed over 400 products potentially containing the contaminated batch. I was pleasantly surprised to find I had never purchased a single product on the list.
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Mar 09 2005


How about making them in little tiny round shapes and calling them "Hog Dots" ?
-- Basepair, Mar 09 2005


[Basepair], Hog Dots could be little snouts? Or small Harley Davidson emblems?

From your description, I visualized hot dog slices. In this age of convenience, why not presliced hot dogs for those recipes requiring sliced hot dogs? (It would probably be more convenient to slice your own than buy a separate product, but marketing is what marketing is.)
-- half, Mar 09 2005


Little snouts sound cute. Actually, I get scared enough when I look at the various molded chicken-goo things that my daughter eats. But anything that makes good use of recycled pig colon can only be of benefit to mankind :-)
-- Basepair, Mar 09 2005


// How about making them in little tiny round shapes and calling them "Hog Dots" ?//

These already exist - they used to be called Ball Dogs (rather than the infinitely funnier Dog Balls) but apparently are now called Scooters. They're made by Herta.
-- hazel, Mar 09 2005


[Hazel] - You mean to tell me that the advertising executives of one of the biggest hot-dog manufactories in the universe invented dot-shaped hot-dogs and missed the opportunity to call them Hog Dots? Hark - I hear a career in marketing beckoning.
-- Basepair, Mar 10 2005


Before the meat has gelled, (or whatever it does) in the casing you could twist your standard balloon animals.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 10 2005


this is terrible. hot dog meat is one of the nastiest, least healthy things to put into a child's body. or any body. let's leave the shaped foods to animal crackers and jello molds. [-]
-- changokun, Mar 10 2005


Yeah, jello. That's made of lots better stuff than hot dogs.
-- half, May 12 2006



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