Brielle's Avalon

Got hamburger but only have hot dog buns? Easy! Shape the burgers to fit the buns. Got hot dogs but only have hamburger buns? Thant’s a bit trickier but not insurmountable. I learned this from an episode of a Jacque Pepin program on PBS that he was cooking with his granddaughter. It’s fun to do on purpose, too. Tonight we had 4 hot dogs, 2 hot dog buns and 2 hamburger buns. Andrew was pleasantly surprised with dinner.

Cut slits in the hot dogs, most of the way through but not quite. About 3/4 through.

The uncut dogs will stay straight, the cut ones will begin to curve as they cook. You might want to cook the cut side 1st so it gets done, since you won’t be able to turn them to that side once they start to curve/coil/bend/whatever!

Be patient. I’m not so patient. Still, they’re hot dogs (well, OK, these are li’l smokies, but still…hot dogs) and the stuff you smother them is just part of their character.

They might not make compleat circle (well, OK, probably not) so I pulled leftover fried onions/mushrooms/shaved brisket to fill it in. If you don’t have leftovers you can just fry up some onions for the middle. I just added the leftovers to the pan to warm them up.

Toasted buns are nummy, so nip a few under the broiler for extra scrumptiousness. I used gouda here, but you can leave yours plain or use ay cheese you happen to have on hand. Just don’t loose track of time! Burnt buns are not yummy and eating hotdogs without the bund kind of negates the point of the great hot dog trick.

This is how they fit on the buns.

Dress the dogs with anything you like. This is how we did ours tonight. Even chili would be yummy.

These are great with a soda, beer, what have you and on the side you can have chips, potato salad, tater tots, French fries, cole slaw, beans…any picnicy thing your tummy desires. Dessert can be cake, ice cream, pie, cookies…again, anything your tummy desires.