Hot Dog of the Game: Chargers at Bills

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The Dog: The Danger Dog

It’s the official hot dog of the city of Los Angeles. The Danger Dog. Some may argue it’s the Dodger Dog – but I digress. The Danger Dog is a Sonora Dog that came to the L.A. street food scene through a winding road from Tijuana, then from Arizona and ultimately, its origin: the city of Hermosillo in the Mexican state of Sonora. The essential element is wrapping the hot dog in bacon. Toppings vary from grilled peppers, grilled onions, lightly charred jalapenos, avocado, salsa and on and on. Grilled peppers and onions with jalapeno seem to be the stock standard. Today we’re going to riff on these toppings and change it up with some more condiment-y ingredients that homage the stock toppings but bring a bit more pop in appearance and flavors. We use Biquinho peppers (also known as sweet red drop, Peruvian pearls, sweety drops) in place of the bell peppers. Both are sweet, but the red drops have a bit more tang to them. We’re using pickled banana pepper rings in place of jalapeno peppers and we will still use white onions, but cooked down in some bacon fat instead of grilled. Mayo, mustard and ketchup are often drizzled on top, but I felt this version didn’t really need what these sauces bring to the table. Feel free to add as you please.

Ingredients

1 Side slice hot dog bun
1 Wardynski’s All-Natural Hot Dog
2 Slices of Bacon
½ oz. Biquinho Peppers / Sweet Red Drop Peppers / Peruvian Pearls
½ oz. Banana Pepper Rings
¼ ea. Onion, finely diced
1 tbsp Bacon Fat

Preparation

  1. Use two slices of bacon to wrap along the outside of the hot dog, leaving no gaps except for the ends.
  2. Set your oven to 400* and preheat. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil and pay spray. Place hot dogs with ends of bacon down. Cook for 8 minutes, then turn over. Cook for another 8 minutes. Turn again and increase the oven to 425*. Cook for another 2-4 minutes until bacon is nice and crisp, but not burnt.
  3. While the hot dog cooks, set a pan over medium high heat. Add 1 tbsp of bacon fat and warm through. Add diced onions and stir. Lower to medium high heat. We want to cook the onions but no color them. After 6-8 minutes turn heat to low to keep warm.
  4. Measure out ½ ounce of the red drop peppers and ½ ounce of the pickled banana peppers.
  5. Lightly dampen a paper towel. Wrap the paper towel around the hot dog bun. Microwave for 10-12 seconds.
  6. Assembly: Place bacon wrapped hot dog into steamed bun. Place banana pepper rings on first, then the diced onions and finish with the red drop peppers. If you’re using mayo, mustard and ketchup, drizzle on last.
  7. Enjoy and GO BILLS!