I know my Weenie!

The correct spelling is wiener, not weiner. The name comes from the Austrian city Wien (Vienna). We're talking about Wiener sausage here, called hot dog in America. I was born in Munich, Germany, to a German father and an Austrian mother. I was weened on wieners, hence my expertise on the subject. I might talk with an accent, write funny grammar, at times - but I do know my weenie!

Fun fact: Wieners are actually called "Frankfurters" (after the German city Frankfurt) in Vienna. Peculiarly enough, in Frankfurt, they're called "Wieners". Go figure. (I went, and I couldn't.)

IMHO, a good weenie is made from beef only, and then they're usually called franks. A superior beef frank contains lots of quality meat cuts, fat, and stronger seasoning than a wiener. Wieners are made from pork, chicken, turkey, meat substitutes, and I-don't-wanna-know-what-else.

Very important is the "snap" when you bite into your weenie. And the juice should squirt a bit, and then dribble down your chin. Nobody likes a dry weenie!

And this is MY favorite weenie: Applewood Smoked Wieners

Mustard. Smooth, slightly spicy mustard. Or, the grainy, slightly sweet variety. I'd say: You must have mustard, ketchup only if you must. Sorry. (For the lame pun.)

Personally, I don't care for the common hot dog buns. I'd rather have a more substantial sourdough bun, or a slice of sourdough bread with my weenie.
Frankly, it's best to bake your own fresh pretzels. See a fantastic recipe below, please.

There you go, that's all you need for a tasty meal. Maybe some beer, too. A good book, a funny TV show - and you're set.

1 Package active dry yeast (2 tsp)
Warm water (1/8 Cup-105°F)
Warm water (1 1/3 Cup)
Brown sugar (1/3 Cup)
Flour (4 1/2 Cups)
Baking Soda
Pot of water

Dissolve yeast in 1/8-cup warm water. Stir in 1 1/3 cups warm water, 1/3-cup brown sugar and flour. Knead dough until smooth and elastic. You can let the dough rise for a half hour or so, but it is not required.

Heat oven to 475°F. In a saucepan, measure 2 tablespoons baking soda to each cup of water. Put enough water to fill the saucepan at least 3 inches high. Bring soda and water mixture to a light boil and set heat to simmer. Make sure the baking soda is well dissolved.

Tear off some dough and roll a long thick pencil shape with your hands. Pick up both ends, cross to form rabbit ears and then twist the ends and pull them back to the rest of the loop. Place aside on lightly floured surface and let rise a few minutes.

Place pretzels one at a time in water/baking soda mixture for 10 seconds on each side or until the pretzel dough is light yellow in color. Remove the pretzel from boiling water and place onto a salted cookie sheet.

Salt the top of the pretzels with coarse ground sea salt. Place cookie sheet with pretzels into the oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until pretzel is golden brown. Enjoy while warm.

I recommend Dusseldorfer style mustard. Great with German Weisswurst and a Weissbier!

Notes: Do not refrigerate this dough, it will become unworkable.

Claims of invention of the hot dog are difficult to assess, because various stories assert the creation of the sausage, the placing of the sausage (or another kind of sausage) on bread or a bun as finger food, the popularization of the existing dish, or the application of the name "hot dog" to a sausage and bun combination.

The city of Vienna traces the lineage of the hot dog to the wienerwurst or Viennese sausage, the city of Frankfurt to the frankfurter wurst, which it claims was invented in the 1480s; the hot dog has also been attributed to Johann Georghehner, a 17th century butcher from the Bavarian city of Coburg who is said to have invented the "dachshund" or "little-dog" sausage and brought it to Frankfurt.

Around 1870, on Coney Island, a German immigrant named Charles Feltman began selling sausages in rolls.

Others also have been acknowledged for supposedly having invented the hot dog, including Anton Ludwig Feuchtwanger, a Bavarian sausage seller who is said to have started serving sausages in rolls at the World's Fair-either the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago or the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St Louis -because the white gloves he gave to customers so that they could eat his hot sausages in comfort began to disappear as souvenirs.

Full article here

Byproducts, Variety Meats
"Frankfurter, Hot Dog, Wiener, or Bologna With Byproducts" or "With Variety Meats" are made according to the specifications for cooked and/or smoked sausages (see above), except they consist of not less than 15% of one or more kinds of raw skeletal muscle meat with raw meat byproducts. The byproducts (heart, kidney, or liver, for example) must be named with the derived species and be individually named in the ingredients statement.

Species
Beef Franks or Pork Franks are cooked and/or smoked sausage products made according to the specifications above, but with meat from a single species and do not include byproducts.

Turkey Franks or Chicken Franks can contain turkey or chicken and turkey or chicken skin and fat in proportion to a turkey or chicken carcass.

USDA report