After taking some time off from eating hot dogs, I recently decided to add it back to my menu, at least once a week! The two Johnsonville American style hot dog stands in Bacolod, that I was aware of, are no longer in business and those were the only two that came close but not exactly. They did have Johnsonville franks and sausages. They did have hot dog buns and they did have mustard, chopped onions and relish. However, they did not have sauerkraut, chili, good cheese, celery salt or sliced tomatoes. Hero Sausages in the SM Mall Food Court was another decent hot dog stand but they had less to put on a hot dog than Johnsonville. So, I remedied the hot dog stand problem by starting my own private hot dog stand, right in our home kitchen!
When you shop at a supermarket in the Philippines, you will notice all the many different brands and styles of hot dogs! Most every Filipino I know really enjoys a good hot dog, only they don’t particularly like what they refer to as a “hot dog sandwich.” Hot dogs for breakfast with an over EZ egg and rice is common in many local households. Buying a grilled hot dog on a skewer is a very popular street food snack. My personal favorite is Pure Foods Tender Juicy Hot Dogs!
There are a number of brands of different hot dog buns available in Bacolod and one of my favorites are the ones that SM Supermarket makes and are for sale in their bakery, located up front of the store. P40 per package and they are large hot dog and sausage buns that will not normally fall apart when you load them with your favorite additions to your hot dog.
Build Your Own Hot Dog
You will find most of the excellent toppings for building your own hot dogs in Cafe Bob’s Deli and in Lopues Mandalagan Supermarket. Both have many different kinds of mustard! Horseradish Mustard, Nathan’s Coney Island Mustard, Honey Mustard, Stone Ground Deli Mustard, Dijon Mustard, French’s Classic Yellow Mustard and a number of others.
No Ketchup! No thank you! I never put ketchup on my hot dog but I know some who do. More power to them. This is the great thing about building your own hot dogs. You can put whatever you like on them. One of the stranger hot dogs I have heard of is the canned tuna hot dog, which is topped with, yep, tuna fish from a can. With that noted, I recall last year when Century Tuna put a hot dog on the market that was actually made of tuna instead of pork, beef, chicken or a combination of the three.
Other than different styles of mustard, there are a number of other ingredients I enjoy using when topping my hot dog. Sometimes, I go for the Chicago style hot dog which is, adding to the hot dog bun the actual hot dog, yellow mustard, sweet green pickle relish, chopped onion, tomato wedges, pickle spear, peppers and celery salt.
An authentic Chicago style hot dog! Looks great, doesn’t it?
Sauerkraut is another one of my favorite toppings when I am building a hot dog. When I want to add some bite, I add sliced jalapeno peppers. One of my all time favorites is the chili dog! I make my own chili when building a chili dog, however, one can buy canned chili at Cafe Bob’s Deli. Shredded cheddar cheese is always a great addition to a personally built hot dog.
I am ready to eat my hot dogs now, as it is time to enjoy one. I wish you could join me!
All Around Bacolod 