It’s summer, which means we’re in peak food” target=”_blank”>hot dog< this weekend, they will also be enjoying “the single largest hot dog day of the year,” Eric Mittenthal, the president of the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council (NHDSC) told Fox News.
According to the council, Americans are expected to consume 150 million hot dogs on Sunday, July 4, alone.
Here’s what else you need to know about hot dogs.
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Americans eat billions of hot dogs all summer
The Fourth of July might be the most popular day for hot dogs, but Americans enjoy the dish all summer long.
According to the NHDSC, Americans are expected to eat 7 billion hot dogs from Memorial Day to Labor Day, which is “peak hot dog season.”
Americans are expected to eat 7 billion hot dogs all summer, and 150 million hot dogs on the Fourth of July alone.
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Supermarket sales in the U.S. for hot dogs were $2.8 billion in 2020. Mittenthal told Fox News that number was up “considerably from 2019.”
Last summer at the Nathan’s Famous July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest, Joey Chestnut ate 75 dogs and buns — the record for most hot dogs eaten in 10 minutes.
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Americans’ favorite hot dog topping is mustard
Earlier this year, at the start of hot dog season, the NHDSC published a survey that found Americans’ favorite hot dog topping is mustard.
According to the survey, 68% of respondents chose mustard as their favorite topping, followed by 61% who preferred ketchup.
However, the NHDSC’s rules of etiquette say that adults should not put ketchup on hot dogs.
Americans’ favorite regional style of hot dog is New York style, which is an all-beef frank topped with steamed onions and yellow mustard, according to the NHDSC.
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Other favorite toppings included onions (44%), relish (41%), chili (30%), cheese (29%), sauerkraut (20%), mayonnaise (19%), bacon (14%), jalapenos (13%) and coleslaw (12%), according to the council’s survey.
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This week, the NHDSC also found which regional hot dog style is preferred by Americans, with New York-style — an all-beef hot dog topped with steamed onions and yellow mustard — coming out on top, followed by Chicago style — an all-beef hot dog topped with yellow mustard, dark green relish, chopped raw onion, a pickle spear, sport peppers, tomato slices and celery salt, served in a poppy seed bun.
Michigan Coneys — an all-beef hot dog topped with chili sauce, mustard and onion — came in third.
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Hot dogs come in different shapes
Meat delivery company Rastelli’s sells “round hot dogs,” which are flat, round patty-like hot dogs that can fit on a hamburger bun.
The food innovation recently went viral on social media, leaving numerous Twitter users confused, Fox previously reported.
Rastelli’s previously told Fox News that the company decided to create round, flat hot dogs after getting requests from customers who wanted "pre-sliced" dogs.
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Though many people said the product looked just like bologna, Rastelli’s told Fox that it makes its round hot dogs differently from bologna.
The company told Fox in a statement that it uses Black Angus Beef and Premium Pork, chopped together — not fully emulsified or liquified “like some traditional bologna” — and wrapped in a collagen casing and netting “to help hold shape,” the statement said.
Rastelli’s said it developed the product to prevent young children from possibly choking on traditional hot dog casings and to solve the problem of condiments “always falling off the hot dog when you take a bite,” the company told Fox at the time.
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Hot dogs are still not sandwiches
Mittenthal told Fox that even though this innovation can fit on a sandwich bun, hot dogs are still not sandwiches — something the NHDSC is adamant about on its website.
Americans’ second favorite regional style of hot dog is Chicago style. Chicago hot dogs are all-beef franks topped with yellow mustard, dark green relish, chopped raw onion, a pickle spear, sport peppers, tomato slices and celery salt, served in a poppy seed bun.
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“What we’re referring to is the way that 99% percent of people eat hot dogs, which is in tubular form on a bun,” Mittenthal told Fox. “And that is not a sandwich. A bologna sandwich is a sandwich. But that’s bologna and it’s similar to a hot dog, but it’s not exactly a hot dog. So no, a hot dog is still not a sandwich.”
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Hot dogs are made of meat
Though it seems pretty obvious, Mittenthal told Fox News that the most common misconception about hot dogs is “how they’re made and what goes into them.”
“It’s a very simple process about how they’re made,” Mittenthal told Fox. “Hot dogs are pieces of meat that are cut up very — cut up off of steaks and roasts, they’re ground up very finely and they’re mixed with spices stuffed into a casing and cooked.”
“It’s as simple as that.,” Mittenthal added. “All the notions that people have of things that they think go into hot dogs are incorrect. It’s simply meat. It’s what you see on the ingredients label. If it says beef, if it says pork, if it says poultry. That’s what it is. And it’s nothing more complicated than that.”