Does Anyone Know What These Are?

 

They’re slow death from a happy tummy. A disease waiting for me to catch it, the bane of what little effort I put into the gym and the harbinger of ditching my regular clothes for muumuu’s and hospital johnnies.

 

They are mini corndogs.

 

Some cruel bastard came up with these intoxicating turdlets of deliciousness. I already have no swallow resistance to normal sized corndogs – I only stop when there are too many sticks sticking out of my throat.  It’s just the latest in a long line of addictions that I’ve had to struggle with. And this gets me chuckling over how patterns of abuse can transform over a lifetime.

 

The “Jones Brothers” I ran with the longest had been alcoholism and nicotine dependence. I had an on-again/off-again affiliation with cocaine too though, for me, coke abuse was really about being able to drink a whole bunch more and smoke extra cigarettes.  It was like having multiple partners in the sack – fun but kind of exhausting after a while.  Ditching the booger sugar was a cinch because it always brought along lying, greedy loudmouthed friends. Got a bit tired of giving bumps to people at midnight only to have them hide theirs at 4AM like paranoid squirrels.  It came high time to quit the llello, drink alone and go to bed early.  Boy Howdy, did I ever like to drink!

 

I’d be a wicked souse right now if only the kids gave me some extra time. They toss me a couple of hours on Fri or Sat nights to pack in a buzz and it’s not exactly fair of me to ask for more. They don’t need to know what it’s like to have a Dad who takes as much time as he wants to get plastered. I can tell them what that’s like later on if they want to know.  And the human body finds ways to take care of its compulsions anyway. When I put the brakes on booze I wound up caught in the dreadful maw of an addiction to double-fudge brownies and cookies of any kind. My children won’t know me as a lean, hard drinking lout. Instead they’ll always think of me as the fat goof with Pecan Sandies crumbled on his shirt.

 

Or cornbread specks at the corners of a dopey grin and hot dog grease running down his chin.  At least the mini corndog’s wiener center is made from chicken in the Foster Farms* variety.  Does that make them better? Ah, who cares – I am so goddamned doomed because the freakin’ things are awesome!!!

 

*By far my favorite frozen brand though I’m always up to taste new competition.

 

These go fan-fucking-tastic with peanut butter and mustard and even better with this: Leroy Brown Chicago Hot Dog Relish

 

Leroy Brown Chicago Hot Dog Relish

Between airport layovers and gas stops off I-80 I’ve spent about 5 collective hours in Chicago. I’ve seen the Lake Michigan, stood on the steps of the Field Museum and smoked outside O’Hare in a snow storm. But I never tasted an actual Chicago style hot dog.  I’ve seen the recipe a hundred times and as a wiener freak it’s sort of lame that I never tried to make my own until early this summer. 

The standard version is a beef dog with mustard, onions, sweet relish, a “sport” hot pepper and tomato on a poppy seed bun.  Those sorts of frank rolls are hard to come by in my neck of the woods so I just use good torpedo rolls, which is beside the point because this is about the sauce. What follows is a combo of the standard Chicago components minus the sweet relish – you can add your own later if ya wanna get gay about it…  

 

6 small Pickled Chile Peppers, store bought or see Serranos en Escabeche, sliced

1 small onion, chopped and sautéed until lightly translucent

1 large Plum tomato, chopped

½ cup mustard – any kind works. I like spicy brown. Try Dijon for added nasal blast

 

Stir all the stuff together, use capriciously and throw what’s left in the Frigidaire. It’ll keep about a week, give or take.