Recipe Of The Day: Chicago-Style Hot Dogs

Classic game day foods and the best dishes for summertime cookouts have a lot of overlap. Neither a day at the stadium nor a day at the park, beach or backyard with friends would be complete without burgers, fried chicken, nachos and ice cold beer. But there's one food that is a must-have no matter what you're doing during the peak days of summer: Chicago-style hot dogs.

The Healthiest and Unhealthiest Store-Bought Hot Dogs

There are a lot of regional variations on hot dogs, but few are more famous than the Chicago-style dog, which is said to be "dragged through the garden" thanks to its many veggie-centric toppings. 

Hot dogs — Vienna sausage all-beef hot dogs in natural casing, for the purists — are steamed and topped with chopped raw onions, pickle relish, sport peppers, tomato slices, pickle spears, bright yellow mustard and celery salt. The whole concoction is tucked inside a steamed poppy seed bun, you know, for flavor.

This is a fun way to serve your everyday hot dogs, and if you're hosting a party but don't want to commit to building every guest's hot dog, you can set up a hot dog bar featuring all of the Chicago-style dog's signature toppings.

Round out your buffet with guacamole, potato salad, coleslaw and more no-cook side dishes for steamy summer days.

There's just something that tastes better when a hot dog is eaten in the company of friends. Maybe that's why cooking them up is one of the 50 foodie things you need to do this summer.

Chicago-Style Hot Dogs

This recipe was originally published in the Chicago Tribune.

Ingredients:

• 4 Vienna Sausage all-beef hot dogs in natural casing
• 4 poppy seed buns
• Bright yellow mustard
• Celery salt
• Green relish
• Chopped raw onion
• 4 long slivers of jumbo dill pickle
• Sport peppers
• 1 tomato, sliced

Directions:

Step 1: Steam hot dogs for 5 minutes (or until the internal temperature reaches 160 F), or boil them for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to package directions. Steam 4 poppy seed buns for 1 to 2 minutes, or according to package directions.

Step 2: Place each hot dog in a steamed bun.

Step 3: Top each hot dog with toppings in the following order: bright yellow mustard, celery salt (optional), green relish, chopped raw onion, long slivers of jumbo dill pickle, sport peppers and tomato slices.