Our attempt to spiral cut hot dogs [14 photos]

Colin Joliat Staff Writer

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There’s been a video circulating rampantly about spiral cutting hot dogs. We thought it only seemed fitting to try it for ourselves and determine if it’s all it’s cracked up to be.

The theory is that spiral cut dogs cook straight and evenly, create more surface area for crispy meat, and look cool. Well, I’m on board with all of those things. The first step was obviously to go out and buy some hot dogs and skewers.  Easy enough. Every grocery store has wieners and almost all of them have skewers for shish kebabs.

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That’s when things got a bit trickier. It turns out that I’m not that great with wieners.

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I struggled to jam the stick straight through. As you can see, my aim was pretty terrible. Only halfway through the first time? Amateur hour.

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Eventually I made it end to end with fairly reasonable straightness, or so I thought.

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As I started to spiral cut, it became clear that my skewer was nowhere near centered. In some spots it was so bad that I was only I was cutting a couple millimeters deep.

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First attempt complete; all fingers intact.

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Look at that sad little wiener. They say practice makes perfect though.

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The second time around I thread the skewer vertically and it worked much better. If you’re going to try this, I’d highly recommend that. Just look at the 2nd one compared to my first disaster.

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Obviously I wasn’t going to waste a perfectly good stick of meat though, so both went on the grill.

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If you’re curious about the pineapple, check back later today for a great rum cocktail using grilled fruit.

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I can’t lie, they look delicious on the grill. You can tell which one was the better cut. The bottom one looks like it’s having a seizure.

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On of the claims is that a spiral cut dog perfectly fills the bun. That’s definitely spot on. The additional caramelized meat claim was accurate, and delicious, too. As for looking cool, I suppose that’s up to you.

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Finally, because I thrive on spite, I coated my wiener in mustard AND ketchup. Our own Isaac is incredibly against ketchup on a hot dog, so this one’s for him.

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It’s not just Isaac that’s against ketchup though. I live in Chicago, where I could be tarred and feathered for this. Like I said, I love spite. Plus, anyone who says you can’t put ketchup on pork can go ahead and give up BBQ pulled pork for the rest of their lives. The main component in most BBQ sauces is ketchup, so I’ll be watching you.

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