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Wieners are long sausages of medium-thickness that can be a seasoned combination of beef and pork, or all beef, or even meat-free these days. Turkey and chicken wieners have also appeared on the shelves. Wieners are sold fully cooked.

The idea of a wiener was undoubtedly invented in Europe, but no one can dispute that wieners are now thoroughly American.

Wieners have become synonymous with hot dogs. The average American eats 60 hot-dogs a year.

For some reason, kids love wieners. And the cheaper the quality, the better. The strongly flavoured, nicely-textured adult ones that cost the earth don't appeal to them. But if you get the wieners they love, and save yourself a mint in the process, they will happily eat wieners for days. Even picky kids will eat practically anything with wieners in it. Oh, you can't push your luck and serve the wieners in a vegetable stir-fry, but beans and wieners, wieners and cheese baked in crescent rolls, boiled wieners, steamed wieners, barbequed wieners -- the kids are happy, and so are you, as recipes with wieners in them seem to be minimum fuss.

The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile appeared on the streets of Chicago in 1936. In 1951, Oscar Mayer put out Wienermobile toys. In 1963, the famous Oscar Mayer wiener jingle was first heard -- "Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener" -- and then heard, and heard, and heard on American TV and radio stations. Anyone born in the 1960s grew up with the jingle in their head. They would sing it in playgrounds, sing it in their sleep and dream of wiener factories. Even Canadian children sang it, though it appears the Oscar Meyer brand of wieners has never actually been sold in Canada. The Oscar Mayer company was purchased by Kraft in 1989.

Vegetarian wieners first started appearing in the 1980s. They tasted all right, and that made sense -- popular wisdom at the time had it that there was practically no real meat in wieners anyway, so leave the meat out and why should they taste any different? But the texture was a bit rubbery. But 20 years later, there is little discernible difference now between meat-free and meat-based wieners, aside from the veggie wieners tasting a bit "leaner", as they would of course without the fat in them.

The names "red hot", "frankfurter" and "wiener" are used in various parts of the States. In Canada,, the word frankfurter is reserved for fancier, more expensive wieners - the packages that cost the same as other packages of wieners, but only have half as many in them. The big mystery throughout North America, though, is why wieners come in packages of 12 or 10, but the buns for them come in packages of 8.

English wieners come in tins, though fresh wieners are now appearing on the meat counters there.

Cocktail wieners come tinned. They are usually served simmered in some kind of sweetish sauce, such as cranberry or sweet and sour. But as much as we may love wieners, who wants to go to a fancy schmantzy do and eat wieners?

In America, 38% of all wiener sales take place between Memorial Day and Labour Day, with sales rising when economic times are tough. [1]

Cooking Tips
Wieners are already fully cured and cooked. They can be eaten cold or hot (see health precaution, though, in Nutrition below.) When barbequing, just cook them enough to heat them through, and give them a nice grilled appearance.

Nutrition
Contamination of packaged hot-dogs with Listeria can occur during handling after they're cooked but not packaged yet. Turkey wieners from Sara Lee Bil Mar Foodservice meat-processing plant in Zeeland, Michigan were infected with Listeria in October, 1998.

To be safe, treat hot-dogs as though they were raw meat. Disinfect or wash anything that fluid from the hot-dog package touches, and don't eat them cold, heat them thoroughly.

History
Frankfurt, Germany claims to have invented "Frankfurter" sausages in 1484 -- 8 years before America was discovered. Other sources say that "little dog" or "dachshund" sausages were created by a butcher in Coburg, Germany -- naming them "dachshund" because of their resemblance to the dog of the same name. The city of Vienna (which is called "Wien" in German) disputes both claims, saying that the name "wiener" shows that they obviously were invented in Vienna -- as in Wiener Schnitzel, which has nothing to do with hot dogs, and everything to do with the city.

As immigrants from different parts of Germany hit America in the late 1800's, likely all the different kinds got merged together in the consumer's mind. Wieners on a bun were sold in New York in the 1860s from a cart, and the first Coney Island hot dog stand was established in 1871 by a German butcher. In 1893, wieners on a bun were the hit of the Columbian exposition in Chicago; the idea caught on through wide publicity, and they started showing up at baseball parks in St Louis.

Up till 1901, though, the name "dachshund sausage" was still being mostly used. At a game in New York, a concessionaire had his sales people shouting "Get your dachshund sausages while they're red hot!" The sports cartoonist, Tad Dorgan, was there, and hadn't come up for an idea yet for his cartoon of the day, and his deadline was approaching. He was inspired, and created a cartoon showing barking sausages in buns. But he didn't know how to spell "hot dachshund", so he wrote "hot dog!" The name caught on.

Up till 1904, it seems any old bun was used, and that the buns weren't always long enough for the wiener. At the "Louisiana Purchase Exposition" in St Louis, a vendor had his baker brother-in-law cook buns that would be soft and long enough to fit the wiener completely in. And again, the idea caught on.

Acknowlegements

Also called:

Other entries for: Sausages

Aberdeen Sausage, Andouille Sausage, Andouillette, Baloney, Boudin Blanc à l’Oignon, Boudin Blanc Creole, Boudin Blanc, Boudin Vert, Bratwurst Sausage, Braunsweiger, Caña de Lomo, Chaurice, Chipolatas, Chorizo (Mexican), Chorizo (Spanish), Chouriço Sausage, Cumberland Sausage, Dampfwurst Sausages, Deerfoot Sausages, Glamorgan Sausages, Haslet, Krakauer Sausages, Lincolnshire Sausage, Linguiça, Lorne Sausage, Lucanicae, Luganega Sausage, Medisterpolse Sausage, Merguez Sausage, Morcón, Pan Sausage, Potato Korv, Rag Sausage, Sausagemeat, Sausages, Teewurst, Texas Hot Gut Sausages, Thuringia Bratwurst, Tube Sausage, Weißwürste, White Hots, Wieners, Zwyczajna Sausage, Zywiecka Sausage

Other entries for:

Meat
Affettati, Beef, Buffalo, Cap On / Cap Off, Game, Goat, Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications, Minced Meat, Offal, Paillards, Pork, Potted Meats, Poultry, Roasts, Sheep, Steak, Veal, Venison, Yak

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