$1 Hot Dog Vs. $300 Hot Dog

Hot dog has to be one of the cheapest items I can think of. Unless you go to like a ball game and throw ten bucks out the window. But today we're making probably one of the most expensive that's ever lived. Alright, so today we're making a hot dog and a hot dog. But they're very different. I don't know. It's an absurdly expensive hot dog with a plethora of not just luxurious but rare ingredients combined to see if we can make something better than something that I think is probably one of the most basic items that we know. It's a little wiener. In between basic buns, ketchup, mustard, maybe some relish and that's it. Can that defeat something as ridiculous as this? Well there's only one way to find out, brother. So with all that being said, let's make this, shall we? Okay, you got a hot sweaty stadium dog. And then you have another sitting at a table of Calacatta marble. And only the finest distilled water at your side. Or whatever. Look, the basic dog is what it is. You need all this stuff. Hot dog buns you can find at a grocery store. Your choice of hot dogs. We're going all beef franks, obviously. Sear or grill your dogs. Place them in a warmed bun. Top with ketchup, mustard, mayo. Optionally you can add some pickle relish, finely diced sweet onion. And well, that's really it. Sure, it's simple. And it looks exactly as you'd expect. But how does our hot dog compare? This dog is comprised of completely hand-slash-homemade hot dogs with some of the most rare pork and beef on the planet. A king crab dog, spruce tip pickled mustard seeds, an onion fondue aioli, and much more. So let's begin and make this quick. The bread is straightforward. This is the exact same bun recipe from my most recent homemade hot dog video. Link in the description for that. Just know that we made these completely from scratch. Which ultimately actually saved us money. So far. So not a good start on the expensive aspect here. So next up, the dog. Oh my god, look who got a new meat grinder. You know, it's just like they say, there's nothing more beautiful than a young soul and his brand new meat grinder. Now anyway, start by grinding a mixture of 4 pounds or 1,800 grams of Kurobuta pork, 2 pounds or 900 grams of the finest Texas Wagyu tri-tip. I didn't do A5 because that felt a little too sacrilegious. 1 pound or 450 grams of foie gras that's been sliced, scored, and seared on both sides. And half a pound or 225 grams of pork fat. Grind all that together, and once it's all fully ground, run it through your meat grinder one more time to get it extra fine. Now in a separate large bowl, add 72 grams of sausage binder flour, 2 teaspoons or 5 grams of ground black pepper, 2 and a half tablespoons or 24 grams of smoked paprika, 1 tablespoon or 5 grams of ground coriander, 1 tablespoon or 12 grams of garlic powder, 2 teaspoons or 3 grams of Sancho powder, 2 tablespoons or 24 grams of salt. Good lord. That's a lot of words. 1 tablespoon or 15 grams of brown sugar, and exactly 5 grams of Prague powder number one. Don't get this stuff confused and try to eyeball it or buy a different one. This isn't a papa joke, okay? Please be careful so I can continue to scold you. Now whisk all that together, and then mix in 3 quarters of a cup or 180 milliliters of ice water until you get a nice paste. Add that to your meat mixture, knead together until thoroughly combined and looking lovely like this. Grab yourself some sheep casings, rinse them, and let them sit in water for 25 minutes before using. Hook up a sausage filling attachment to your grinder or stand mixer attachment, add on your casing like so, and guess what? Fill her up nice and good. I want that thing plump. But you don't want it too tight, otherwise you risk it bursting, and when your sausage bursts, you don't want to call the ambulance. The flavor ambulance, that is. So let it hang loose, do a little dangle for you, do your best to stay as appropriate as possible when you see your sausage just swinging in the twilight, and once you got your casings filled and you got this big long boy, pinch it at multiple intervals to the length of hot dog that you want. Should be around 6 to 8 inches, if you can handle that, cowboy. Then just spin each individual link to tighten, pop that onto a wire rack, repeat with the rest, and then place in the fridge uncovered overnight. Then get a smoker rolling at 250 degrees Fahrenheit, take your sausages out, place them inside for 40 minutes or until the sausages are just cooked through, pull them out, and pop immediately into ice water until completely cold. Separate your dogs, and you have luxury wieners ready for your plump buns. Next up, the mustard seeds. To a medium sauce pot, add half a cup or 82 grams of yellow mustard seeds, add enough water just to cover, place over medium high, and as soon as it comes to a boil, strain that through a fine mesh strainer, place the seeds back into the pan, cover again with fresh water, and repeat the boiling and rinsing process two more times. After you've drained it for the third time, add your seeds, which should be getting nice and, uh, thicky-wicky by now. Back to your sauce pot, followed by 3 quarters of a cup or 180 grams of apple cider vinegar, a quarter cup or 65 grams of rice vinegar, one teaspoon or 3 grams of fine sea salt, one tablespoon or 18 grams of honey, set to medium high, bring that to a boil, and let it cook for about one minute, then cut off the heat, add in 2 to 3 spruce tips, and pour into a heat-proof container. Now, you're just gonna let those spruce tips steep for at least one hour, and up to overnight. And, of course, cool to room temp before refrigerating you silly goose. Onion fondue aioli. Sounds fancy, but it's also very easy. Medium-sized pan, add in 2 tablespoons or 28 grams of unsalted butter, heat until melted and bubbling over medium heat, add in one sweet onion, diced, season to taste with salt, lower the heat to medium-low, and cook, stirring often, for 20 minutes or until lightly caramelized to a nice golden brown. I said easy, okay? Not fast. Anyway, add a light splash of your most expensive whiskey, a thousand dollar bottle, not a bad idea. Look, at this point, I'm just trying to add on cost here. As soon as that comes to a boil, carefully ignite the steam from afar with a blowtorch, and let it flambe until the flame goes completely out. Continue to simmer until all the liquid is gone, toss, adjust salt levels, and it's done. In a medium sauce pot, combine 10 cloves of garlic, one and a quarter cup or 300 milliliters of vegetable oil, heat over medium, and just let those cook. They'll start to bubble, simmer, whatever you want to call it, really, it's a confit. And you're just gonna let those cook gently, until the garlic is soft and golden. Don't overdo it. Strain the garlic out, and leave them separate to cool to room temp. Now, to a blender, add in your caramelized oignon, your cooked, now confit, and cooled garlic cloves, half a cup or 30 grams of Parmigiano-Reggiano, a quarter cup or 60 milliliters of lemon juice, one egg yolk, two tablespoons or 32 grams of Dijon mustard, blend that on high speed, and use just a light drizzle of water to loosen the mixture without watering it down. It needs to be thiccums, alright? Now, once that's blending and vortexing nicely, let it rip until as smooth as possible, about 15 to 20 seconds, and then stream in all of your garlic oil from confit-ing the garlic earlier. Uh, you cooled it down to room temp, right brother? Because if you didn't cool that down, not only are you not gonna get a little kiss from papa, but you'll also break your emulsion and waste all the time that you did with your oignon. Wouldn't that just be magical? Now, slowly add all that oil until you get a beautiful aioli-like emulsion like this. Season to taste with salt and black lime zest, yes, a lot of exotic stuff replacing typically inexpensive stuff. Is it worth it? I hope. Pop that into a squirt bottle, and set to the side. Now, the king crab dog is actually quite literally just a whole segment of a king crab leg, so get your crab meat extracted from at least three to four whole crab legs, then in a medium saucepan, add half a cup or 115 grams of salted butter. Set to medium heat, and let that melt, swirling occasionally, until the milk salts begin to toast to a golden brown. You can even go a little darker than this if you wanted to. About two to three minutes, add in your crab, and no need to heat it up any further. Just let those sit, tossing occasionally, and let it get to know the ocean of brown butter it is now meant to swim in. And as soon as that crab is hot, you're ready to assemble. Sear or grill some of your dogs, split your buns, toast them on both cut sides beautifully like so, split them down the middle like you see here. Now, spread those sweet, soft buns for papa, and add a thick boy, leg, of crab to make sure you're filling the whole length of your bun. Brush with a little extra brown butter that the crab was heated in, followed up with your glistening hot wiener, a nice drizzle of your onion fondue aioli, little dollops of your mustard seeds along the whole dog, a generous dollop of platinum osetra caviar, all the way down that dog, yet again, you can go generous here, don't be scared. And finally, some dainty, fresh dill to garnish your dog beautifully. You ever garnished a hot dog? Yeah, well, if you have, then good on ya. Honestly, this dog does look expensive, it really does, but is it worth this? And can it beat the original boy? I really hope it does, because this was expensive. This is not a hot dog, that's a thot dog. And then this is our regular wee-wee. Not bad. Okay. Imagine a hot dog, what that tastes like. There you go. Wow. The expensive one by far is the winner. I'm sorry, it just is. I've had a million of these, and it's a classic flavor, and it tastes good, but this is like a whole experience. What really makes this great is the combination of the crab and the homemade hot dog, and the crunch of the mustard seeds, and the onion fondue. All right, we have one professional opinion, but I'd like a second one. Yuma, this man has worked in fine dining alongside me before, and he's here to taste my wiener. I really like it. You can feel the smokiness, the bread, of course. Just like a lobster roll, but with that smoky sauce, it's just really, really good. It's not like this needs to be super expensive. What really makes this great is the addition of the crab, the mustard seeds, and the onion fondue. That is what makes the difference. Okay? But I also don't give a ... if you make it anyway. But you want to know what I do care that you make? B-roll.