Have you ever had a piece of hot dog on a toothpick, more affectionately known as a Hors d'œuvre, at one of those ‘posh’ parties, and thought to yourself; Gosh I wonder how much time it took to prepare this? Many caterers use hot dogs, because everyone loves them.

What is a summer barbeque without a hot dog? They are so versatile, so easy to make, so tasty, yum, I can taste it now, lots of mustard, hold the relish. And, in this economy a pack of hot dogs are still considered affordable, in most places less than a gallon of gas.

Hot dogs can be substituted in many recipes, you can make hot dogs and eggs for breakfast, or hot dog stew, even hot dog pizza, and I’m sure no one will complain. On those busy days when you run out of dog food, you can even give the dog a treat, they love it too.

But what makes them taste so good? It must be the special ‘secret’ ingredient they use to make them.

They start with mechanically recovered or reclaimed meat from beef, pork, turkey and chicken. No, silly, it’s not like reclaiming the lawnmower you let your neighbor borrow, and never returned. It’s meat that is separated from the bone and then forced through a sieve to make meat slurry.

What is meat slurry you ask, and rightfully so? Wikipedia describes it as: Meat slurry is not designed to sell for general consumption; rather, it is used as a meat supplement in food products for humans, such as chicken nuggets, and food for domestic animals.

Ok, just forget about that, and let’s move on. So we have the slurry, then they add fat, of course, fat, come on, work with me here. Then comes the flavoring, like nitrite, paprika and garlic, and sodium or salt, lots of it, and last, but not least nitrite. Nitrite has been known to cause heart problems, but don’t worry that won’t happen until you’re much older. Oh did I mention that pregnant woman shouldn’t eat hot dogs because of the bacteria which stay alive even refrigerated.

Now to the good part. Once everything is mixed together, the mixture is then fed into, ready, a thin casing made from the thoroughly cleaned small intestines of sheep. Good thing it’s thoroughly cleaned, I’m just saying.

Right now, if you’re like me, you may be saying to yourself, ‘the next time I eat a hot dog is when pigs fly’. Well here you are. Enjoy!