Unpacking the World of Sausages with Lucky Peach's Chris Ying
We're looking at the world's best wurst with Chris Ying, editor in chief and co-founder of the James Beard award-winning food journal Lucky Peach. The Wurst of Lucky Peach: A Treasury of Encased Meat is a colorful and comprehensive guide to sausage that spans six continents. It’s a scrapbook adventure offering a taste of the world’s finest tubed meats - from Britain’s black pudding and Nuremberg bratwurst, to blood chorizo and Thai hot dogs.
RecipesÂ
Danger Dog
Makes 2 to 4 servings
It is known by several names. The Tijuana Bacon Dog. The Bacon-Wrapped. The Street Dog. The Sonoran Hot Dog (with beans, onion, tomato, mayo, salsa, jalapeño, mustard, and a grilled chili on the side). Whatever you call it, it is ever thus: a hot dog swaddled in a slice of bacon and griddled until crispy. On the streets of San Francisco and Los Angeles, vendors anoint Danger Dogs with charred onions and peppers. It is not meant for sober consumption. It is meant for emergencies only, when you are already in danger of making other bad decisions and the prudence of eating mystery meat from a converted shopping cart is the least of your concerns. Making it for yourself at home removes much of the danger. But not all of it.
4 hot dogs
8 slices bacon
+ toothpicks
+ vegetable oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
4 hot dog buns
+ kosher salt
1 Wrap each hot dog with 2 slices of bacon in a spiral fashion, securing the bacon to the hot dog with toothpicks.
2 Heat a griddle or large cast iron pan over medium-low heat. Add a thin film of oil, then add the hot dogs, congregating them to one side of the pan and encouraging the rendering bacon fat to pool opposite the dogs.
3 After a minute or two, add the onion and pepper to the pool of rendered fat and cook them, stirring every few minutes while simultaneously turning the hot dogs a quarter turn every couple of minutes so they render evenly. Do this until everything is a similar dirty golden color, the bacon is crisp, and the onion and pepper are wilted, 12 to 15 minutes.
4 Insert the dogs into the buns. Sprinkle the onion-pepper mix with a pinch of salt, toss, and divide among the dogs.
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Completo
Makes 4 servings
I’m sure if you asked them, Chileans would find any number of our American dining creations to be curious and off-putting. But would any of them be so strange at first blush as the completo? The complete—as served in Santiago or Stateside at San Antonio Bakery in Queens—is a hot dog on a roll, with sauerkraut, diced tomatoes, avocado, and a thick squiggle of mayo. It should not work. It should not be legal. But something about the temperature contrast of the hot, salty dog and cold, bracing sauerkraut, and the thick layers of intermingling fat in the form of avocado and mayo, just clicks. That’s more than you can say for plenty of American inventions (think Tex-Mex egg rolls . . .).
2 avocados, chilled
+ kosher salt
4 foot-long hot dogs
4 large sub/hoagie rolls, sliced open but not split apart
1 C sauerkraut, rinsed and warmed
1 C chopped plum tomatoes, chilled
½ C mayonnaise
1 Mash the avocados in a bowl with a fork until smooth. There should be about 2 cups. Season lightly with salt, and chill.
2 Place the hot dogs in a medium pot of cold water and set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, cover, and remove from the heat.
3 Lightly toast the rolls and keep warm.
4 Place a hot dog in a bun and top with sauerkraut and tomatoes. Fill the bun with ½ cup mashed avocado and smooth the top even with the bun. Squirt or swipe with 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise and serve immediately. Repeat to make 4 completos.
Recipes and photos reprinted from The Wurst of Lucky Peach. Copyright © 2016 by Lucky Peach, LLC. Principal photographs copyright © 2016 by Gabriele Stabile. Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Tim Lahan. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.
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