So... Alright - Return of the Hot Dog

Episode Date: August 27, 2024

Geoff is back with another onslaught of hot dog related trivia and fun facts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does possible sound like for your business? It's more cash on hand to grow with up to 55 interest free days. Redefine possible with Business Platinum. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply. Visit mx.ca slash business platinum. So let's get to it. Round two of hot dogs. I, as you probably know, if you're a frequenter of this podcast, I did an episode on hot dogs recently and discovered that I had so many notes,

too many notes, in fact, for one episode, and that I would have many notes, too many notes in fact for one episode and that I would have to split it up into two, little did I know the significance that hot dogs have, not only in my heart, I knew that, but to the larger world as well, overwhelmed with hot dog data and interesting information, such as did you know that according to according to potato rolls dot com, which is a website I

recommend everyone go to though the topic of hot dog meat. I wasn't going to get into hot dog meat at all. You know, I think I mentioned that in the previous hot dog episode. I like let's just glaze over the one kind of icky fact about hot dogs and if we You know not think about it. It's no big deal, but I thought that this was so funny I had to read it to you guys though. The topic of hot dog meat is subject to much speculation in reality The majority of hot dogs sold in grocery stores are made from either one of or a combination of familiar meats.

I don't know why, but familiar meats is so fucking funny to me. There's a restaurant in Las Vegas I've been to a few times. It was a popular spot for like the roosterteeth sales team to take clients and stuff out to. It's a Jose Andres restaurant called Bizarre Meat. And I think he's probably got a couple of them. I think they're in, it's not only in Vegas. I think that there are other locations around the world

of that specific, he's got a billion restaurants, right? But of that specific restaurant, bizarre meats. And you go there and you get like foie gras, cotton candy and all manner of just insane ways to eat honestly bizarre meat. Delicious, of course. But I feel like familiar meats would be the exact opposite of that. We will come on in. We've got meatloaf the way your mom made it. We've got steak exactly the way you know it.

What do you want? You want fried chicken? We've got fried chicken the exact same way they make it at KFC. And it's just like all the meats you know prepared in the exact way you're accustomed to them being prepared. The familiar way. Familiar meats.

Come on down. Oh, but that's not the end of the quote. That was the only the first funny part of that sentence. Let me go back. In reality, the majority of hot dogs sold in grocery stores are made from either one or a combination of familiar meats, such as pork, beef, chicken, and or turkey.

I like that they and or turkey. That's like saying it's a combination of these Like are they trying to say it's definitely a combination of poor poor fuck is wrong me I'm leaving in every flub. I don't care. I want the world to hear me say poor Hey, are they insinuating by the way way they've written this, that all hot dogs contain pork, beef, and chicken, like a hot dog is guaranteed to contain at a minimum those three meats, but could also, may or may not include turkey, is the way you read that. And that's clearly not how it's intended to be read. But I do think it's super funny and gross to think about turkey and.

Pork, for instance, being in my hot dog together, like the weird like I get I get pork and beef, you know, I feel like that's a I don't know, I feel like that's a combination you see a lot. It just seems weird to put those four together or any other combination of those four together. And that's why I don't think about it, and I recommend you don't think. As a matter of fact, let's just move on. Let's never speak of this again.

Let's never think about this again. And let's just go back to thinking that a hot dog is just a delicious pink thing. We we did not talk about the competitive eating scene, but I guess we probably should. We did not talk about the competitive eating scene, but I guess we probably should. Hot dogs are integral to it. Of course, Nathan's famous hot dog eating contest is, I believe, we would say like the Super Bowl

of eating competitions every year. I mean, at least for hot dogs, right? I know that there's many different kinds of eating competitions, but I do feel for hot dogs, right? I know there's many different kinds of eating competitions, but I do feel like hot dogs are essentially like the pros, you know, and then other foods are kind of minor league. You know, I could be wrong. Please don't yell at me. That's just the impression that I got. Let's see. As everybody knows, the

2024 Mustard Belt victory went to Patrick Bertoletti, who ate 58 hot dogs, which was awesome. He did that in 10 minutes. He only did that because Joey Chestnut was not competing in that competition because he promoted, I believe, a vegetarian or impossible meat version of a hot dog and Nathan's was upset. And so there was some sort of a feud. I think he had his own contest at the same time and a close by location and managed in five minutes to eat over 70 hot dogs, I want to say something like that. Don't quote me on that.

Demolished Patrick Bertoletti here not to diminish his accomplishment because 58 hot dogs, as we all know from the previous hot dog episode, the average American eats 70 hot dogs in one year. That's almost Patrick's entire year's allotment right there. Wow, it's no small feat. Speaking of which, been a little preview for you. As I said earlier, we've been counting how many hot dogs we all eat individually.

I don't wanna speak for the other guys. I'm not going to share their numbers. But since I. Mentioned that in the previous podcast about this, I have eaten for four hot dogs is my number, oh, also Mickey Sudo holds the women's world record. She got 51 hot dogs down this year, July 4th, and broke the record, a female record at the same time. Pretty awesome.

Also, I feel like it's important to point out that they are eating full hot dogs here, hot dogs and buns. I know they're not eating them together because they do all that gross shit where they like slurp the hot dog down and then they soak the bread and water, which is essentially Gavin's Luke Skywalker meets Darth Vader on Dagobah moment. You know, he would he would encounter his worst fear would be just a giant pitcher of wet hot dog buns. It's close to me even. And I don't have any issue with wet bread.

But I want to know more about the history of it. These motherfucker. Oh, here we go. The Nathan's famous international hot dog motherfucker oh here we go the Nathan's famous international hot dog eating contest or the Nuff meh no Nuff a dick niff a dick as some people know it is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition it is held each year clearly on July 4th at Nathan's famous original original, and best known restaurant at the corner of Surf.

What? At the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island, a neighborhood of Brooklyn. You know, I lived in Jersey there for a couple years and spent a tremendous amount of time almost every weekend in New York going to punk shows or just exploring, getting to know the city. Never went to Coney Island once. I have no experience with Coney Island. I mean, I've seen it in Mr. Robot

and a million other TV shows and movies, but no firsthand knowledge of the place at all. That's almost like it's not real in my head. The contest has gained public attention since the mid-2000s due to the stardom of Takeru Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut. That's right. Kobayashi was like the first Like superstar of hot dog eating and then Joey Chestnut came onto the scene and eventually dethroned him But they were a real real awesome one, too. They were they were like the Bash brothers, right? They were the Mark McGuire and Jose Kinseko of hot dogs

However, the defending champion is currently Bertoletti since Chestnut did not compete in 2024. So they've been doing this since about 1972, usually in conjunction with Independence Day, but I guess not always. In the 90s and the 2000s, it was largely dominated by Japanese contestants, particularly Kobayashi,

who won six consecutive contests from 2001 to 2006. He transformed the competition and the world of competitive eating by downing 50 hot dogs, smashing the previous record of 25 and a half. Holy shit. Man, talk about pushing the limits of human capability.

That's a tremendous leap from 25.5 to over 70, which is what Chestnut's done in my lifetime. You don't see improvements like that on track and field. The Japanese eater introduced advanced eating. I don't know why I'm laughing. It's clearly, he clearly has them. Introduced advanced eating and training techniques that shattered previous competitive eating world records.

The rise in popularity of the event coincided with the surge in popularity of the worldwide competitive circuit. Yes, it did. Wild. So in the 1990s, we thought that the pinnacle of human evolution was eating 25 and a half hot dogs in 10 minutes Surely we thought it would be broken

Maybe someone would get to 26 27 maybe someday and the distant Reaches of our lifetime near the very end where I maybe I would live long enough to see someone hit 29 hot dogs Approaching the 30 hot dog the impossible 30 hot dog in 10 minute number. But no, Kobe actually showed up and doubled it. fucking doubled it. Jesus. So the record is 2000 just so we have it down from what I can tell, the record is from twenty twenty one. Joey Chestnut did seventy six.

God damn. A lot of hot dogs in 10 minutes. It's more than one year's worth of hot dogs in 10 minutes. Another absolutely wild hot dog fact I ran across, which is not a sentence I thought I would say multiple times in my life. Hot dogs are an approved space food. Yeah, you know about Tang. You know about like freeze-dried ice cream or Dippin' Dots or whatever it is, but hot dogs have also passed NASA's... I did it again. I fucked up again. I have to leave it in. Hot dogs have... they already made it past NASA's lengthy approval process,

I guess it would be what it would be called. They have to go through if you want to have like space food that has to be taken and consumed in space, I guess it has to be probably chock full of preservatives and all kinds of other stuff. Has to be pretty contained, I would think. Sounds like a hot dog's probably a perfect food for space, and I guess NASA agrees. Even the Apollo 7 astronauts enjoyed this classic meal

on their way to the moon. Hot dogs on the moon. What's the best hot dog you ever ate in your life? I think last time I asked you guys about the first hot dog you ever ate in your life? I think last time I asked you guys about first hot dog memory, email me at ericjeffsboss.com if you feel like it. And let me know what the best hot dog you ever ate

in your entire life is. I, if I think about it, I think I know it. Historically, I've always said that the best hot dog I ever ate was at a hot dog stand, like a little food trailer in Edenborough, Scotland. Trying to sound cool and say it like the locals because then when I go there and I say Edinburgh, they go, that's offensive. Please just say Edenborough.

And then I come back here and I see Edenborough and people go, you sound like an asshole. And I go, I know, but I'm trying to be a respectful asshole. Anyway, Bernie and Gavin and Joel and I maybe or some combination of those fellas discovered this this hot dog in this public square in Edinburgh. And well, that was somewhere in between. That was that wasn't right either way. Christ. Anyway, I always thought it was the best hot dog I ever ate. We all agreed that night that we'd never eaten a hot dog that awesome. We ate them a few times while we were there.

Went back a few years later, had it again, just as good. It's probably been more than a decade. I have no idea if that hot dog stand is still around. If it is, maybe I'll make my way back up there someday. But I did have another magical hot dog. I've had a lot of magical hot dog experiences. I don't mean to, I don't know that that does justice for the experience I'm about to talk about.

Millie and I went on a daddy daughter vacation a few years ago to Reykjavik. Well, we went to all over Iceland, but we flew into Reykjavik. And then we hung out there for like a week and took bus tours around the country and went to glac know glaciers and Waterfalls and anything you could imagine we saw everything but the aurora borealis somehow and whales we went on

Oh my god, I've been so sick in my life. We went on a whale. I just have bad luck with whales whales and whale sharks Huh? Yeah, Milly and I went on a whale watching Cruise and we didn't see a single fucking whale, but we definitely got sick and cold because it was like, it was summer in Iceland, so it was like 52 degrees and the water was freezing and we kept getting slammed. Anyway, it was fun, it was just we got sick and cold.

Anyway, we had a hot dog there. And I wanna say somebody I know recommended the place. I feel like maybe I read about it too, but I think somebody I know ate there and recommended it. Anyway, so we went, Millie and I went to this hot dog stand over there where they have this special way of dicing and crisping their onions. And that hot dog was definitely as good

as the hot dog in Scotland. It could be recency bias, because I had it more recently. I remember it being better, but either way, it'd be splitting hairs. The two best hot dogs I've ever had in my entire life are, I'm privileged and lucky enough to say we're in Scotland and Iceland. Which is weird, because I associate hot dogs with America,

and I feel like we fucking kill it on the hot dog scene in America. I feel a little bit like a traitor. I'm sorry. My colors don't run, but apparently my hot dog allegiances do. The most expensive hot dog in the world. Are you ready for this? According to a website, I looked up called rarest.org that lists the eight most

expensive hot dogs in the world. But you don't need to hear a whole list of expensive hot dogs when the only one we really care about is number one. Number one being the two thirty fifth hot dog, which is named that because it is served at the restaurant 235th, 230 space, and then written out fifth in New York City. The most expensive hot dog, 235th hot dog. It is appropriately named for its restaurant. I just said that. This decadent dog is not made from your normal hot dog meat, clearly.

It's made of dry-aged Japanese Wagyu beef, which is, I'm sure you all know, like the most expensive beef, that was aged 60 days before being sold. It's covered in Don Perignon caramelized Vidalia onions. Ah, I wonder if that kills it for me. I'll have to look into that. I'm sure the alcohol burns off.

I had probably better not to take chances, though. Right, anyway, Don Perignon caramelized Vidalia onions. I love Vidalia onions. Caviar, gross, and sauerkraut, gross, that is painstakingly braised in a type of champagne known as Cristal. Can't do that either. Anyway, it's a, what would you think a Cristal Dom Perignon

60 day dry age Japanese Wagyu beef hot dog would cost you, at a restaurant by the way, this is a hint, called 235th. Ding ding ding, that's right, $2300, $2300 is how much that hot dog costs. I'm gonna bet you, I can't eat it because of the boost portions of it, but I'm going to bet you that if you ate that hot dog and just like a fucking really solid Chicago dog off the street from a dirty water hot dog vendor in like Millennium Park, you would not taste a twenty two hundred and ninety five dollar difference. Maybe I'm wrong. I have a feeling I'll never find out. I have a feeling I'll never find out. I mentioned last episode that I think 20 billion hot dogs are eaten a year in America, right?

And that we eat about 70 hot dogs per person a year. In addition to that, 261 million people in America will eat a hot dog in 2024, which is about 70, close to 78% of our population. There are three hundred thirty five million people in America and about two hundred sixty one million are going to eat a hot dog. I don't know what's wrong with the other 21 or so percent, but guys, come on, you should together eat a hot dog.

I also looked up which state eats the most hot dogs. I figured it would probably be Illinois or New York or maybe, I don't know why, Wisconsin seems like a hot dog state. I don't have any basis of fact for that. Maybe Minnesota, Minnesota, like Midwest seems hot doggy to me, right? California, just because it's so fucking big. But I was wrong. It is on a per capita basis.

It is by far West Virginia. Per capita, West Virginians eat an average, this is gonna blow your fucking dicks off. Per capita, residents of West Virginia eat on average 481 hot dogs per person per year. That's like seven times the amount the average American eats. Jesus Christ. Oh, also, they have a preferred way to eat a hot dog,

which I'm not mad at, but apparently it's considered the classic West Virginian hot dog. It is meant to be mustard, chili con carne, they call it, I don't know why they don't just call it chili, with no beans, by the way. People get so fucking up in arms. It's something I've never understood,

and I'm from the South, and I lived in Texas for 30 years now or so. I've never understood why it matters if chili has or doesn't have beans. It's fine either way. Beans neither add nor take away from chili in such a material way for it to matter. I got no issue with beans in a chili. I got no issue without beans in a chili, but everybody just seems to be so militant on their bean stance. I don't get it. And onions. So mustard, chili, without beans, and onions. So mustard, chili without beans and onions.

It's fine. It's a good hot dog. I don't understand the. I don't understand chili on anything without cheese. Like, wouldn't a West Virginia hot dog, somebody out there from West Virginia who's listening to this, you clock in 481 hot dogs a year. Do y'all ever throw cheese on top of the chili? And if not, why not? Also, according to our friends

at the hot dog and sausage council, which has become hard for me to say somehow, during peak hot dog season, which is from Memorial Day to Labor Day, as I'm sure you know, peak hot dog season, Americans are expected to consume seven billion of those 20 billion hot dogs in just that period alone. On Independence Day, Americans enjoy 150 million hot dogs,

which is enough hot dogs to stretch from DC to Los Angeles five times. So that's essentially the walk that Giovanni did, the guy I interviewed on this podcast, five times. In one day, in hot dogs eaten. Fucking crazy. Oh, I have, I just have this written down in my notes as hot dog propaganda.

Which says, I got this from the National Hot Dog Council, I think. A standard hot dog is 190 calories. I think I reported last week that it was like 150. I read somewhere else, but okay. According to them, a standard hot dog is 190 calories, offers seven grams of protein and 30% of our daily value of vitamin B12, a crucial nutrient for normal metabolism brain development in children and mental clarity in adults.

I guess that's why I wrote hot dog propaganda. They are really, yeah, there you go. They are really pushing the benefits, the health benefits of the hot dog. It helps with mental clarity in an adult. Hey, if you're feeling foggy, eat a doggy. That should be their new, you can have that slogan. That's free. That's a, I've given that to you,

National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. You wanna be mind blown? Can you name the famous celebrity whose first onscreen words were hot dog? Mickey fucking Mouse. You can see it on YouTube. There's a short from 1929 called The Carnival Kid. And Mickey Mouse is on the side selling hot dogs.

And he's going, hot dog, hot dog. To a song. Doesn't sound anything like Mickey Mouse. Sounds more like a hot dogs and he's gone hot dog hot dog to a song doesn't sound anything like Mickey Mouse Sounds more like a hot dog vendor honestly and really weird creepy old cartoon, but yeah Mickey Mouse's first words were hot dogs hot dogs How do you eat your hot dog like I'll take a hot dog any any any? It really prepared anyway. I don't like sauerkraut, but other than that, and obviously mayonnaise because it's the fucking the devil's jism any other combination of Ingredients I absolutely love but I was reading it like that's another one that people care so fucking much about according to and I'm sure it's tongue and cheek, but according to the

National hot dog and sausage council, which which is a name I still have trouble saying. You're not supposed to put, well, I'll just see what they say. Hot Dog Etiquette states that ketchup should not be used on a hot dog for anyone over the age of 18. Well, that settles it. I guess I'm not over the age of 18. I don't have to have ketchup on a hot dog at all. I'm happy to have, there are many hot dogs where ketchup is not appropriate But I certainly wouldn't say no to ketchup on a hot dog, especially with just a little bit of cheese and some onions. I Got no problem with that. I Also looked up I was thinking how much does it cost to be a hot dog vendor like one of those dirty hot dog carts?

in a city and it's obviously varying in cost but the why hot dog carts in a city. And it's obviously varying in cost, but the why you're going to believe this. A prime spot outside Central Park Zoo, which I guess is like the hottest hot dog spot in America, costs three hundred thousand dollars a year. So you have to sell three hundred thousand dollars worth of hot dogs out of your dirty water cart. Before you break even a year. If people are paying that rent, vendors are paying that three hundred thousand dollar a year rent.

That means. It's worth it. They're making more than three hundred thousand dollars a year in hot dog sales out of a cart. That's wild. It's got to probably be significantly more than that, I would think. Lot of money in hot dogs. A lot of money in hot dogs. Something to think about. For instance, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport consumes, this is staggering, six times more hot dogs than the Los Angeles International Airport and LaGuardia Airport combined.

That is 725,000 hot dogs a year consumed at O'Hare alone. I also thought it would be interesting to look up like has there ever been a hot dog related murder and I am Really sad to report that there are a lot of hot dog related deaths and murders But it's usually just vendors getting assaulted or murdered and people choking on hot dogs Which happens a surprising a surprisingly depressing amount so don't Google either of those It's it's actually just kind of sad and then of course There's that famous hot dog cannon injury where that lady got hit in the in the eye with a hot dog from the Philly fanatic

Shot the hot dog cannon at her at a Phillies game. She had a fucking crazy black eye. It was this That photo you should look it up But I did find, this is interesting, that a hot dog napkin led to a guilty verdict in a 29-year-old cold case murder. A nearly 30-year-old cold case was solved in Minneapolis because of a tiny smudge of DNA that was found on a hot dog napkin.

It was Jerry Westrom, 56, was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and second degree intentional murder for the killing of 35 year old Jeannie Childs. And they finally caught him. Childs was a known sex worker who was found stabbed to death in her Minneapolis apartment back in June 1993. Oh, that's heartbreaking. That's exactly that's when I graduated high school, June, 1973. That's uh, that's exactly that's when I graduated high school June 1973. That's so sad

The the crime scene was covered in DNA evidence, but technology couldn't trace it back to anyone at the time But I guess they held on to it and for 27 years it was useless until they discovered that technology had increased to such Well, let me just read it in 2018 investigators checked to see if the DNA found at the scene matched anyone on a commercial genealogy site, aka a 23andMe or Ancestry.com style website, and it did. That dude came back as a match. He was a Minneapolis farmer who had had several run-ins with the law, so I guess investigators began to tail him in 2019. And then he went to a hockey game with his daughter and threw out a napkin he used to

clean his face after eating a hot dog. They snagged that napkin and were able to match the DNA samples to the ones from the murder scene and solved a 30 year old cold case, thanks in part to a hot dog. Good work, hot dog. Believe it or not, I have more hot dog related things to talk about. The hot dog well is just not gonna run dry, but I think it's probably time to call this one.

I don't know how much longer we can go. Too much of a good thing, right? We've already had two full episodes about hot dogs. I want to maintain a little bit of the hot dog mystique and magic and wonder, so I don't wanna share all of the hot dog's secrets all at once. So let me leave you with a song of the episode. Not gonna tell you anything about the band

because I didn't know anything about the band when I started listening to them. I wasn't sure what they were going to sound like because the name was fairly ambiguous. It is a band called Rainbow, and the name of the song is Temple of the King. Thank you for listening to another rambling podcast about hot dogs.

This is probably the last hot dog related podcast for a while. I think next week we'll get into Q&A's and some other stuff. Thanks for listening and as always don't forget to listen to the regulation podcast. Keep an eye out for ANMA. It'll be coming back. It'll be called something different but it will be on the same RSS feed so if you're already subscribed to ANMA you are already subscribed to the new thing. Don't forget that I'm on Cameo Jeff L. Ramsey. If you're looking for that kind of thing, check me out on Twitch at Fake Jeff. And I'll see you next week.

All right. This is the end of the show. Mwah!