Corn Dogs
(American hot dog and cornbread on a stick)
Image by Wikipedia: Ben Franske
Corn dogs are American carnival, fair, and amusement park food. They are one of many "foods-on-a-stick" found at such celebrations and venues. A favorite of children, corn dogs are best served with a good amount of ketchup.
The beginnings of the corn dog are hotly disputed, and possible places of origin include New York, Minnesota, Texas and Muscle Beach in California. They seem to have appeared sometime in the 1930s or 40s. Known as pogos in Canada.
Makes 8 to 10 corn dogs
Ingredients
- Hot dogs -- 8 to 10
- Cornmeal -- 1 cup
- Flour -- 1 cup
- Baking powder -- 1 tablespoon
- Sugar -- 1 tablespoon
- Chili powder (optional) -- 1 teaspoon
- Salt -- 1 teaspoon
- Milk -- 1 cup
- Eggs, beaten -- 2
- Oil -- 1/4 cup
- Oil -- for deep frying
Method
- Impale the hot dogs on skewers, popsicle sticks or trimmed, clean twigs. Dry the dogs well and set aside.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar, chili powder and salt together into a large bowl. In another bowl, beat the milk, eggs and 1/4 cup oil together until smooth.
- Stir the milk mixture into the dry ingredients just until smooth.
- Heat oil in a deep fryer to about 365°F. Pour some of the batter into a tall pitcher or glass. Dip a hot dog into the batter to coat and then set it in the deep fryer until lightly browned, 3 or 4 minutes. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and repeat with the remaining hot dogs.
- Serve hot with ketchup and mustard.
Corn Dog Variations
- If you don't have a deep fryer, you can fry the corn dogs in about 1 inch of oil in a cast-iron skillet. Their shape won't be as attractive though.
