Hot Dog

A hot dog is a type of cooked, cured and often smoked sausage of even texture and flavor that is softer and more moist than most sausages, and the sausage most readily eaten as finger food, especially in the United States. As finger food, it is usually placed hot in a soft sliced bun of the same shape as the sausage, and optionally includes condiments and toppings. The resulting sandwich is also called a hot dog.

The flavor of hot dogs varies widely by region and by personal preference as do the toppings. The flavor of the sausage itself somewhat resembles bologna on the bland side, to cooked salami for the spicier varieties.

Hot dogs are traditionally made from beef, pork or a combination of those meats. Unlike many other sausages (which may be sold cooked or uncooked), hot dogs are always cooked before being offered commercially. Barring spoilage, they may be safely eaten without further cooking or reheating but are often unpalatable that way. Vegetarian sausages made from meat analogues can also be made into hot dogs.

Hot dogs are also called frankfurters, or franks for short (named after the city of Frankfurt, Germany), or wieners or weenies (named after the city of Vienna, Austria, whose German name is "Wien"). In Australia the term frankfurt is used rather than frankfurter and a tiny version called a cocktail frank or cocktail weenie is sometimes served at parties and eaten on the end of a toothpick.