Right before getting into a segment on the Commanders, Grant Paulsen mentioned a New York Post article on mayonnaise becoming a popular hot dog condiment…and this was Danny Rouhier’s absolutely bananas spliced-together take (assuming he wasn’t, y’know, being a comedian) on that:
“Oh yeah, that’s better than ketchup. That’s a condiment that belongs on an adult’s food item; ketchup is red sugar water for children. I wouldn’t choose mayo, I would choose something else, but mayo goes on salty meats really well – and what’s a saltier meat than a hot dog? Mustard goes on a hot dog, maybe some sauerkraut or onion, but if there was no mustard anywhere, I’d put mayo on there. That’s not nuts to me, that’s not crazy.”
GP, who has seen millions of wieners consumed at baseball stadiums in his life and career, was so incredulous about it (as were Darris and several callers) that he went on a mission: find an expert to put Danny in his place that mayo, as delicious as it may be, does NOT belong on a frankfurter.
And that’s when our (not condiment) white knight stepped in: Eric Mittenthal, Chief Strategy Officer for the Meat Institute and President of the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council (read: a verified cylindrical meat authority), called in and gave the scoop on Hellman’s and Oscar Mayer working together in harmony.
“We do polling every two years on the most popular toppings, and mayo has been growing in popularity over time – and it’s actually big on the Sonoran Dog, a very popular style in the southwest which started out in Arizona,” he revealed. “They put beans, bacon, and mayo on their hot dogs, and it’s delicious.”
Apparently, this council has been around since 1994 and its membership is made up of companies that manufacture hot dogs, and Mittenthal is the one who ‘leads the celebration of hot dogs around the country and busts myths and misinformation about hot dogs.’
“People have a lot of ideas of what’s in a hot dog and how it’s made that is mostly not true, and we exist to make sure the facts get told,” Mittenthal said.
And yes, talking to two guys in the city known for the half-smoke (chili, cheese, onions, mustard of GTFO), Mittenthal revealed that when it comes to mayonnaise, which has infiltrated almost everything including barbecue sauces and is now a preferred condiment of about 20 percent of survey respondents, on a dog, he’s Team Danny.
“There’s nothing wrong with mayo on a hot dog,” he said. “I do it on a Sonoran dog; if it’s just a plain hot dog, I stick with mustard, but on a Sonoran dog, it’s delicious with all the other toppings. There are many ways to enjoy hot dogs, and you can definitely come up with topping combinations where mayo is a great part of that."
Mittenthal, who lives in the area apparently, also says a half-smoke is technically more of a sausage but ‘it qualifies in our book,’ so there is some order in the world – and yes, he’s also bummed Joey Chestnut was banned from the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating contest, even if he disagrees with Joey’s choice to rep vegan hot dogs (which aren’t hot dogs because they aren’t meat, in his words).
You can get half-smokes and several different styles of dogs at Nats Park, so, uh…well, Rooster was heading to Nats Park Tuesday night, maybe he tried it?
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