For those of you who really really love hot dogs, you may want to avoid this video. The video walks you through the entire process starting with scrap meat from beef, pork and chicken and winds it’s through a long process until the gooey mixture is pushed into casings and become the hot dogs we have all gotten to know and love so well.
The video at the end of the article by Qapla, takes you backstage at a hot dog factory and gives you the, somewhat surprising, truth about what really goes on your bun.
The traditional hot dog, a relative of the German sausage, contains chicken, pork and beef. Ironically, your nagging friend may be right about at least one thing: the base of the hot dog is leftover meat, or trimmings, (usually from steak or another cut of beef).
After the beef trimmings are ground, processed chicken trimmings, cornstarch, salt and other flavors are added to the batch. (Hot dogs also contain corn syrup). Depending on the type of hot dogs you purchase, the trimmings in your dog may be a bit different, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.
Once the ingredients are blended, they are pushed though a machine that removes all the air from the batter. The mixture at this point looks unappetizing, but it doesn’t stay in that form for long.
The hot dog mush is pushed through a stuffing machine filled with cellulose tubing and the links of hot dogs file through a smoking shower into an oven. (The tubing is marked to show which hot dogs have not been cooked yet).