It’s been a while since I’ve posted, even longer since I’ve posted about food. This has been a life changing couple of months due to the fact that I’ve sold our business and are in the process of selling our house. Yep – as a good friend commented to me, “Congratulations on executing your exit.” I may post about the sale in more detail someday, but I’m excited to finally be posting about food again!

Though I haven’t written about food lately, I have been cooking and eating. Strangely enough however, I’ve also had a hard time in the kitchen having experienced some catastrophic food failures. I blame the sale of the business and that my head was not in the cooking game. Fact is, prior to January, I would wake up thinking about food and spend the rest of the day writing notes, browsing the internet and making plans to cook something new and exciting. Once the sale of the business became imminent, my thoughts were, let’s just say, elsewhere to say the least.

I’m back – at least for now. Having sold my livelihood, I expect to be somewhat distracted mid-year with the creation of a new business in a new city. I’m in a sort of limbo waiting for the house to sell as well as consulting with the new owners for a couple more months. In other words – I’ve got nothing to do again. YEA!

I have a list of food blogs that I used to visit at least once a week – I haven’t visited them in more than two months due to the aforementioned distraction. I finally got “bored enough” yesterday and found myself clicking on my favorite links and getting caught up with my virtual foodie friends.

Then it happened! I ran across something I just had to try. Actually, I found a bunch of new recipes I wanted to try but I had most of the ingredients for this one. What is it?

“The Tennessee Smoky Hot Dog“

Chris at Nibble Me This – one of my favorite food blogs – expertly instructs his readers how to create the king of all hot dogs! He has some criteria for the perfect frank, the least of which is not the requirement that it should be a meal on a bun with no side dishes required. I like that. He almost lost me with his Marsh Madness post though. Bleh. (grin)

Hot dogs and I go way back! I love them and have turned into a sort of hot dog snob, refusing to eat just any frankfurter. The quality of the hot dog is important to me. I prefer all beef franks and used to stick with Kosher dogs until I discovered the holy grail of hot dogs at GFS (Gordon Food Service). Their quarter pound seasoned all beef frank is the best I’ve found (actually 5 hot dogs per pound)! So good in fact that I can eat one – out of the microwave – on a bun with nothing on it. They are great!!! Their seasoned hamburgers are also outstanding.

Someday I will likely make my own hot dogs, especially since I will soon be too far from a GFS store to get my favorites. I look forward to replicating the GFS hot dog in my own kitchen. Fortunately, I have GFS for now.

Thanks to Chris’ post, I also have a new way to make coleslaw!! What does Coleslaw have to do with hot dogs?  Nothing before yesterday, everything if you want the best wiener you ever put in your mouth.

Instead of regurgitating Chris’ entire post, I’ll leave it to you to visit his website and have a look for yourself. The bottom line is we tried these yesterday and they are wonderful.

What is it already?

Bun – hot dog – sautéed onion – smoked coleslaw – chili – mustard.

The key ingredient – to us – was the coleslaw. It was put on the grill for about 6 minutes to take in some of the smoke flavor and to slightly caramelize the edges. Oh my goodness, it was great all by itself.

The sautéed onion was also cooked on the grill with unsalted butter and paprika in a “hobo pouch” (Aluminum Foil). I cooked it indirect for about 20 minutes with the foil sealed, then opened the seal for about 10 more minutes for flavor.

I used the charcoal side of my grill with real wood charcoal for flavor. It was impossible to regulate the temp – but that’s another topic for another day. Like the day I get my own Big Green Egg. (grin)

I made a few extra for later in the week. I didn’t want to waste that great charcoal.

We didn’t follow the recipe to the letter but our version was outstanding. This is something we can’t wait to do for family and friends. It was so good in fact that we had it for breakfast this morning. Carrie reiterated what she said yesterday – even with the reheated dogs. She said, “This is the best hot dog I remember having.”

Thanks Chris! Even though I don’t own a Big Green Egg, you’ve inspired me again!

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