Grubtrotters

The Chicago hot dog, of course, includes no ketchup.

This point was underscored again in the latest issue of Men’s Health magazine, which includes a feature titled “Plates of the Union.” The owner of the Wiener Circle, Barry Nemerow, offered three rules to ensure that a dog is a 100 percent genuine authentic Chicago classic. One was the no-ketchup policy. “It’s criminal to a Chicagoan,” he said.

Debate over the proper ingredients for a Chicago hot dog was the subject of a memorable Mike Royko column in 1995. Carol Moseley Braun, the U.S. senator from Illinois, contributed her version of a Chicago hot dog to a recipe book. Hers had ketchup in it. Royko brilliantly used the ketchup inclusion to illustrate how Moseley Braun, born and bred in Chicago, was out of touch with her constituency.

“This is the land of the free. And if someone wants to put ketchup on a hot dog and actually eat the awful thing, that is their right,” Royko wrote. “It is also their right to put mayo or chocolate syrup or toenail clippings or cat hair on a hot dog.

“Sure, it would be disgusting and perverted, and they would be shaming themselves and their loved ones. But under our system of government, it is their right to be barbarians.”

Here is a link to the full column; it is near the bottom of the page. –Victor.