Cooking Lesson #115 County Fair Corn Dogs

County Fair Week

County Fair Corn Dogs

How you doin’? When I was just a little kid my family took me to Los Angeles County Fair. I didn’t give a hoot or damn about the midway rides or prized-winning heifers. I was too busy with the carney food. Two of the main “gastronomic” attractions were corn dogs and cinnamon rolls and I would beg to have one of each the minute we got to the Pomona Fairgrounds. They weren't called corn dogs way back then—they were "Pronto Pups."  The Pronto Pup was introduced in 1947, and lays claim—along with about 20 others that demand the same honor—to being the first corn dog made in the U.S.
 
Later, when I lived in Texas, I enjoyed "Corny Dogs," as they were called, at the Texas State Fairgrounds in Dallas. Same delicious treat, different name. The Corny Dog was introduced at the fair in 1938 (although some say ‘42). The New York Times remarked that there were corn dog stands at the city's beaches in 1947.  By the way, you can still get a corn dog on the Coney Island boardwalk. If left up to former Mayor Bloomberg and his food police had their way, they would have been banned long ago.
 
Corn dogs are just wieners that have been thrust on a stick, dredged in a batter containing cornmeal (hence the name), and deep-fried. During the health-conscious final decades of the last century, corn dogs took a big hit, since their greasiness, carbohydrate intensity and shear hot-dogginess made them “off limits” to many diners. Yet they lived on at street fairs and Coney Island concessions—and in the supermarket freezer cases, though I don't know anyone who's ever bought them there. Well, not quite true—I tried them once, but oven baked corn dogs just weren’t the same.
 
Okay, so last night while rummaging through a couple of books in my food library I found my mother’s original corn dog recipe she used for my eleventh birthday party. I seemed to remember that her corn dogs were pretty darn good, but not better than anything I found in Pomona.  So here it is…
 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Fry time:  4 minutes
Yield:  20 Corn Dogs
 
Ingredients:
1 quart oil for deep frying
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons bacon drippings
1 egg, beaten
1-1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 pounds all-beef hot dogs
20 wooden sticks
 
Directions:

1. Heat oil in a deep fryer or large Dutch oven to 365ºF. Use a thermometer to make sure you get the temperature right.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. Stir in melted bacon drippings. You can use vegetable oil, but bacon fat is so much better.
4. Make a well in the center and pour in the egg, buttermilk and baking soda.  Mix until everything is smooth and well blended.
5. Pat the hot dogs dry with paper towels so that the batter will stick.
6. Insert wooden sticks into the ends.
7. Dip the hot dogs in the batter one at a time, shaking off the excess.
8. Deep fry a few at a time in the hot oil until they are as brown as you like them.
9. Drain on paper towels and hold in a low-temp oven until all are fried and ready to serve.
10. Serve on paper plates with a strip of parchment paper.
11. Have plenty of old-fashioned yellow mustard and ketchup available for dipping.

ChefSecret:

• There is also an adult version of corn dogs using cocktail sized weenies and toothpicks.
• Look, just because I prefer all-beef hot dogs you can use whatever you like, chicken, turkey, pork tofu (if you really must)—the corny batter covers all sins.

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Covid-19 Quip of the Day: If you believe all this nonsense will end and we will get things back to normal once we reopen everything—raise your hand! Now slap yourself with it, you silly fool, you.
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