A couple days ago I posted the hot dog instructions from Portillo’s, and I felt it was my duty to try them out. Spoiler alert - I followed the instructions exactly (almost), and they were wonderful!
First up was cooking the dogs. The LW is always around to criticize my cooking 🙄, and when I told her I was simmering them for 25 minutes she laughed, rolled her eyes and said "you can boil a hot dog in two minutes!". I gave her my haughtiest look and said "I’m sure you know more about cooking hot dogs than Portillo’s", which kept her out of my way for at least two minutes. BTW, the instructions say 20 minutes for regular dogs, but I bought Vienna Beef Jumbo, because that’s what I order when I’m at Portillo’s.
I sealed two buns in a baggie and set the wave for 45 seconds on power level 7, but after 25 seconds the bag looked like it would explode, so I stopped it. The buns came out very hot and steamy, but 20 seconds would probably be enough.
Everything I used was supposed to be in this pic, but I had to make two changes. The LW pointed out that I’d grabbed celery seeds instead of celery salt, and we couldn’t find any celery salt even though we both think we’ve seen it recently. Yeah, we’re old. Also, after I took the pic with dill relish I wondered if sweet or dill relish should be used, and settled on sweet relish after a couple web searches.
The dogs were very close to a perfect Chicago Dog. As was mentioned in the epic "I Hate Chicago Dogs" (paraphrasing) thread, what used to be a thin slice of dill pickle has evolved over time to being a fifth or sixth of a large pickle, and many people eat them as a side. I had high hopes for the Mt Olive "Sandwich Stuffers", but I’d prefer them to be half as thick. Because we didn’t have any celery salt, I put some table salt on the tomatoes to liven them up. Maybe I’ll do a taste test, but simmering really makes the dogs taste better, or at least gets them super hot all the way through. I like that the instructions tell you what order to add the condiments. I’ll be doing them this way from now on.
Conclusion: If you’re a fan of Chicago style dogs, this is well worth the time. If we’d had some celery salt they may have been perfect! About the only change I’d make would be finding larger poppy seed buns, or using regular size dogs.
@Mosca’s law says once you slice a tomato you have to use it, and I 100% agree, so I seasoned these and ate them as dessert.
First up was cooking the dogs. The LW is always around to criticize my cooking 🙄, and when I told her I was simmering them for 25 minutes she laughed, rolled her eyes and said "you can boil a hot dog in two minutes!". I gave her my haughtiest look and said "I’m sure you know more about cooking hot dogs than Portillo’s", which kept her out of my way for at least two minutes. BTW, the instructions say 20 minutes for regular dogs, but I bought Vienna Beef Jumbo, because that’s what I order when I’m at Portillo’s.
I sealed two buns in a baggie and set the wave for 45 seconds on power level 7, but after 25 seconds the bag looked like it would explode, so I stopped it. The buns came out very hot and steamy, but 20 seconds would probably be enough.
Everything I used was supposed to be in this pic, but I had to make two changes. The LW pointed out that I’d grabbed celery seeds instead of celery salt, and we couldn’t find any celery salt even though we both think we’ve seen it recently. Yeah, we’re old. Also, after I took the pic with dill relish I wondered if sweet or dill relish should be used, and settled on sweet relish after a couple web searches.
The dogs were very close to a perfect Chicago Dog. As was mentioned in the epic "I Hate Chicago Dogs" (paraphrasing) thread, what used to be a thin slice of dill pickle has evolved over time to being a fifth or sixth of a large pickle, and many people eat them as a side. I had high hopes for the Mt Olive "Sandwich Stuffers", but I’d prefer them to be half as thick. Because we didn’t have any celery salt, I put some table salt on the tomatoes to liven them up. Maybe I’ll do a taste test, but simmering really makes the dogs taste better, or at least gets them super hot all the way through. I like that the instructions tell you what order to add the condiments. I’ll be doing them this way from now on.
Conclusion: If you’re a fan of Chicago style dogs, this is well worth the time. If we’d had some celery salt they may have been perfect! About the only change I’d make would be finding larger poppy seed buns, or using regular size dogs.
@Mosca’s law says once you slice a tomato you have to use it, and I 100% agree, so I seasoned these and ate them as dessert.
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