The completo is a Chilean style hot dog. Within that definition, there are also different styles of completos: completo Americano, completo Italiano, completo dinámico, completo a lo pobre, and more. The most common completo has tomatoes, avocado, and mayonnaise. Most Chileans also include ketchup and mustard (but not everyone) (shut up we’re not in Chicago).
Since our Chilean houseguests’ (dear daughter and son-in-law) flight out of Newark last Monday got canceled, and couldn’t get rescheduled until Saturday, I decided to give them a taste of home. Common additions to completos are aji peppers and onions. Cheese isn’t common, but it is acceptable. I didn’t have ajis (hard to get in the USA), so in a nod to hot dog commonality I subbed sport peppers.
Alpine House hot dogs are HUGE, 5/1, and they plump up past that, and they expand even more with a double helix cut. Those are steak rolls, high in gluten (lecithin? Bakers, help me out here), very soft and chewy. (That becomes important at the end.)
I just finished reading Jamie Loftus’s book Raw Dog, and she insists that hot dog rolls should be toasted to keep them from getting soggy. The internet is silent on toasting the buns for completos. I toasted the buns.
I love everything about grilling hot dogs! I love the way they look, I love the way they smell, I love the way they sizzle, I love the way they slowly change. I took these right to the edge of blackening.
There is a process to building a completo. The tomatoes go down first (some people say last, but almost everyone else says first), and onions and peppers if you’re using them, or anything else like that. Then the hot dog goes on top (we got two with cheese, it made sense to put the cheese down to hold the toppings together). Then the avocado gets pasted on top, specifically to seal everything in; then mayo, mustard, and ketchup.
¡El Completo!
”Holy heck, Mosca,” you might be thinking right about now, “How in the heck are you going to eat that HUGE hot dog?!” Ah, my friends. Wonder no longer. Because these wonderful, chewy, high in lecithin (gluten? I can never remember which makes these things hold together) buns do all the heavy lifting here. Fold, squeeze, and chew.
Perfect hot dog integrity, to the last bite. I could even put it down, take pictures, and continue. No drips on the plate. I didn’t need a napkin until the end.
El Completo, completed!
This. Freaking. ROCKS. An hour later and I am still riding a serious food buzz. Don’t think about how it is <Mosca makes air quotes with his fingers>”an unusual combination, Mosca”</air quotes with fingers>. It is AMAZING. DD and SiL gave it two thumbs up, and said that in Chile this would be “a premium completo.” That made me smile.
I would call this absolutely right up there with Coneys, rippers, Chicago, and whatever other dogs you can think of. It is GREAT.
Since our Chilean houseguests’ (dear daughter and son-in-law) flight out of Newark last Monday got canceled, and couldn’t get rescheduled until Saturday, I decided to give them a taste of home. Common additions to completos are aji peppers and onions. Cheese isn’t common, but it is acceptable. I didn’t have ajis (hard to get in the USA), so in a nod to hot dog commonality I subbed sport peppers.
Alpine House hot dogs are HUGE, 5/1, and they plump up past that, and they expand even more with a double helix cut. Those are steak rolls, high in gluten (lecithin? Bakers, help me out here), very soft and chewy. (That becomes important at the end.)
I just finished reading Jamie Loftus’s book Raw Dog, and she insists that hot dog rolls should be toasted to keep them from getting soggy. The internet is silent on toasting the buns for completos. I toasted the buns.
I love everything about grilling hot dogs! I love the way they look, I love the way they smell, I love the way they sizzle, I love the way they slowly change. I took these right to the edge of blackening.
There is a process to building a completo. The tomatoes go down first (some people say last, but almost everyone else says first), and onions and peppers if you’re using them, or anything else like that. Then the hot dog goes on top (we got two with cheese, it made sense to put the cheese down to hold the toppings together). Then the avocado gets pasted on top, specifically to seal everything in; then mayo, mustard, and ketchup.
¡El Completo!
”Holy heck, Mosca,” you might be thinking right about now, “How in the heck are you going to eat that HUGE hot dog?!” Ah, my friends. Wonder no longer. Because these wonderful, chewy, high in lecithin (gluten? I can never remember which makes these things hold together) buns do all the heavy lifting here. Fold, squeeze, and chew.
Perfect hot dog integrity, to the last bite. I could even put it down, take pictures, and continue. No drips on the plate. I didn’t need a napkin until the end.
El Completo, completed!
This. Freaking. ROCKS. An hour later and I am still riding a serious food buzz. Don’t think about how it is <Mosca makes air quotes with his fingers>”an unusual combination, Mosca”</air quotes with fingers>. It is AMAZING. DD and SiL gave it two thumbs up, and said that in Chile this would be “a premium completo.” That made me smile.
I would call this absolutely right up there with Coneys, rippers, Chicago, and whatever other dogs you can think of. It is GREAT.
Comment