Hot Dog on a Baguette

Bread lovers, rejoice! Here’s a hot dog variation, le hot dog, which lets you enjoy a hot dog tucked inside a nice crusty baguette. Brilliant! Since I’m a Chicago native, I feel—in fact, I’m quite certain—we have the best hot dog preparation and presentation, which includes a poppy seed-studded soft bun. We also believe in lots of toppings (but no ketchup, ever!).

The pros of this French version are the bread and, for me, the use of spicy mustard instead of yellow mustard. The con, the singular con, is the ketchup. For my Midwestern-biased palate, whether it’s a Chicago dog or a French dog, ketchup does not enhance the experience. Nope. I tried. But the spicy mustard is another story. Be sure to generously smear or squirt the spicy mustard onto the baguette…and, of course, the ketchup, if so desired.

The most lengthy part of the preparation is the time it takes to preheat the oven to 400°F and to boil the water. After that, it takes less than 5 minutes tops. Did I love this? Well, yes. In fact, if I’d purchased a whole baguette instead of a demi-baguette, I’d be having seconds now. One note on that baguette—my demi-baguette was quite wide. I think something skinnier would be a better fit, keeping the bread and dog in better proportion to each other. I also wonder if the French ever add more toppings, creating something akin to their version of the Chicago dog? What comes to mind almost immediately for me is caramelized onions, which would be lovely with both the dog and the warmed, slightly toasted baguette. As a lover of the crusty variety of bread, I’ll give up those soft buns for a baguette any day henceforth. So, yes! And oui! Mange, absolument!

My husband and son LOVED this hot dog on a baguette recipe. Not only do they get a meal, but they get the pleasure of eating a hot dog all fancied up. The hands-on time for this recipe is maybe 5 minutes, and the total time was 8 minutes (including the time it took to heat the water and get the plates). When I turned on the oven, I opened the package of hot dogs and put them into a pot of hot water on the stove to warm up while the I cut a large baguette into pieces slightly shorter than the length of the dogs itself. I got 4 buns out of a large baguette, so if your package has 8 hot dogs in it, I would use 2 baguettes. My package only had 6, so I used 4. I used a paring knife to make the hollow for the dogs. I put a nice spicy tarragon mustard and plain ketchup in the hole of one bun and a curry ketchup in another. Both were good. I would only warm the baguette until slightly crunchy, which only takes a minute or 2 in a hot oven. It would make it a little easier to slide the hot dog onto the bun when done. Plus, one taster found the baguette too crunchy when I toasted them for the full 5 minutes. Total time from fridge to table took about 7 minutes. This makes a fun recipe to fancy up a quick meal.

As soon as I read this hot dog on a baguette recipe, I had to make it for my daughters. I grew up with this way of eating hot dogs, and until coming to the States, I thought this was the right way of making them. This literally takes 10 minutes from beginning to end and requires barely any work, though I must say, I cannot recall having had it before with ketchup. There’s something about the crunchiness of a baguette, which in my mind actually works so much better than a hot dog bun. With a bun, everything is mushy and uneventful. But with a warm and slightly toasted baguette, it’s a whole different experience. My older daughter absolutely loved it and right away remembered having this as her lunch while surfing in Portugal, where they also added potato sticks inside it (again, more crunchiness). In my mind, this is a winner and certainly a different take on a hot dog for people here in the States.

This is so easy, but so much better than using a regular too short, too narrow​ ​hot dog bun. The regular ones are never the right size to put on the mustard and ketchup without having a mess. Plus, if you like relish​ and ​onions on it, forget it!​ ​I used a mini baguette, toasting ​it ​very lightly​ and removing some of the interior​.​ By removing some of the interior, I was left with a nice “nest” for the hot dog to​ ​rest in with plenty of room for mustard, ketchup​,​ and any other condiments that I may like to add. The hot dog was pre-cooked, so with the preparation, simmering​,​ and toasting, ​this recipe took no more than 15 minutes.

Brilliant! I’ve always had an issue with fluffy store-bought ​ hot dog buns. Nothing is worse, in my opinion, than your carefully prepared dog and ​the accompanying toppings falling through the bottom due the weight of the sausage and added moisture from the condiments. Enter a baguette and all of my problems are solved! ​My local grocery store doesn’t carry baguettes—mini or otherwise—so I used large breadsticks. They worked perfectly! The breadsticks took less than 5 minutes to toast, which was the same amount of time the hot dogs took to heat through in simmering water. One thing, though—​no ketchup on hot dogs. Ever.

W​hat an easy weekend lunch or picnic dish. I made this on ​a day​ when​ ​I gardened for several hours. I used ​m​ini ​baguettes and followed ​the ​directions. ​I served the b​aguette ​d​og with​ some​ sauerkraut and ​s​riracha ​hot s​auce​ ​as well. It w​as delicious.