How It's Made - Hot Dogs

Wieners aka hot dogs are an extremely well liked processed meat.  They are literally German sausages in a roll introduced to North America by German immigrants.  As early as 1860, hot dogs were being sold from carts which remains a popular venue on city streets today.   In addition to hot dog carts, hot dog stands can be found at most events (eg. county fairs) and many sporting events have hot dog sellers coming right to your seat.  Have you ever wondered how hot dogs are made?

Hot dogs start with ground pork and beef trimmings that are mainly muscle tissue.  Ground chicken trimmings are added along with food starch, salt and flavourings.  Not mentioned in the video, other ingredients like milk solids and preservatives may be added to the mixture.  The mixture is sprayed with water as it blends.  Clear corn syrup is added for a hint of sweetness then the mixture goes through a chopping machine to form a fine emulsion.  The mixture is pumped into cellulose casing and the resulting links are placed on racks.  The links are given a liquid smoke shower to add flavour then the links are baked.  The links are drenched in cold, salty water for cooling.  The black strip on the casing indicated the hot dogs are ready for packaging.  The casing is removed and the links are then packaged.