Welcome to Wiener Wednesday!
This week’s recipe comes from an October 1975 issue of Seventeen Magazine.
IT’S DOG EAT DOG!
Partytime or anytime, serve America’s under-the-umbrella favorite in an irresistible round-about way: Slash frankfurters along one side, broil, and place on a hamburger bun. Fill the center with taste-tempting delights like the ones shown here. Melted mozzarella, pizza sauce, mushrooms and peppers jazz up the Frank Sinatra, below. Left to right, above: SlawDog, chock-full of coleslaw on a bed of fresh lettuce and ripe tomato; Beanie Wienie: barbecued beans smother a hot dog on a sweet pineapple slice; Frank-enstein, with gobs of fruity sauerkraut on a round of apple; Eggstra-Eggstra: cheesy scrambled eggs spiced with scallions fill a frank; Super Spud, homemade potato salad with a sweet n’ sour tang complemented by crisp bits of bacon. Catch our dog-gone recipes on pages 135.
Ah, so many excellent recipes to choose from with so many punny names.
But I HAD to choose The Frank Sinatra.
Why? Because Frank is so. fucking. cool.
Even as a wee child I appreciated the man, the myth, and the legend of Frank. That voice! That style! That swagger!
My Pap Pap was a big big big Sinatra fan. When he passed, I inherited the cassette of this album:
I wore the shit out of that tape.
But Sinatra is IT, man.
As was my Frank Sinatra.
See, before there was my beloved Brian Boitano, there was Frank. I adopted Frank when I was in graduate school. I wasn’t in the best place physically or mentally so Frank became my everything. He moved with me from Boston to Pittsburgh to Richmond to Pittsburgh to Brooklyn and back. And he just went along with it! If I was there, he was okay. If he was there, I was okay.
Frank was my guy. He lived until he was 17. He loved shoes. I miss him to this day***
Now, bring on the hot dogs!
I am familiar with the round dog–but when I made it, it was called a Circle Pup:
But my Round Dogs didn’t curl:
A disappointment.
But the hot dog’s shape didn’t matter when it’s topped with mushrooms, green peppers, sauce, and mozzarella cheese:
I had high hopes for this one, but it was just bland. Absolute meh.
Some post-hot dog, Frank-related thoughts:
I don’t know if I’ve ever written about one of my greatest television loves–Law & Order. I’ve watched them all–Special Victims Unit, Organized Crime, L&O Original Flavor. Hell, Mr. Sauce, Esq. and I even bought the lone season of Law & Order: Trial by Jury the most lawyer-y of all the L&Os. (We gave Law & Order: LA a shot but it just wasn’t the same out of NYC).
But I want to mention the one that I’m currently five seasons into–Criminal Intent. It wasn’t as popular as original or SVU, but it’s really good.
So now why I bring it up in a Sinatra-themed post:
I just watched this last night–episodes 6 and 7 from season 5, “In the Wee Small Hours,” are Frank-heavy. Detectives Goren (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Logan (Chris Noth) use their extensive knowledge of Sinatra trivia and Rat Pack lore to locate the suspect in the disappearance of a teen girl from Iowa.
It’s a good-good-good episode. I highly recommend it. It’s available to stream on Peacock.
Fun Fact: Chris Noth played a ring-a-ding Sinatra-loving TV character right before he joined Criminal Intent–Mr. Big from Sex and the City. He even serenaded Carrie Bradshaw with a tipsy rendition of “It Was a Very Good Year!”
OK, the takeaways here:
- Frank Sinatra (both the man and the cat) are absolute legends.
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent is a criminally underrated television program.
- A wiener named after the Chairman of the Board should be better.
***Frank’s spirit lives on–my mum and dad live with a stunner of a kitty named Ava Gardner.
I wanted to make hot dogs for dinner, but all I had in the house were hamburger buns, so I did this round hot dog trick (without the weird toppings), and it actually worked! Thanks, DIS and Seventeen! Who knew?
When I was in high school, I would walk to the public library after school every day and wait there for my mom to pick me up when she got off work. I loved perusing the magazines like Vogue and Bazaar, but also loved Seventeen. I wanted to be one of those popular girls that boys had crushes on, so this brings back memories.
Also, I had no idea you had another cat named Frank; glad you included him in this post.
I adopted a black cat when I was in grad school too! He made it to just a month shy of his 19th birthday. I’ll miss him forever.
I probably would have been more interested in “Seventeen” when I was a teenager if I’d known it had weird recipes.
Jilly wouldn’t even eat that shit!
If you find yourself following a recipe that involves slicing a hot dog, you need to re-evaluate. The dish, your life, everything. (Not you, Yinz, you’re nailing it!)
And we have an Ava too. I mention it because cat people are weird like that.
I swear I think I remember having this issue of the magazine. The September issue was my favorite. I didn’t know you had a cat before Brian. Frank was devastatingly handsome. I love Sinatra’s movies and music, but I lost all respect for the man when I learned he had people fight his fights for him. Have you ever seen “Higher & Higher”, it’s his first movie and it’s one of my faves.
Criminal Intent is my favorite Law and Order! (I also think that Trial by Jury should have been given more of a chance to catch on.) While the focus is usually on Bobby, there are a couple of CI episodes that center around Kathryn Erbe’s character that are particularly good, IMO.
Your “Chaircat of the Board” was a gorgeous boy! I also got my first “my own” cats in grad school — a Calico and a Tortie, who moved with me many times including the big move from IL to CA. The Calico was a truly special cat and I can definitely relate to your description of your relationship with Frank. Your parents’ cat is indeed a stunner!
I will reluctantly admit to having a subscription to Seventeen in Jr. High and High School and they did have some pretty weird recipes. I agree that all 3 Franks (human, kitty, and tube steak) deserve better than a “meh” sandwich.