Corn Dogs

The kind of hot dog I used to eat when I was a kid was of the frozen variety that my parents would buy from Costco. I always thought that a corn dog was a corn dog, so there weren't any variations to it. As I got older, I began noticing that there were quite a few different varieties. There's the honey corn dog which uses a chicken type of hot dog with honey in the batter. There's corn dog made of beef franks. There's even vegetarian corn dogs. Go figure. I've learned that I tend to like the ones made out of beef franks. And then I came to learn of freshly made corn dogs at Disneyland and I became a corn dog connoisseur.

Because I've mostly known corn dogs of the frozen variety, I never really considered making it from scratch. Until I came across this recipe at Shine from Yahoo. I decided to give it a try. With so much anticipation, I was a little disappointed with the way it turned out. I may have done something wrong with the deep-frying or my technique may have been off, but the dough on the corn dog was thin and therefore the whole thing turned out pretty greasy. The flavor was dead on, but I didn't really like eating a stick of oil. I may have to tweak it a bit more, but I'm going to keep this recipe.

8 hot dogs
Popsicle sticks or wooden chopsticks
1/2 cup plus 3 Tbsp. all purpose flour, divided
8 cups vegetable oil, divided
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup buttermilk, well shaken

1) Grill hot dogs over medium-high heat until thoroughly cooked. Cool slightly. Insert wooden stick into hot dogs. Place 3 tablespoon in a plate. Roll hot dogs in the flour and shake off excess flour. Set aside.

2) In a deep, heavy pot, place about 3 inches of oil and heat to 350 deg F over medium-high heat.

3) In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. Add 2 tablespoons of oil. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Whisk in buttermilk until well incorporated.

4) Transfer some of the batter into a tall glass, filling almost to the top. Dip hot dogs, one at a time into glass with batter to coat. Deep fry, turning occasionally, until golden brown and cooked through, about 3 minutes. Drain on a paper towel. Return oil to 350 deg F and continue cooking the rest of the hot dogs and refill glass with batter between batches.