National Hot Dog Day

Evan Swigart from Chicago, USA / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

July 22nd is National Hot Dog Day in the United States.

Appropriately enough, this day falls in National Hot Dog Month. Hot dogs are classed as sausage sandwiches in which the grilled or steamed sausage is served in an open slit of a partially sliced open bun, though the name also refers to the sausage itself. Wiener - Vienna sausages - and frankfurters are the sausages most commonly used in a hot dog, though pretty much any sausage can be used, even if the end result is, by some definitions, not actually a hot dog. A hot dog is rarely served plain; it will normally be topped with sauces as well as a wide range of potential ingredients, with fried onions perhaps the most common.

Hot dogs originated in Germany and were imported to the United States by Germans moving there. They started as working class food sold on the street and gradually became associated with baseball and American culture.

National Beans 'n' Franks Day

July 13th is National Beans 'n' Franks Day in the United States.

Beans 'n' franks is a dish made from hot dogs and baked beans. It is also known as beanie weenies, which is a trademark, and is similar to pork & beans, but it's not known what the exact origins of the dish are.

Tins of beans 'n' franks are commercially available pre-made, with some tins of baked beans having small sausages already added to the beans, and this is certainly the easiest way of "making" the dish. Alternatively, they can be made at home by simply cooking both beans and sausages separately and mixing them together when cooked. The baked beans could be made from scratch, too - as could the hot dogs, but the latter is a bit more time consuming. Buying the pre-made tins is definitely the easiest way of preparing the dish.