Snouts and Tails

I caused a bit of a stir yesterday with the term “snouts and tails” for the hotdogs I prefer. Let me explain:


The origin of Snouts and Tails:

Snouts and tails is a phrase that describes my favorite hot dogs. Given a choice of a hamburger or a hotdog at a picnic I always ask, “Are they snouts and tails or all-beef dogs?” If the answer is all beef, I go with the hamburger and LOTS of condiments. If the dogs are snouts and tails, I’ll go with the dog. Snouts and Tails is the phrase I use for a hotdog that is not made from all one meat. A beef hotdog is a beef dog and a turkey hotdog is a turkey dog, but the very best tasting dogs are snouts and tails dogs!

Snouts and Tails is a totally Nani term. I had heard too many times the question, “Do you know what in those things?” from hotdog haters, all-beef fans and self-ordained nutritionists. Yes, I know what’s in them. It’s written on the package and all hotdogs that aren’t all beef or turkey have pretty much the same basic ingredients.

Ingredients: MECHANICALLY SEPARATED TURKEY, PORK, WATER, CORN SYRUP, BEEF, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: SALT, POTASSIUM LACTATE, SODIUM PHOSPHATES, FLAVORINGS, BEEF STOCK, SODIUM DIACETATE, SODIUM ERYTHORBATE, MALTODEXTRIN, SODIUM NITRITE, EXTRACTIVES OF PAPRIKA.

If there was anything dangerous in a hotdog, the FDA would not let it be sold in the USA.

I KNOW that hotdogs are not heath food. Neither is milk chocolate or frankly carrots if you eat a couple bushels. I was tired of the idiocy of being judgmental about someone else’s food choice. As if a hotdog could make someone inferior or superior?? I was also tired of the naive regurgitation of senseless urban legends, “everything leftover from the pig goes into a hotdog.” So, I started happily calling my favorite hotdogs “snouts and tails dogs.” When I said I was eating snouts and tails or when I used that as my smiling answer when asked that worn out question, they stopped asking me. I thought it was a fun term and have used it for many years, so I don’t think about the fact that snouts and tails isn’t a common way to say “hotdog.” I think of it as, although a little more obscure, colloquial like soda vs. pop or lollipop vs. sucker.

So, if your hotdog has more than one meat in the ingredients, or if there is a choice between a hotdog and an all-beef hotdogs at an event and you chose the cheaper one, you’ve got yourself a snouts and tails dog. YUM! Enjoy it!

I leave you with my favorite ad for Ball Park Franks from my childhood. It was in the Tigers game programs and I always looked for it. Fun!