Raggy Dogs

I have an online buddy down in Mississippi we call Uncle Raggy. He's a minister by trade but also one heckuva musician. As it turns out, the man knows his way around the kitchen too. He and I often get to talking about food and different things we like to make.

Well, one of Raggy's faves is his take on hot dogs. Yep. Weenies. Tube steaks. Franks. Red hots. Whatever you want to call them.

Now you're probably wondering just how the hell can anyone do anything particularly special with hot dogs. You either boil them, grill them, fry them or nuke them, right? But have you ever thought about a marinated hot dog? I'll admit, it sounded odd to me too...but knowing a thing or three about cooking, his recipe sounded interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Raggy has a video on YouTube about how to make these hot dogs and man, it's funny! That's how he and I became buds...he's a funny, funny man. But watching the video, I really thought these looked interesting, so I showed it to the young'un. She usually doesn't cook but even she thought this looked interesting, so we decided to give it a try.

Let me tell you, these are the BEST FRIGGIN' HOT DOGS YOU WILL EVER EAT!!!!!!!!!! The two of us wiped out an entire pack (8 hot dogs, 4 each) in one sitting! They're really THAT GOOD!!!!!!

OK, I didn't follow Raggy's recipe to the letter but it was close enough. Like Raggy says, "If you don't like it, don't put it in". In my case, I didn't have some of the ingrediants, so I improvised. This is what the end result looked like:



Mind the photo...took it with my cell phone. But seriously, these are outrageously good!If you want to make them, here's what you'll need:

salt
pepper
onion powder
garlic powder
honey
molasses
cayenne pepper
chili powder
sage
mustard powder
poultry seasoning
basil
paprika
hot dogs
buns
olive oil
butter

You mix your dry ingrediants together 1st. Add as much or as little as you like. I've attached Raggy's video at the end of this so you can get his "official" recipe. Once you have your dry ingrediants mixed, add in a 1/4 cup or so of both molasses and honey. Trust me, the hot & spicy ingrediants mix in a beautiful contrast with the sweetness of the honey and molasses. Who knew?

Next, using a fork, score the sides of your hot dogs. This will allow the seasoning/marinade to adhere to the weenies. This is KEY!

Then you coat your skillet with olive oil, let it get good and hot and brown the hell out of those weenies! Once they're good and browned and slightly crispy, remove and drain. A bowl covered in paper towel will work. Drain the oil from you skillet, clean it and then melt a glob of butter in there.

Place your hot dogs in the melted butter and coat evenly by rolling them around in it. Then add the marinade. Make sure you coat each dog thoroughly and as evenly as possible. Raise your heat to about 350F and let the marinade and seasonings sear into the dogs. This will only take a minute or two. Then remove from skillet, onto some fresh paper towels (just long enough to sop out any extra grease there may be) and then commence to putting these dogs on a bun!



I'd highly suggest holding off on adding condiments until AFTER you've tried it. The young'un and I both thought these were just perfect plain...and we always have some top notch mustard around for hot dogs. It just sat in the fridge. These were amazing! The young'un damned near knocked me over getting back to the kitchen for a 2nd one!

I'd like to thank my buddy Raggy for introducing me to this CHEAP culinary delight. In this day and age, with the price of everything going through the roof, its nice to find something cheap and easy to make that tastes AMAZING!

And just so you know, these weenies taste just as good burping them up as they do going down!

As promised, here's Raggy's original video. If you like it, tell him Memphis Mike sent ya. If you try this recipe, and you like it, be sure to drop Raggy a line and let him know. I'm pretty sure you'll love these!



Until next time, Bon Appetit!

M