| Connecticut-Made Hot Dogs Make Good Summer Eats |
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| Written by Adrienne Kane | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, 06 July 2010 17:00 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Celebrate summer with Connecticut-made hot dogs
Hummel Brothers sells pork and beef hot dogs — the preferred variety in the NortheastHot dogs — they are as American as apple pie, as Thanksgiving dinner, as Coca-Cola and as corn on the cob. During hot dog season, Memorial Day to Labor Day, the country typically consumes close to 818 hot dogs per second. That’s seven billion in all. That’s a lot of wieners! So beloved is the hot dog, Americans have a slew of nicknames for it. There is the dog, the wiener, the tube steak and even the frankfurter, hearkening back to the creation of the hot dog. But as with most any American tradition, just how the hot dog came into being is up for debate. Western Europe is in a proprietary dither over who is responsible for this sausage. The town of Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany lays claim to the invention because of the widely used term “frankfurter.” But let’s not forget Vienna (Wein), Austria and the common term wiener to define birthplace. Setting country of origin aside, it seems a German immigrant was responsible for selling a processed meat product, along with a roll in New York City’s Bowery district in the 1860s. Later, in 1871, Charles Feltman, a German butcher, opened a stand on Coney Island and sold dachshund sausages, a processed sausage very similar to today’s hot dog. But it was in 1893 at the Chicago Colombian Exposition that the hot dog began to receive the acclaim it has earned today. Attendants clamored for this new, delicious sausage in a bun for not only its ease of consumption but also its low price. People boil their hot dogs, steam them, split them, grill them or as they uniquely do in Connecticut — fry them in oil. Three restaurants of note that have been frying their hot dogs for eons, are Rawley’s in Fairfield, Swanky Franks in Norwalk and Blackie’s in Cheshire. The frying technique ranges in cooking temperature, from a boiling, for a softer dog, all the way to crispy fried. Most of the fry heavens and grill utopias in Connecticut are supplied by two homegrown companies. In New Haven, there is Hummel Brothers, a company that has been producing hot dogs, as well as other meat products, since 1933, and in Bloomfield, it’s Grote and Weigel, a meat producer that has been making hot dogs since 1890, virtually since the dawn of the dog. Eric Hummel, grandson of Robert who, along with his brother Kurt, started Hummel Brothers, sits in his office above the factory. The walls are dingy yet crowded with photographs and Hummel memorabilia. “Good meat and good spices,” says Hummel. “That’s what we’re all about.” Hummel Brothers sells a variety of dogs, pork and beef — the preferred variety in the Northeast. As Eric walks around the plant, it is clear that this is a man who knows his hot dogs — it’s in his blood. Hummel Brothers is proudly a family business. As we walk into the refrigeration room, where hundreds of hot dogs fresh from the hickory smoker are hung to cool, Hummel takes a deep breath. “Doesn’t that smell great?” he says. A Hummel hot dog is pure Americana. With an ample snap — that’s the audible pop a hot dog makes as you bite into it — it is everything that one thinks of when they think of summer grilling. These dogs are robust and juicy. If you live in Southern Connecticut and go to the local hot dog stand, chances are you’re eating Hummel hot dogs. They supply restaurants like the Glenwood Drive-In, Lenny and Joe’s, the Duchess franchises and many more. But if you live in Northern Connecticut your hot dog allegiances may lie with Grote and Weigel. One of the oldest hot dog manufacturers in the U.S., Grote and Weigel originally started in Rockville when the Grote family built a few rooms onto the back of their home and began producing German-style sausages. The company later moved to Hartford, and finally, in 1966, to Bloomfield, where it remains. The company was sold to Michael Greiner in 1988, so ownership changed, but the recipe and craftsmanship remain the same. As of late, Grote and Weigel has become a largely regional product; they ship hot dogs up and down the Eastern seaboard. They’re a Connecticut product through and through. “We’re the Nutmeg state; we use a bit of nutmeg [in our hot dogs],” says Greiner. The rest of the recipe is, of course, top secret. “The formula hasn’t changed. [Hot dogs] become a family-type thing. People just stay with it,” says Greiner. The Grote and Weigel hot dog is a different kind of sausage. This is a milder dog — very similar to a German bratwurst. The meat is softer, mellower, yet complex. The spices are subtle, letting the true meat flavor of the pork and beef shine through. This summer, at one of the many barbecues that are thrown throughout the state, pick up a package of Hummel Brothers and one of Grote and Weigel hot dogs and taste-test them yourself. They are this state’s local product. No matter how you like your dogs: split, barely seared or burned to a crisp, you can be munching on a little piece of local history. Write to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Questions or comments? Email
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| Last Updated on Thursday, 08 July 2010 17:31 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
