Homemade Corn Dogs

Preparing the hot dogs

1. For corn dogs to turn out well, the hot dogs should be made from real ingredients. If they contain a lot of starch and soy, they’ll most likely burst while deep-frying. You’ll need wooden sticks – kebab skewers. Buy ones that aren’t too short so you can dip the hot dogs into the batter and the oil comfortably, without the risk of burning yourself on hot oil.

2. Prepare the hot dogs: peel off the casings, push each hot dog onto a skewer, pat it dry with a paper towel and dust the surface with a little regular flour – that way the batter sticks better and doesn’t slide off.

   

Cornmeal batter

1. Mix the eggs with the spices. Crack two eggs into the mixer bowl and add salt, 1–2 pinches of hot pepper and 0.5 tsp paprika. I also recommend adding dried granulated onion and garlic – about 0.5 tsp in total. Mix the eggs with the mixer; you can even beat them a little. What matters is that the mixture is smooth and the spices are evenly distributed.

   

2. Add the cornmeal, flour and baking powder. First add a cup of cornmeal (150 g) to the mixture and mix with the mixer.

   Use cornmeal that isn’t too finely ground. Ideally, the corn is ground like semolina, with clearly visible grains. I got a surprisingly good result with fine corn grits – the grain size is exactly like semolina.

   

   The batter needs to be fairly thick and coat the corn dog in a dense, fairly thick layer, so next add a cup of regular flour (130 g) and baking powder – about half a packet. Mix the batter – it will be very stiff because there isn’t enough liquid yet.

   

3. Pour in the cultured milk and thicken the batter to the right consistency. Pour 150 ml of cultured milk into the batter and mix with the mixer, then keep adding cultured milk and mixing until the batter coats a spoon and hardly drips off. In the end, you may need up to 1.5 cups of cultured milk (300 ml).

   American versions of the batter use buttermilk – the by-product of churning butter from cow’s milk. We easily swap it for cultured milk (kefir), which is sold in any store. It’s inexpensive and fairly low in calories. If you use fat-free cultured milk, add 1 tbsp vegetable oil to the batter at the very end.

   

   The main problem you may run into when working with the batter is its thickness. For deep-frying cauliflower or pieces of pike-perch, the batter is made a little runny – it flows slightly. Here, you don’t want it to run: thick batter forms a “shell” around the hot dog and gives you a perfect corn dog.

   

Frying

1. For deep-frying, we usually buy an inexpensive light refined oil. Be careful – any trace of moisture that gets into the hot oil will inevitably make it spatter, and you could get burned.

2. Heat the oil for deep-frying. Pour neutral sunflower oil into a small but deep saucepan – the hot dog should be fully submerged – and heat it over medium heat to 170–180 °C: a drop of batter should float up right away and be surrounded by bubbles.

4. Dip the hot dog in the batter and lower it straight into the oil. Take a skewered hot dog and dip it in the batter. The batter should coat the surface completely and evenly and not drip off.

   

   Immediately lower the battered hot dog into the hot oil. If any drops of batter come off – it can happen – remove them from the oil right away. You can turn the heat down a little; the oil holds its heat well. The oil bubbles hard while frying, so be careful and protect your hands and eyes.

   

5. Fry the corn dog for 3–4 minutes until golden brown. Holding the stick and turning the corn dog in the oil, fry the batter evenly until it starts to darken to a nice golden brown. The cornmeal layer can be 5–7 mm thick – it puffs up thanks to the baking powder. It’s guaranteed to cook through and stays very soft.

   

6. Fry the rest of the corn dogs. Transfer the fried corn dog to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain the excess oil. Fry all the rest the same way, dipping them one by one in the batter and then the oil. To keep the fried ones warm, cover them with a towel.

   

   We usually make 3 per serving, although you can make as many as you like.

Serving

1. Corn dogs are served with sauces. I’ve seen street food stalls with a huge range of them. At festivals dedicated to this dish, the sauces are often more impressive than the corn dogs themselves.

2. Serve the corn dogs hot with sauces: at home, we serve them with mustard and hot ketchup or salsa.

   

   People often argue about whether to take the corn dogs off the sticks before serving. I like being able to eat a hot dog in cornmeal batter by holding the stick and dipping it into the sauce. You can also make guacamole or aioli – a kind of garlic mayonnaise. By the way, this is a great snack for unexpected guests who suddenly decide to have a beer with you.