Homemade Corn Dogs: Hot Dogs in Cornmeal Batter
The corn dog is an amazingly tasty and hugely popular dish, one of the calling cards of American street food. It's a hot dog on a wooden stick, coated in cornmeal batter and deep-fried. Like most famous and popular dishes, battered sausages come with plenty of origin stories, as well as arguments over who was first and what counts as the “classic” recipe. Either way, the dish turns up in all kinds of forms all over the world.
The important thing is that they're made of real meat. They can be made from any meat you like. Try to buy ones in a plastic casing – they're easier to peel. And pay attention to their length – they'll need to be fully submerged in the oil.
Hot dogs in cornmeal batter are somewhat like homemade pigs in a blanket, which many people make quite often. But this recipe is simpler, since you don't have to make dough, roll it out and wrap the sausages. Here, the hot dog goes on a skewer, gets dipped in batter and then goes into the hot oil. Remarkably, making the cornmeal batter and frying the first corn dog takes just 10–15 minutes. All you need is a mixer, oil for deep-frying and everyday batter ingredients.
Ingredients
6 corn dogs
- Hot dogs 6 corn dogs
- Cultured milk (kefir or buttermilk) 1–1.5 cups
- Cornmeal 1 cup
- All-purpose flour 1 cup
- Eggs 2
- Neutral vegetable oil (for deep-frying) 1–1.5 L
- Salt, hot pepper, paprika, granulated onion and garlic, baking powder to taste
- Mustard, ketchup for serving
Step-by-step recipe
- 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. 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.
- 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.
- Add a cup of cornmeal to the mixture. 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. Mix the eggs and cornmeal with the mixer.
- Since the batter needs to be fairly thick and coat the corn dog in a dense, fairly thick layer, add a cup of regular flour and baking powder – about half a packet. Mix the batter – it will be very stiff because there isn't enough liquid yet.
- 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. Pour 150 ml of cultured milk into the batter and mix with the mixer.
- A few words about the consistency of the cornmeal batter. The main problem you may run into when working with it 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. Keep adding cultured milk and mixing until the batter coats a spoon and hardly drips off. This lets it form a “shell” around the hot dog and gives you a perfect corn dog. In the end, you may need up to 1.5 cups of cultured milk.
- Put a small saucepan on the heat and pour in neutral sunflower oil. 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. When the oil is hot, take a skewered hot dog and dip it in the batter. The batter should coat the surface completely and evenly and not drip off.
- 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. By the way, the oil bubbles hard while frying, so be careful and protect your hands and eyes.
- 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. In total, the corn dogs fry for 3–4 minutes.
- Transfer the fried corn dog to a plate. Fry all the rest the same way, dipping them one by one in the batter and then the oil. We usually make 3 per serving, although you can make as many as you like. To keep the fried ones warm, cover them with a towel.
- 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. 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.
Serves: 6 corn dogs Calories: 230 Prep: 10 mins Cook: 20 mins Total: 30 mins Category: Snacks and Sauces Cuisine: American cuisine Rating: