NYC Styled Hot Dog with Porter Mustard

New York Hot Dogs are no nonsense hot dogs with a little bit of flair, and it’s the toppings that give it their classic New York style. They can be cooked however you prefer—we made ours in the pan for this, but tomorrow we might want to fire up the grill—but they’re always topped with sautéed onions in a tomato-based sauce, sauerkraut, and a bright, bold mustard. We wanted to make a recipe that could showcase the complex flavor of our Porter Beer Mustard, which has lots of deep, chocolate-and-toffee notes from the porter beer. There’s no combination more tried-and-true than hot dogs with mustard, so choosing them to pair with our mustard was an easy decision.

As a reminder, no-nonsense doesn’t mean boring, and classics can always be improved upon.

Sautéed yellow onions get soft, luscious, and sweet once they start cooking and the sugars locked inside start to tease out. They’re a treat on their own, but we bumped up their savory quotient with minced garlic. We cooked the onions and garlic in a little ketchup to make them even sweeter. Then we thought we’d bring in some fruity heat by adding Chili Lime Seasoning. It’s a little bit tart, a little bit citrusy, and has some great stone fruit sweetness and heat from Guajillo Chiles. These onions are a beautiful contrast against the crisp, clean bite of sauerkraut, sweet and spicy against tangy sourness.

Once the hot dogs are in their toasty buns and the onions and sauerkraut are in place, it’s time to add the beautiful beer mustard. It’s got a great, grainy texture and tons of nuanced flavor from the perky mustard seeds and the resonant notes of the porter. It brings out the depth from the sautéed onions and the crisply browned hot dog casing, and dances around the spry top notes of the sauerkraut. Serve this with some potato chips and a pickle on the side, and you’ve got yourself a classic American meal with a few new, playful touches.