Hot Dog Burnt Ends

I gotta get back to the basics, cause it’s all been some weird stuff lately. Maybe it’s the coming winter, maybe it’s lunacy – who knows. Because I still had a pile of those gifted dogs left, so we got crazy. Go check out what we started with using these gifted dogs! The Spiral-Cut Hot Dog

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Recipe

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The Prep Table

If you saw my spiral-cut smoked hot dog post, you’ll know I received a 24-pack of Bar-S brand hot dogs. I try not to make a habit of talking down on someone’s product – but these are some basic ass dogs. You need do a little special work to get some flavor into these.

I went with Stubb’s rub and Kroger brand barbecue sauce. My homemade BBQ is thin, and I wanted the result to be a thick glaze. Never used the Stubb’s Rub – but thought why not. (Was pretty good)

So naturally, the rub wasn’t going to stick too great. They were in that ziplock bag and it had retained a little moisture, so it wasn’t too bad. And no, I wasn’t going to slather it in mustard. Very rarely will you see mustard used in my posts. Never as a binder.

That’s the entire prep for this one. See dog, throw dust, place in smoker. Let’s go!

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The Process

Smoker set to the usual 225 with competition blend pellets. I let these go for maybe an hour and 15 minutes or so. Just like the last post, just kinda cooked these to color and whenever it looked good, I pulled them off.

As soon as I pulled these dogs off the grates, I dialed the RecTeq up to 350-400 degrees. (It’s a RecTeq, so I really placed it at 380 and it held perfectly as always). I mention the 350-400 because a major problem with posting on ForensicBBQ – I’m always opening the smoker to take pics. I lose heat, the computer compensates, temp goes high and then back down and that’s why my temperature fluctuates.

Grabbed a half-pan and sliced the dogs into three (mostly) equal parts. I ate one to check the flavor, and it was good, but wasn’t as good as the spiral cut – no doubt due to the smokier flavor. Don’t get me wrong, they were infinitely better than any boiled/microwaved dog, but I was excited to get going “burnt-ends” style.

I used 4 Tbsp of butter and sliced them up to spread it around. I used dark brown sugar – about 1/4 cup – and sprinkled it over the top. Lastly, I drizzled the barbecue sauce. I don’t know how much I used – just enough to produce an even coat, but not drown the things.

It still straight-up looks like a disaster in a half-pan. I knew, and now you know, we aren’t fancy with this smoke. It is fun taking a nothing product (Sorry Bar-S) and making something with it. Making something good with it.

Every 10 minutes, I went out there and stirred it up. That saucy, melted butter and BBQ sauce with brown sugar is gonna glaze up perfectly. I left it on there for about 30 minutes until the glaze was spot on.

Usually “The Result” picture is my favorite, but I love that the camera captured the smoke. You can already see the incredible difference from sliced dog – to that disaster-looking picture with the sliced butter – to this one.

Scroll down just a little bit more.. and watch these shine.

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The Result

Okay. I didn’t go in with high hopes. I didn’t use the best product nor ingredients. But damn, was I pleasantly surprised with the outcome! That finished color, the glaze, the seasonings, EVERYTHING worked and combined perfectly. It was sticky, it was delicious, flavorful.. it just worked.

Thanks for giving this weird one a look.. it was quite bizarre, but it was also fun. Hey, if you want to gift me some grub – I’ll make good use of it! Unfortunately, I’ll be traveling for work for a little while and will be away from the smoker.

I’ve preloaded some of my old smokes on a laptop, so I can try to keep it fresh for y’all. Also, I’ve been working on my three part “seasoning, sauce, sides” post – but I don’t get as excited writing that as I do bringing these to you. Hot Dog Burnt Ends – give them a try!

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The Recipe