Why Boiling Hot Dogs In Anything But Water Is A Flavor Game Changer

Boiling hot dogs in flavored broth instead of plain water may be one of the best-known summer cooking hacks around. If you're still throwing your dogs straight on the grill (or, god forbid, cooking them in their plastic packaging), it's time to change your strategy. Boiling your dogs in a flavorful hot bath leads to juicier and all-round tastier results. In fact, the secret to New York City's iconic dirty water hot dogs is that the water they're boiled in only looks dirty because it contains a host of spices and flavor boosters.

If you're already familiar with the practice of adding beer and bullion cubes to your hot dog water, we're here to tell you that's merely the tip of the iceberg. There's a variety of ingredients you can add to your hot dog broth depending on the flavor direction you want to take. It can complement the already robust flavors of regular all-beef hot dogs or help boost the flavors of mellower chicken and turkey franks. You can still finish cooking them the way you like, so there's still a reason to fire up the grill. You can also easily transport hot dogs in the broth to a picnic so they're ready to go on the grill by the time you arrive. 

You don't want to cook hot dogs at an angry rolling boil and risk splitting them open. Instead, use a large pot with enough space to completely submerge all the hot dogs in broth and bring it up to a gentle simmer. Five minutes is sufficient to heat a room-temperature frank and infuse it with flavor, but longer is better. Frozen franks should be simmered for at least 10 minutes.

Now for the important bit — flavoring the hot dog broth. While you can use either beer or water as the base liquid, the first thing to remember is to heavily salt and season it, otherwise the hot dog may end up losing flavor to the liquid instead of absorbing it. Regular seasonings like onion powder, garlic cloves, and chili powder all add nice base notes. For a more complex-tasting dog, consider adding toasted cumin and coriander seeds or a bay leaf to the pot with fresh parsley for a bright zesty flavor. And if you want some of those smokey notes, add a splash of liquid smoke to the broth.

You can get adventurous with what to flavor your broth with but sometimes just the basics are enough, which is why you can also take inspiration from classic hot dog and sausage accompaniments. A broth made using a light summer beer as the base with sauerkraut and whole grain mustard yields a classic, juicy hot dog bursting with flavor.

Even though hot dogs come ready to eat, boiling improves their texture and ensures their insides are thoroughly heated. When you want to whip up a large batch of juicy hot dogs, you can have them simmering in a pot, heated, flavored, and juicy, and all you have to do is char them on the grill for a few seconds and they're ready to go.

If you've got the grill going, you don't have to worry about running between the kitchen and the backyard lugging boiled sausages. Instead, use one side of the grill to simmer your hot dogs in broth and the other side to give them the finishing touches over the fire. Simply fill an aluminum tray or cast iron pan with the flavored broth and place it on the grill till it comes to a boil. You can then poach the hot dogs in the tray or pan before moving them to the grill.

You can also make hot dogs in the kitchen and do away with the grill altogether (remember you can get some of that open-fire flavor using liquid smoke). Simply boil the dogs in broth and then transfer them to a lightly oiled skillet or a broiler tray for a few minutes. For efficient browning, always pat the hot dogs dry when transferring them from the broth to the skillet or broiler.