Build a Better Hot Dog for Contest

What makes a great hot dog? Is it the bun, the toppings, or the dog itself? According to Jennifer Langhammer, who runs Dinghy Dogs in Oak Bluffs with her husband, Brian, the answer is, “All of the above.”

That’s why Dinghy Dogs is hosting its first annual hot dog topping contest.

This is the stand’s first year on the Island, and the Langhammers wanted a fun event that would encourage people get to know the stand, which is really a small storefront in the Dockside Marketplace, down at the Oak Bluffs harbor.

“I didn’t want to do a hot dog-eating contest because we are really more about — I don’t want to say gourmet eating — but about savoring the hot dog than about stuffing yourself,” Mrs. Langhammer says.

“Also, a lot of our regular customers are like, ‘You know what you should do . . . .’

“So I am giving them all a chance to do it themselves.”

Mrs. Langhammer has spent time thinking about what would not make a good topping and hasn’t come up with much. “I guess ice cream wouldn’t be too good,” she said, adding that it’s hard to know what customers will like, but the range is broad. One regular said that he loved his hot dogs wrapped in bacon and topped with kimchi, Korean pickled vegetables.

The Langhammers will be the judges in the taste testing, After all, they hold themselves forth as hot dog connoisseurs. Mr. Langhammer found what he believed was the perfect dog in the Pearl Kountry Klub all-beef smoked frankfurter in a natural casing. Mrs. Langhammer held out for the perfect bun, a Martin’s potato roll.

“We had a specific bun we wanted,” she explained, “so we would end up having them brought over on the Patriot boat.”

She emphasized quality ingredients as the key to flavor. “It is the meat, and we carry that idea over into our toppings. We bake our own chili. We make a lot of our own sauces and toppings,” she said.

Her favorite toppings include coleslaw and sauerkraut. Her favorite dog is a “State of Maine,” which is topped with barbecued onion, mustard, mayonnaise, chopped onion and celery salt.

But at Dinghy Dogs they’re open to new ideas. All you need for the contest is enough topping for about two dogs and the recipe. The toppings devised by the first, second and third place winners will be added to the menu if they’re practical to make. Winners also get to name the dogs.

Those who want to enter hot dog topping concoctions should bring them (with recipes) to Dinghy Dogs at the Oak Bluffs harbor by Monday, August 17 at 7 p.m. Dogs will be judged on taste, presentation and uniqueness.

The public sampling is set for Grand Illumination night, Wednesday, August 20, when from 5 to 7 p.m. dog lovers can swing by and sample the winning wieners.

— Matt Kramer