Osprey hunting in the bay.I've always been a bit rebellious, if I'd liked my mother more I would have felt sorry for her. As it is, I figured I was her karma.
My last job taught me a lot about how to take orders, not act alone, keep the good of the whole ahead of the joy of the rebel. In fact, I looked at that job as a way to learn things I felt were not well developed in my character. There was no chance that it would be easy and no chance that all my rebellion would be wiped out, but I did learn discipline and self-control and I think it was very valuable. I'm losing it quickly though, reverting to a rebellious teenager at 62 is not attractive or useful.
My shit disturber side comes out when I am around pretentious tourists who love to one up each other with the "real" Mexican food that they say they've eaten. I actually doubt that as many tourists have tried Chapulines as say they have but, who knows.
I ask them if they've had sandwichon, a truly unique Mexican food and wildly popular all over the country. Most have not had this multi-layered combination of Bimbo white bread (with the crusts removed!) sliced hot dogs, lime-mayonnaise, jalapeño peppers and onions all of which is frosted with more mayonnaise. The frosting can also be liquid yellow cheese from a squirt bottle, commonly called queso Americano. We are what we are known for, scary huh?
I also ask if they eat hot dogs here in Mexico at least once a day. No? Oh, but you do drink at least a liter of Coca Cola daily right? How else could you say you eat authentic Mexican food?This thing between Mexicans and Hot Dogs just has to be an obsession. There are 2 areas in any Mexican grocery store that are given more shelf space than anything else. Yogurt is one and hot dogs are the other. How many kinds of hot dogs can there be I hear you thinking. Oh, there are endless varieties and frankly I haven't done enough investigation to tell them all apart. Most of them look remarkable similar, in fact, only the label and the price changes. I have learned not to go for the cheapest, you won't make that mistake twice.
I was in WalMart the other day with my iPhone camera and tried to get some good pics of the hot dog section. I couldn't get back far enough to get the whole thing, I kept running into the cooler full of queso Americano squeeze bottles! You'll have to just believe me that this is only half of the area devoted only to hot dogs. You can see the different chorizos hanging up in back and some hams in the cooler but everything in the front section is pura salchichas!
Then I spotted a really upscale item on the bakery counter, this is no ordinary sandwichon, no layers, no frosting. I had to take a couple pics of it though. Gorgeous eh? Truly authentic Mexican food, even if I did take the picture in WalMart.
¡Provecho!
posted by Jonna at 6:57 PM
19 Comments:
I was chuckling all the way through your post. Not only because it is so funny, but I compared it with some of the odd things I ate as a kid. There was a time when I loved hot dogs. Now, unless I am at a baseball game or at a cony island stand, I will not touch wieners.
When we were kids, my great grannie(from Jalisco) used to make us scrambled eggs with sliced hot dogs. I still crave this once in a while. I just can't decide if I want to eat it with salsa and tortillas, or toast and ketchup.
I never ate hotdogs until we came to MExico. Not soydogs not turkey dogs, no dogs. Now, I can't pass the deli when they're frying up the hotdogs+jalpenos+onions+bell pepper+ham cubes (and sell them). And when we go to Costco, a hotdog just isn't a hotdog without jalapenos. We've been converted.
Steve, I think you'll find yourself eating more hotdogs when you move south. It's unavoidable.
Xicana, definitely the salsa and tortillas with the dogs. I have to admit, much like harvestmoon, I eat a lot more hotdogs than I ever did up north. I can't go to CostCo without having a hotdog, I actually buy packages of them and slice them into things like scrambled eggs, and - worst of all - we bought a HUGE bag of corndogs at Costco that are now in our freezer and the bag is getting smaller every week. Still, that package of the cheap ones?? I tossed that puppy in the garbage after one sniff. I'm still trying to figure out the 'good' brands of hotdogs. Right now, I just buy the most expensive and hope that it means something.
My first hotdog experience here was buying a package where each dog is wrapped in a plastic condom. That you can't see by the way, cooking that baby and then trying to chew it up. OH MY FREAKIN GOSH! For good grillin dogs try the San Rafael, salchichas de pavo. They plump when you cook'em. Without going to a kosher all beef style, these are actually pretty darn good. I had not eaten a dog, or canned tuna in 15-20 years. Then move to MX and there are 3 types of canned tuna in my pantry, I'm still trying to figure out the best canned tuna.
Can't even contemplate the little fried dogflowers and fries at festivals, but oh what heaven, what bliss is a good hot dog cart.
I love corndogs! comes from all those years of 4H with the girls, corndogs and anything else on a stick says County Fair to me and brings back such good memories.
You forgot to mention the split pea pate in the sandwichon.They look so wonderful decorated with pimentos and peas and taste so bad to me. Some of them even have alternating layers of strawberry jam and meat pate.
I don't eat hot dogs much, when I was in college my roommate and I found a cheap source for decent hot dogs and ate a lot of them. Hot dog fried rice, chile dogs,hot dog and scrambled eggs, if we could use hot dogs in a dish, we did. We even ate them raw in poorboy sandwiches (they taste just like baloney).
regards,
Theresa
Although the hot dog is pervasive, I think the way they are used must be regional. I have never seen a sandwichan, but here on the other coast, they love to combine hot dogs with the other favorite food - pizza. I laughed so hard the first time a saw a pizza covered with sliced hot dogs. Cut on the bias no less. Very fancy. If you want to get really fancy, you add pineapple.
And let's not forget to warn people that these things masquerade as "sausage" on a lot of menus! Don't ever order Sausage Pizza!
There are only two good brands of hot dogs here. The ones for sale in front of CostCo and Johnsonville. The rest are like rolled up, encased tubes of bologna!
Mexico is not alone in its love of nasty, cheap hot dogs. When I lived in Korea, I was intrigued by a menu item in a restaurant listed as "Deluxe Ramyun" (ramen noodle soup). I ordered it and received, to my dismay, ramen noodle soup with cut up hot dogs and topped with American cheese slices. Um, gross.
That last picture of yours is going to keep me up tonight. Thanks for that.
I think I lost my appetite.
I used to eat tofu dogs at Grateful Dead concerts. And I had a hot dog on the street once in NYC when I was watching a cycling race there.
Can't say I've indulged in the Mexico hot dog fetish much but I think you are right on the money when you describe it. Yogurt, coke and hot dogs, real Mexican food.
I have to say that the “upscale” hotdog bakery item looks really good. Or maybe I am just ready for dinner. Do they sell Bimbo dogs in Akumal? On Isla there is a cart that sells Bimbo dogs late at night. It is a deep fried hotdog wrapped in bacon on a Bimbo bun with cheese, onions and peppers. After a long night of partying they go down really well while sitting on your bed at 3:00 AM. Not that I have any firsthand experience or anything. LOL! But that was in my much younger days. I can’t party or stay out that late anymore.
Wayne, does Amigos still have the pizza with “spacy sausage” aka hot dog on thier menu?
I remember back in 1983 on my first trip to Mexico after a few days in Mazatlan my friend wanted an American style breakfast so we went to the Holiday Inn (I think) she ordered eggs with sausage and yes it was hotdogs. I learned that lesson early on.
OMG, hotdogs with layers of mayonnaise? Pardon me while I go barf! :)
Seriously, I would never have guessed that the people in Mexico would be so fond of hotdogs. Considering how good I think Mexican food tastes, I can't imagine why they would want to eat hotdogs.
BTW, "Hi, Jonna." I didn't answer you on Kelly's blog because I didn't know if you would check the older responses on someone else's blog. As you may have noticed, after I read through all of your blog, I then read Heather's, Wayne's, Kelly's, and Theresa's blogs all the way through. I may never get to go to Mexico, but I have really enjoyed reading and seeing what it is like!!! Thank you...all of you bloggers! :D
OMG! I definitely didn't write enough on this subject. How could I have forgotten the condom covered hot dogs or the 'dogflowers' that are featured in every street cart in Merida (thanks Debi) or the 'hawaiian pizza' that is nothing but hot dogs and canned pineapple.
Oh, and Theresa was nice in only mentioning the pure of peas that decorates some Sandwichon, and didn't mention that much of it is made from canned tuna and hot dogs and mayonnaise with canned pea pure on top!
Sorry Heather, but I would bet that there exists here in Mexico a hot dog and ramen dish, we just don't know the name of it.
Jackie, I'm sighing as I write this. I so wish Akumal was the kind of place that would have hot dog carts. No, we have nothing like that. We have restaurants that close at 9pm and bars that close a bit later. We have no 'fast food' type stuff. We have no 'street food' type stuff. We are pristine, we are expensive, we are AKUMAL! or, boring if you'd like another word for it.
Sandye!!!! Hey kid, I'm so happy that you are enjoying my friends down here and getting a taste of our weird life south of the border. It's a great group of people, and I think it is awesome that someone up north that isn't related to one of us actually reads this.
I know, there is some absolutely wonderful food down here, it's just that everyone isn't eating arrachera or sopa limon all the time.
Hot Dogs cut up in Macaroni & Cheese. A staple in my younger days. My kids will no longer eat Macaroni & Cheese. They say I fed them too much of it in their younger years.
In high school I loved corn dogs but I haven't had one in the past almost 40 years. One time I helped in an outdoor concession stand where we slept in it that night. I had some corn dogs for dinner - lots of them. I got sicker than a dog and haven't had one since. I don't even put ketchup on weiners any more.
That reminds me of my favorite hot dog joke. Ready?
Three French nuns went to NYC. They went to Central Park because they wanted to try the famous American hot dog. They each ordered one and sat down on a bench to give it a try. The first nun unwrapped hers, let out a piercing scream and threw it as far away from herself as possible. She then turned to her companions and asked "What part of the dog did you get??"
hahahahahahahahaha!
That hot dog joke is funny. I have one.
A Buddhist approaches a hot dog vendor requesting: "Make me one with everything."
He pays the vendor with a $20 bill and waits and waits and waits. Finally he asks: "Where's my change?"
The vendor replies: "All change must come from within."
hmmm,maybe Isla Gringo's joke was funnier.
regards,
Theresa
This is a good post and the comments first rate. I was recently surprised when cooking hot dogs for some Mexican guests to find each one enclosed in a "wienie condom". What's with that?
The San Rafael dogs in the tubes were utterly boring and low in textural interest. Besides Johnsonville Polish Sausages and Bratwurst, a relly good brand, available in Costco and in Sam's Club is "Obertal". The range of Chorizos; Españoles y Argentinos and even the Chrorizos Parilleros is excellent.
I haven't ever seen a "sandwichon". Maybe it's a Yucatecan specialty. I probably wouldn't have one. I seldom even eat tortas for example, except while in a bus station or to carry onboard. It's not that they're bad, I just think that generally there are more interesting things to eat.
Buen provecho,
Mike
Great post I laughed so hard. Here in Belize hot dogs are popular as well ( not quite as much as Mexico - people seem to like their canned cocktail wieners here too, have seen some eating them right out of the can. UGH.
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