Hot dogs. Us carnivores love them. "Why?" is not the question. There are no questions; there is only hot dog.There are many ways to prepare to the hot dog. With the coming of Summer, millions of my countrymen will drag out their grills and pretend they know how to cook something without making it resemble the charcoal briquettes used to cook it in the first place. I suppose that's better than microwaving their dogs. Microwaving makes the meat taste funny and makes for a rather deformed looking frank. Not exactly good choices either way, yes? However, an overlooked and underrated hot dog cooking method is boiling.
Boiling has several benefits. By being immersed in water, the meat cooks more evenly, resulting in a uniformly pleasant texture. The dog will emerge from the pot delightfully plump. The other benefit to boiling your hot dogs is the natural cleansing effect the hot water has on the dog. Boiling helps remove some of the nitrates from the dog, making the dog (slightly) healthier than grilling, and no doubt a hell of a lot healthier than using that molecular-structure-altering microwave.
Bear in mind my faithful readers, every year millions of your fellow American citizens make the mistake of not boiling their hot dogs. Don't be one of them. Boil those dogs.
