What's the difference?

[Miguel Vera]

Howdy!!!

Pardon the stupid question, but what is difference between hot
dogs, weiners, and franks? If there is NO difference, then why are they
packaged differently at the supermarket??

Thanks,
Miguel

[David G. Hughey]

I don't know for sure. The term "hot dog" is an American one and was
supposedly coined (I've been told this and I have to admit I question the
storyteller's memory) during WW II so as to not conjure up any sort of
German-esque image. "Weiner" is allegedly the name of some famous sausage
maker and "frank" was short for "frankfurter", which of course came from
Frankfurt, Germany. As I said, this is from an uncle who claims to have
invaded Germany during 1945 but his memory is a bit vague on the details.
Far as I can tell, they are the same. There are different styles and
ingredients, of course, but essentially they're all sausages.

Now as far as Coney Islands and red hots go...

Miguel Vera wrote:

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David G. Hughey | Decatur, Georgia
Remove first "d" for e-mail response

[George]

On Sun, 12 Apr 1998 20:04:29 GMT, Miguel Vera <Lmv...@texas.net>
wrote:

> Pardon the stupid question, but what is difference between hot
>dogs, weiners, and franks? If there is NO difference, then why are they
>packaged differently at the supermarket??

To answer your first question go these two USDA pages.

http://www.usda.gov/fsis/hotdogs.htm
http://www.usda.gov/fsis/sausages.htm

Once your done there check out these sites for fun.

http://www.xroadsmall.com/tcs/hotdog/hotdog.html
http://www.northcoast.com/~alden/Meatcure.html

There is no difference definition wise. But different folks make them
differently. Content, shape, length, spices, etc. Hot dog buns are
even different from various parts of the country. Size, shape, type
of flour, etc.

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