August 20, 2021 • 51 mins
This deep-fried fairground food has an impressive number of contending origin stories. Anney and Lauren dip into the history and culture behind corndogs.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to Savor Protection of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Bogglebaum, and today we
have an episode for you about corn dogs, and it's
a fun one. It is. This one gets wacky and
uh you know, I feel like we've We've got a
lot of competing origin stories and a lot of these
but wof I love how many people are scrambling so
(00:35):
fiercely to claim the corn dog. You should there's no
judge on my part. Yeah, I mean, but but like,
but like, not since the Sunday have we had such
fierce competition. Yes, yes, you are correct. We have a
lot of contenders in this one. Which is a phrase
I'm going to use a lot. And also every time
(00:57):
I use it, I think of the word Ragnarok. So
just put that in her mind. When Tessa Thompson says
he's a contender, That's what I mean. That's what I'm
going for every time. Yes, exactly, love it. Um. I
I'm not really into corn dogs. I can't even remember
(01:19):
the last time I had one. Uh My mom did
by the Frozen Kind one time, and that's like my
most recent memory in that one time, like in middle school. Yeah,
but I do have a friend who was going through
a huge corn dog kick. Um. She says it's mostly
(01:41):
because she wants to have a vessel to transport mustard
and catch up to her mouth, which I know some
of you will judge, but no, I'm I'm into that. Yeah,
I think the catchup part which we're going to go into, yes,
but it seems like a very very joyous thing for her.
(02:02):
So it makes me really happy every time I hear
like say like, oh, for lunch, I had this turkey
corn dog, and like, oh, I'm glad. Yeah, yeah, I
don't to be To be honest, y'all, I don't really
understand corn dogs. I'm like, You've got a perfectly good
hot dog and a perfectly good like Johnny Cake pancake mix,
and then you ruin them by putting them together. Why
(02:24):
would you do that? They're they're fine, they're doing fine.
They didn't need your intervention. Um. I'm like, I'm I'm
I'm going to be unpopular this episode. I can already.
I can, like like a million keyboards. We're being tacked
out with hate mail, um, and then more suddenly silenced.
(02:49):
I feel like we've done this a lot recently where
the is kind of an Americana food with like tater
tots also which we didn't we just were not super
fans of um. And now again with corn dogs, people
are people who love them, love them. Oh yeah yeah
(03:09):
uh we We also asked a super producer JJ who
is helping us out this week, and he says that
he is like kind of corn dog agnostic um and
so you know, I mean, but but that's only a
quorum of three. If you like him, I'm happy for you.
Like like Annie's friend go for it. Um. A bunch
of Atlanta restaurants have them on the menu, like kind
(03:30):
of as like an upscale uh bar food nostalgia throwback
sort of thing. Um. We were just talking before we
started recording about Pelucaville, which was an Atlanta restaurant kind
of famous for him for a minute. Uh you know,
it makes me happy to see him on menus. But
I will never, unto myself, order them. Yeah, I'm not
(03:50):
sure I will either, although um, researching this episode, I
will say, I think and I'm gonna make now I'm
gonna make enemies think. As I've said even in the
tear Toks episode, I think I have a thing about
like old oil where I can it's not a thing
that I like. But I also when I think of
(04:11):
corn dogs, I think of a sweetness. But apparently that's
not the case a lot of times, but in some
specific cases it is. So I'm wondering if I had
one that didn't have that sweetness, I would be more
into it. Maybe you have a lot of tasting things
that were we've built up. We've got the root beer waiting.
(04:33):
I still have the dairy and ice cream years ago. Yes,
I'm sure it's still good, Lord positive it is. Uh heck, um,
didn't we didn't we have a corn dog at the
at the rent Fast though, when we went and had
a bunch of fried foods at the rent Fast. Okay,
So for listeners who don't remember that, this is back
(04:56):
when we had a video series as food Stuff. One
time we got to go to the rent Fest and
we recorded a video on mead that was great, um,
and then we did one on they just brought us
all these foods on sticks, so it was it was
(05:17):
glorious and horrifying. It was just like all of the ridiculous,
over the top fair food that you can get at
a rent Fest. And this was at Georgia Renaissance Festival specifically, UM,
and we were just like, what have we gotten ourselves into? UM?
This was also what like pen thirty am, UM justin
over at Monk's Mead UM, which just opened a new
(05:40):
bar location in the Highlands for anyone else in Atlanta.
UM had had kindly brought us samplers. And by samplers,
I mean full bottles. Different rush in movies where they
opened the like like Jurassic Park when all the fog
(06:01):
comes out and there's just bottles, or like Mary Poppins
bag like he like he just kept pulling bottles out
and I was like, it's nine thirty in the morning
and I have not had breakfast. It was delightful. UM.
I don't know if the video is still online anywhere,
but if it is, I don't know, UM Google like
(06:23):
like food stuff mead, yeah, or honey because it was
part of our honey right, thank you, thank you. I
forgot why we were even there. The meat and the
food on sticks, you know, gets in your head especially.
I think we were done by like noon, oh easily, easily. Yeah,
(06:48):
that was a day. It was. It was quite a day. UM.
Speaking of days, every year. The first Saturday of the
NBA's March Madness is National corn Dog Day. Um. I
think that's a generally The third Saturday of March. Um,
National corn Dog Day also does celebrate tater tots and beer.
(07:11):
Oh wow. Okay, so there's a kind of connection between
tater tots and corn dogs. Oh. I would say spiritually certainly, um,
but but literally also yeah, uh yeah, we've previously done
an episode on hot dogs. Um, that was the July
(07:32):
four food Stuff Gets Frank about hot dogs. Yeah, um
maybe uh uh maybe see that. Maybe see our corn
bread episode from January of this year if you want
to options option scalore as there are with corn dogs,
which I guess question corn dogs, what are they? Well?
(08:00):
A corn dog is a hot dog that has been
speared through lengthwise on a stick, then dipped into a
thick corn meal based batter and deep fried or air fried,
perhaps until the batter is crisp on the outside and
fluffy on the inside and the hot dog is hot
all the way through. It's meant to be picked up
(08:20):
by the stick and eaten out of hand, um, and
is sometimes served with sauces or other toppings drizzled over it.
For for dipping. UM. So yeah, it's like a like
a handheld hot dog, Johnny cake. Um, it's a it's
a whole sausage fritteran a stick. It's it's salty and
sweet and crisp and cakey and like springy, chewy and
(08:43):
highly nostalgic for a lot of Americans, I think. But
for something that I might describe as a tiny bit basic,
I'm making enemies. I'm sorry. There is there is a
lot going on here. So let's break. Let's take all
this down. As as I said in our hot dog episode, UM,
(09:05):
A hot dog is a type of sausage made of
a fine ground meat, usually beef or beef and pork,
seasoned with stuff like coriander, mustard, seed, pepper, nutmeg, clove, paprika, garlic, sugar,
and salt. It's usually cured, sometimes smoked UM and then
pre cooked during manufacturing. UM hot dogs used for corn
dogs are usually skinless. That is, they're they're manufactured without
(09:27):
a without a containing membrane, and so they're they're savory
and salty and spiced in a little bit sweet, really tender.
The type of corn meal batter used for corn dogs
is um I've always had a very specific way, which Annie,
like you said, is kind of sweet. Um. But uh,
but I've seen a bunch of different recipes for it.
So it's usually about equal parts of yellow corn meal
(09:48):
and all purpose wheat flour um seasoned with them sugars,
maybe some stuff like powdered onion or chili pepper, leavened
with baking powder and uh made into like a like
a sticky, heavy self rising batter with buttermilk. So it's
a it's basically just like a corn pancake batter. Uh.
The sticks whole different episode. I had to stop myself
(10:13):
from going down a food grade wooden stick rabbit hole,
um as as you do, I suppose, yeah, but uh
so so soft woods like like birch and basswood are
pressed out into sheets and then die cut into the
food grade sticks that are used for stuff like corn
dogs and ice pops um because they're economical and disposable
(10:37):
and more eco friendly and temperature safe than than plastic.
There is a site on on this our internet called
corn dog blog dot com um that contains a diagram
of corn dog anatomy, and it refers to the stick
as the human corn dog interface. I love that. That
(10:58):
sounds like aliens coming to Earth and trying to figure
out how to please subdue the human race. We need
a human corn dog interferes. Yeah yeah, so that's that's
(11:23):
the basic rate anatomy of a corn dog. Um. But
there are all kinds of variations you can use, like
a miniature cocktail sausage in order to make a corn pup. UM.
You can add stuff to the batter, like like cooked
corn or diced hot peppers, or like French fry chunks
or I don't know, like like anything that you want.
(11:44):
You can put bacon in there or wrap it around.
There's infinite variations that people have and will continue to do. UM.
Hot dog multiverse right Oh yeah is is um. And
these were originally like an outdoor festival food, but you
(12:05):
can make them from various levels of scratch at home.
Um if you if you really wanted to make your
own hot dog style sausages, you certainly could um. And
deep frying is a thing that I understand some humans
are not terrified of. UM, not us not us yeah um.
(12:28):
But you can also pretty easily, like you know, like
make the batter and coat some store bought hot dogs
and pan fry them the way that you would fry chicken. Um.
Alton Brown has a pretty good recipe for that. Um.
They're also, as Annie mentioned, sold like pre cooked and
frozen for reheating at home. Yeah yeah, um. One more,
(12:48):
one more quote from corn dog blog dot com. Yes, okay,
corn dogs are like geodes, but younger geologically speak in there,
like the whole Earth, but younger. If only the Earth's
core were sausage and not iron nickel, were fortunate because
we can take a journey to the center of the
corn dog and not die. That's beautiful. It's beautiful. It's
(13:14):
so beautiful. Oh my goodness, I love that so much.
It's a really high quality website. You guys, this makes
you want to I want to sit down and write
so beautiful deep literature food. You should. I think I might. Okay,
(13:40):
but we'll let us know. Oh oh, I'm ready in
the meantime. Why not? The nutrition? Uh, corn dog is
a calorically dense food, especially if you buy them or
make them fresh dipped and deep fried. The batter soaks
up a bunch of oil. Hot dogs are a fatty
type of sausage to begin with. Um, there's a lot
(14:02):
of carbs involved. They do contain a good bit of
protein and as smattering of minerals. Um. So they'll help
fill you up and sort of keep you going. But
like seriously pleased a vegetable sometimes just just any time.
What the corn and corn dog does not count as
that does not count as a vegetable anymore. No, no, um.
(14:27):
But we do have some numbers for you. We do
not too many, but a few a couple. Um. Yeah, alright,
So in corn dogs polled as americans favorite regional type
of hot dog um, with forty of respondents picking this
style of hot dog over New York style at in
(14:49):
Chicago style. And this is Annie is making a very
confused face, and I agree with it. I don't. I've
never considered a corn dog to be a style yole
of hot dog. I'm like, it's a different food at
that juncture, Yeah, I got a lot of confusion. But
apparently as the eighteen to thirty four year old set
(15:10):
Um was like, like, no, corn dogs are my favorite
style hot dog. That's what it is. So dame, if
any of your listeners are among that set, I I
would like to hear from you, because I feel like
the corn dog is really relegated, as we're about to
talk about festivals unless you get them frozen or maybe
(15:36):
at a bar that has a corn dog on the menu.
So I'm just curious about Yeah, to me, there are
a lot less like ubiquitous than other styles of hot dog.
But I don't know. Maybe maybe it's a regional thing.
That's true. And speaking of as of the Pronto Pup
(15:57):
Minnesota Fair franchise, which is the largest Pronto franchise in
the country and the world, Like, there were some caveats
where people are like and probably in the world. I'm
gonna go ahead and say I if it's the biggest
in the US, I strongly suspect me too. Like where
else maybe Canada, but there were some numbers from Canada
(16:21):
they weren't called maybe South Korea. Yes, oh, I can't
wait to talk about that, Okay, But yes, this franchise
in the Minnesota State Fair was heading towards selling the
twenty five million pup Wow. Yes, and this is a
fair that takes place over a twelve day period and
(16:43):
during those days the company goes through twenty four tons
of sausage and one hundred and fifteen tons of batter
and another State Fair and annual six hundred and thirty
thousand corny dogs are old over twenty four days at
Texas State Fair, which we're going to be talking about
(17:04):
more in a minute. Huh um. There are even corn
dog eating contests at some state fairs. UM at the
California State Fair brand Milo frank holds or or perhaps
held I couldn't find more recent numbers for it um
an annual corn dog contest, and I think that the
standing record maybe from when with Molly Skyler eight thirty
(17:28):
three corn dogs in eight minutes. Three. Okay, okay, Annie
just like clutched her pearls, y'all, Like wow, I'm like
I'm torn between impressed and like horrified. Yeah, there's no
(17:49):
judgment involved personally, I ate a lot of cheese for
lunch and like that's I pushed the limit, so all right,
yeah yeah, I will I will say impressive. It was
because she almost doubled the previous record of eighteen corn
dogs in eight minutes. Um. They do hold this competition
(18:11):
over two days. There's a qualifying rounds the first day,
and then the finals, which so delightfully serious. At the
Iowa State Fair in two thousand eight, a world record
was set for the most people simultaneously eating corn dogs.
That was eight thousand, four hundred people. And this sounds
(18:32):
like it was wild. They called it the corn Dog Chomp.
They offered free admission and a free corn dog to
anybody who wanted to come out and participate and who
could show up between five am and eight thirty am.
They were prepared, They were prepared to make eight thousand
corn dogs. They had to like scramble, and they scrambled
and made another four hundred. But y'all, forty two thousand
(18:56):
people showed up. Oh my gosh, I I can't imagine. Like,
you know, you set your alarm four in the morning,
you pop your knuckles, stretch, Yeah, have your coffee, you know,
feed your pets, you know, uh, get your son screen on,
(19:18):
head out of the house. Yes, go eat some corn dogs.
Five Yeah yeah, well yeah it was so so it
was it was like I think that I don't remember
what a clock at which they like they were like
okay and chump um. But but yeah, so like they
they opened the gates at five, and when they did,
there was already a line of cars like down the
(19:38):
interstate of people like waiting to get in people. I
couldn't Okay, I could not independently corroborate that number, but um,
but I believe it. People love corn dogs and they
love any kind of competition. Yeah, you know, yeah, and
I think it was for Guinness and people. People really
(20:00):
get into those, so sure. Yeah. Um. As of as
of twenty nineteen, the Iowa State Fair offered eleven different
styles of corn dog and uh and it was at
that point the fairs best selling food. Um. Also that year,
a local brewer called Court Avenue Brewing Company offered a
corn dog ale that I could find no further information.
(20:24):
It could be a reason reason for that judgment, no judgment.
People were like it tasted kind of smoky. I'm like,
I don't know, I couldn't anyway anyway. Um. Yes, Korean
corn dogs also called hot dogs. Very confusing, but got
(20:44):
it so many coadings. There was a whole new world
for me. Oh yeah yeah. Um. And they and they
put other fillings in them too, like apparently mazzarella and
cheddar are the most popular, like bonus fillings. UM. A
crust of sugar on the outside is a popular like
like topping. UM. Garnishes can include anything from ram and
crumbles to like a squid ink sauce two crushed peanuts.
(21:07):
You can also get them with stuff like right like
a like like bacon or shrimp wrapped around either the
sausage or on the outside of the dough. Yeah. I
really recommend going and looking at menus if you haven't before. Yeah,
because it's so many options. It's glorious, it really is, honestly,
as is the history of the corn dog. Oh it is.
(21:31):
And we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from a quick break. For a
word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes,
thank you. Okay. So the question of who invented the
(21:52):
corn dog is often answered with the mysteries history vibe.
As we said at the top, so many contenders. Again,
Tessa Thompson is the inspiration for this this episode, so
please keep that in mind. Um. There are a few
popular contenders in the mix, though, and one is the
story of the Pronto pup. And yes, I know people
(22:16):
like to argue that Pronto pups don't count as a
corn dog, but the consensus seems to be that it
is indeed a type of corn dog. It's kind of
a square rhombas situation. From what I understand, like, not
every corn dog is a Pronto pup, but a Pronto
pup is a corn dog. Just reporting the facts, Okay, yes, alright,
(22:39):
So the story goes that over Labor Day weekend in
ninety nine and Rockaway, Oregon concession vendor George Boyington was
trying to find a solution after rain had literally rained
on his parade had ruined his hot dog bums. Boyington
was looking for a bit of a new start. He's
spent previous years the Bootlegger smuggling liquor into Michigan, so
(23:02):
he was really really trying to come up with a
way to cook up hot dog buns on demand that
was portable for vendors and customers. This led to him
creating a deep fried solution of dipping hot dogs and batter,
frying them, and serving them on a stick. Because this
whole process took place over a short amount of time,
(23:23):
he called the whole thing Pronto Pup, a name he
and his wife Versa trademarked in nineteen forty two. The
couple started selling Pronto franchises pretty quickly after that, and
franchise Ease would receive some proprietary flour mixed for the batter.
Strict rule to only serve them plain or with mustard,
(23:47):
and that was pretty much all they got um At carnivals.
The Pronto pup was sometimes called a banquet on a stick,
and one of the first slogans for this product was
done in a bun with John spelled do you and yes?
And the whole venture was very successful, very quickly. The
Boyington's son, Baxter, grew up helping the family business and
(24:09):
remembers the family going from barely scraping by to being
able to afford a nice house in Portland. In Boston's
Christian Science Monitor published this quote, if you have never
heard of Pronto pups, prepare yourself. They show signs of
becoming as ubiquitous as tom thumb golf, at least in
(24:31):
the West. A man named G. M. Boyington of Salem,
Oregon invented and patented a special type of domex that
looks like waffle batter. He impales a hot dog on
a stick, dips the dog in the batter, thrust it
for a couple of moments into boiling deep fat, and presto,
you have a Pronto pup and it remains hot for
(24:53):
forty five minutes or more. Hints will probably be seen
on many picnics. Um. Yeah, the scare quotes around hot dog.
That's one of my very favorites. Yes, the Pronto Pup
did make it out a east, of course. Um Jack
(25:13):
Carness of the Merchant Marines opened the first franchise east
of the Rockies. According to his son, he used a
ferris wheel like device so each dog could be cooked
for two minutes and fifteen seconds exactly. In. A Minnesota
businessman named William Breed flew to Chicago to meet up
(25:34):
with Carness and they had this meeting, but Breed ended
up missing it. Um when he'd seen the line outside
of Carness's Pronto Pup restaurant, he got in eager to
see what the fuss is about and wondering if he
could capitalize on it. So he's like, forget this meeting,
what's this line about? And when the moment finally came,
(25:56):
Breed loved the Pronto Pup and wasted no time and
asking Carnas if he'd go in with him if they
were able to secure spots at the Minnesota State Fair.
But Carnas wasn't into the idea. He'd gotten several offers
that were similar to that that didn't seem well thought out.
He was like, you know, you're just into this right now,
(26:17):
but do you have a business plan. But Breed was undeterred.
He went back to Minnesota and secured six concession spots
for the Toronto Pup at the fair. With this done,
he flew back to Chicago, got back in line at
Carnass's restaurant, and tried again offered it to him again.
(26:38):
Carnass's wife, in particular, was hesitant. She allegedly asked where
even is Minnesota and did not relent until Breed offered
to match Carnass's restaurant earnings for one year. Yes, the
Pronto pup debut at the Minnesota Fair, and this was
(26:59):
a big year for the fair because it had been
canceled in nineteen forty five because of World War Two
and in nineteen forty six because of polio. The Carnas
has sold one hundred and six thousand Pronto pups that year,
and they've been a staple at the fair ever since.
The business has stayed in the Carnas family. Now, despite
(27:19):
the fact that Pronto Pups are officially advertised by the
company at Minnesota State Fair as America's original corn dogs.
The president of Pronto Pups hates to even say the
word core dog, and the owner of the Pronto Pup
franchise at the fair calls it the c D word wow,
(27:40):
which I read was a point of pride, like they're
just we're our own things like no, like we are.
We are a brand unto ourselves. Do not confuse us
with those other things that call themselves corn dogs or
CD words. I suppose we're not like those other corn dos. Yeah. Also,
(28:00):
of note, the no ketchup rule wasn't relaxed for several decades.
Now you can get catchup, but not the case for
many years. Um. But okay, let's look at another Okay. Yes,
Around the same time that Pronto Pup was taking off,
the flesher brothers out of Texas were also entering the
(28:23):
corn dog game. The brothers, who were actors, were working
on coming up with a batter that wasn't too thick
or slippery to coat sausage our hot dogs in, and
after several experiments, they finally arrived at the recipe or
sip that hasn't really changed since they arrived at it
and is now kept in a locked safe. Um. They
(28:45):
introduced their product at the Texas State Fairgrounds that same year,
calling it a corny dog, which I know, Like, to me,
I've never heard that term, but two people from Texas,
that's like, that's an every day it's called a corny dog. Yeah, yeah,
to me it sounds funny. But yes, but we're not
(29:06):
making fun just new to our Yes. Yes, Um. While
There's is arguably the most well known in the state,
I would say yes, it is the most well known state.
A few years earlier, in nineteen forty, a corn dog
with mysterious origins was hugely popular. Here's the quote from
(29:29):
the Monroe News Star that year. It is destined to
be one of the fastest selling sandwiches ever introduced, said
Mr Sam C. Brown. Proof of its fine ingredients and
flavorful combination is found in the fact that in New
Orleans more than seventy corn dog sandwiches were sold in
a period of three weeks. Uh huh. And in nineteen
(29:53):
thirty nine, Alice Hughes wrote in a piece called a
Woman's New York and she was describing a visit to
a friend in da US and she wrote one of
their hometown delicacies the corn dog, which is a Frankfurter
baked in corn bread. So now I shall have another
excuse to pay them a visit in Texas. So corn
(30:13):
dogs have been around in Texas before the Fletcher brothers
came along, but they definitely are the big name. Yeah. Yeah,
helped popularize for sure. Yes, and corny dogs have stayed
in the Fletcher family, but not without difficulties. When the
original Fletcher brothers died in the nineteen eighties, the business
was taken over by their two sons, who ran the
(30:34):
business the same way that their fathers had. In two
thousand eight, then twenty one year old Amber Fletcher, who
at that time was sometimes called the Corny Dog Heiress,
was kidnapped. Yeah. She called her mother and informed her
that her captors were demanding one thousand dollars in ransom
(30:55):
or that they'd kill her. All sorts of law enforcement
got involved, including the Texas Rangers in the FBI. Like
just a bunch um, they were eventually able to recover
Amber Fletcher unharmed. Essentially, they like arranged a drop and
then we're watching the drop and call the guy and yeah,
I know. Then in twenty nineteen, Jason Fletcher Christiansen uh
(31:19):
started a legal battle when she declared she was planning
to open a pop up called Fletch, and this led
to Fletcher's original State Fair Corny Dogs to file a
lawsuit to the United States District Court over trademark protection,
kicking off a legal battle and a family feud because yes,
Fletcher Christiansen is a member of this family. Um. Christiansen
(31:42):
opened her restaurant anyway, covering any instance of Fletch on
the menu with tape and calling it the Restaurant with
No Name. Wow. Wow. Yeah. The judge ultimately ruled and
Fletcher's original State Fair Corny Dogs favor. I'm awful it
(32:03):
is um Okay, But all right, there's yet another story.
Let us explore the tale of the Cozy Dog. Uh. So.
In one Ed Waldmeyer was talking to a friend of
his in college, Don Strand, and he was talking about
this unusual sandwich that he had encountered out in Oklahoma, UM,
(32:27):
which was composed of a hot dog baked in corn
bread and so uh. The story goes that wald Meyer
had liked this product but thought it took too long
to cook and then they both graduated. They both moved on.
Five years later, to his complete surprise, wald Meyer was
contacted by Strand, and Strand was like, Hey, remember that
(32:48):
unusual sandwich. Well, I developed this cornbread mix so that
you can just dip a hot dog in it and
then French fry it. Do you want me to send
you some of this mix? And wald Meyer was like yes.
Waldmeyer was in the Air Force at the time, and
so using the USO kitchen, he developed what he called
a Krusty kerr which was a corn dog. UM. After
(33:12):
being honorably discharged that year UM and accepting the fact
that his wife hated the name Krusty Kerr UM, Waldemeyer
and his family launched the brand Cozy Dogs in Illinois
and it is still a family business. UM. They've had
several locations over the years. There's still a drive in
(33:33):
location in Springfield, Illinois. Oh, I love that unusual sandwiches
scountered uh, and I did see that when I was
researching there was you probably ran across this team, but
there was an article about lamenting Chicago and specifically where
have all the corn dogs called? Yeah, okay, let's step
(34:00):
back to another contender. The crusty corn dog spelled with
the K yes. I was like, is this Simpsons related
unless time travel is really who? In an advertisement and
a wholesale catalog for the crusty corn sausage dog pan
(34:24):
red a big money maker for use on gas gasoline
oral are coal stoves, crusty corn dogs are novel and delicious.
The hot dog is baked inside the corn batter, which
as it bakes, molds itself to resemble an ear of
corn um. So a bit different than what we think
of today, but pretty close. A few years previously, yeah,
(34:48):
in Francis Mattson was working on a way to wrap
meat and bread, and he filed a patent for a
quote method of producing a food product that read, in part,
having the enclosing casing of baked batter of such a
character that the same will not be injuriously affected by
the grease from the cooked sausash. I love patent language.
(35:11):
I it's fantastic, But again, you know, pretty close, but
still a baked product without a stick, so not quite
yeah yeah, which brings us to another contender, Stanley as
Jenkins out of Buffalo, New York. He successfully acquired a
(35:33):
patent for an American staple fried food on a stick.
In the patent he Wroote, I have discovered that articles
of food such for instance as wieners, boiled ham, hard bullet, eggs, cheese,
sliced peaches, pineapples, banana, and like fruit and cherries, dates, fig, strawberries,
et cetera, wind and paled on sticks and dipped in
(35:54):
a batter which includes in its ingredients of self rising
flour and then deep fried in a vegetable oil at
a temperature of around degrees fahrenheit. The result of food
product on a stick for a handle is a clean,
wholesome and tasty refreshment. There are sweet food items on
there that I'm like, right, I'm like, I have never
(36:17):
had a deep fried fig on a stick, and now
I'm mad about it. Hard for old eggs, pineapple. I
just American ingenuity. But yeah, so stories do abound about
who came up with the corn dog, which is it's
(36:41):
lovely that so many people are like, yeah, no, I
and I and I appreciate I appreciate anything that was
just clearly like a like a Zeitgeist kind of situation
where like America just as a whole came together sometime
and what is that like the late twenties to the
early forties, and was like, let us coat this hot
dog in vaguely corn meally batter, and let's deep fry it.
(37:06):
What could go wrong? It will be perfect? You know
what we should come back and do. Because we've touched
on this in several episodes, but we've never really dealt
into it. But like state Fair the foods that arose
from that kind of thing, because it sounds like this
was a very state Fair food, and we talked about
candy corn, which is also kind of that way. Yes, alright,
(37:33):
future episode. The Korean hot dog slush corn dog because
it is kind of confusing the terminology that's used, but
I think in our American parlance we would call it
a corn dog. First started appearing as a popular street
food in the nineteen eighties. Yeah, um and the version
that's battered that that includes chunks of French fries and
(37:54):
the batter dates from the nineties, so this is not
a new thing. During particularly the economic downturn of the
mid to late teens, a lot of startups of these
Korean hot dogs corn dogs, um and and a bunch
of sales were just skyrocketing. Yes, and as Korean culture
and cuisine has become more popular United States, some Korean
(38:16):
restaurants and chains have introduced this product to the US
at large. There's been a lot of recent write ups
and reviews of restaurants offering them. I saw a bunch
when I did a quick search. Yeah, really recent. Oh
have you tried this place in l A or New
York or d c um people people into them. Yeah, yeah,
(38:37):
it's all I mean, it's one of those like very
instagrammable kind of kind of foods. So definitely um uh
in uh. In twenty nineteen, this piece published on eater
and and forgive me I didn't I didn't take note
of the author's name, but it was arguing that the
consumption of corn dogs at state fairs has become political,
(38:57):
specifically for for candidates who are running or office for
for specifically for president. Um because the eating of corn
dogs is seen as like as like humble and joyful
and relatable. Um so uh So that year nineteen, at
the Iowa State Fair, like most of the Democratic nominee
hopefuls either eight one or we're photographed holding one. Apparently
(39:24):
Hillary did not eat hers, but was seen carrying the
uneaten corn dog back into her van. Um. But yeah,
back back in back in two thousand three, they point out, Um,
when John Kerry was was running Um, he he was
(39:46):
at the Iowa State Fair and he was photographed ordering
a strawberry smoothie. And upon upon getting wind of this,
one of his campaign operatives by the name of Robert
Gibbs reportedly called a staff member on site and said,
somebody get a fucking corn dog in his hand. Now
(40:08):
this was after Carry had already like ordered Swiss cheese
on a philly instead of cheese. Was so like, there
was already, there's already something like, oh what a food
snob like, And so we ordered the smoothie and yeah,
Gibbs was like, no, no, sir. Carry did shape up
and and have a corn dog at the Minnesota State
Fair the following year. So probably didn't want to cause
(40:31):
another Robert Gibbs break. Now she's s I would never
make it as a politician. Oh no, it's way too stressful,
very stressful. I can't just drink my smoothie okay. Um oh,
speaking of stress. Recently, there have been arguments about whether
(40:55):
a corn dog is a popsicle or a sandwich because,
of course, of course there half I think it's a
lollipop sandwich. Oh, I mean that makes sense. I mean
a popsicle is cold. Mm hmm gotta okay, this is
this is I believe. Actually I was. I was reading
(41:15):
about this. There was an article in Mel magazine that
came out and our buddy Julius Skinner was cited as
being I know right, as being like, well, it's not cold,
so it's clearly not a popsicle. She was talking about
corn dogs. Yeah, during this whole corn dog sandwich versus
popsicle debate. Oh well, I have to reach out to
(41:36):
her and get her expert opinion. Yeah. Mel Magazine was like,
noted food historian Julius Skinner said this thing on Twitter,
and I was like, yeah, she did. Cheez, She's awesome.
Um okay. Also recently, Disneyland caused a food stir when
it introduced the Pickle dollar um, a hot dog on
(42:02):
a stick in cased by a hauled up pickle, coated
in a corn meal batter and crusted with panco, deep fried,
and served with the peanut butter dip. People are deeply
divided over it. They are oh my goodness. They are.
Corn dogs in general are very popular item at Disneyland,
and I read reviews of people who tried it, and
(42:23):
it seemed to be the ones I read it seemed
to be generally positive. They thought the panco was a
little bit over overboard, people were mixing peanut butter. Some
people loved it, some people really didn't like it, but
some people really digged it. Um not very farm Also
in California, near near Disneyland offered something similar in called
(42:44):
the Dilly Dilly Dog. I mean I can see it
being good. I mean, you know, like like a chopped
pickle relish is a good hot dog topping. Um, you know,
I feel like at the point that you're adding extra salt,
like you're not really hurting anything. Honestly, the pickles sounds nice. Yeah,
(43:04):
it's like the other stuff. I'm a little but yeah,
the part sounds good to me. Yeah, I'm like, is
the pankoa gonna like cut up the inside of my mouth?
Is the because peanut butter and pickles is pretty good
in a weird way, but with the hot dog? H yeah,
I say maybe one day we'll get our food stuff reviews.
(43:29):
Oh goodness, yes, yes, um and uh this is this
is not technically a news item. But but just this
year The Onion, which is still satire um, published a
piece celebrating new research that that reveals that modern corn
dogs are the descendants of ancient aquatic sausages taxonomical name
(43:52):
but tell us rat worstis UM. There's a quote from
one of the lead researchers on this paper that this
article is talking about. UM. She's quoted as saying living
in such a competitive environment likely drove the ancient sausage
to adapt to land where resources like ketchups and mustards
were far more abundant. Though the modern corn dog has
since shed its casing and developed a thick, deep fried
(44:14):
coat of batter, it still contains approximately six ground pork.
I love stuff like this. I love the kind of
scientific speculation and language around something that is quite silly. Yeah, honestly,
it lends itself very well to parody. UM. Oh wow,
(44:37):
and we have gone on quite a journey in this
corn dog episode. I really want to hear from international
listeners if this is a thing anywhere else. I mean
obviously Korea, but like you gotta let us know, Yeah,
like have you have? Is this the first time you've
(44:58):
heard of this, are you like, does that sound disgusting?
Like I mean like like let me, yeah, tell tell us,
tell us please. And speaking of we do have some
listener mail for you. We do, but first we got
one more quick break for a word from our sponsor
(45:23):
and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, and
we're back with Carrol deep Frog. Okay, okay. I was like,
is this an exploding zombie? Like? What's happening? Also because
(45:43):
I have been playing a lot of the Last of
Us as Laura knows, because it a mini freak out earlier,
because she made a sound that reminded me of sorry,
I'll try not to never again again, Lauren, my heart
my art would just something I usually shot when I
played those games. They're very sad um, but this is
(46:07):
something very happy. Hannah wrote back at the beginning of
the pandemic, my friend Aaron and I started listening through
all of the Red Wall audio books by Brian Jacques
are Jake. We tried to look it up and we
got multiple different pronunciations. So Hannah, you probably know you
can you can write in and let us know. Um,
(46:30):
but continued, they are charming, uplifting, in a time of crisis,
and the audio books especially are utterly delightful. They are
narrated by the author in a strong Scouse accent, with
the character's voiced by a small recurring cast of voice actors,
including his son. The songs, of which there many, are
actually set to music and sung by the cast with
(46:51):
instrumental accompaniment, unlike the sad, spoken renditions you often get
so much. For why the audio books are delightful, you
are a food show. And the important thing that anyone
who has ever read a Red Wall book knows is
they are the ultimate food porn. I believe Brian Jacques
said that when he was going through World War two
(47:14):
rashing as a child, reading his grandmother's Victorian Eric cookbooks
kept him going. I can't find the actual quote right now,
so I guess don't take my word for that, And
that love of food carries through into the books, which
always include at least one massive, yet homey feast served
up at red Wall Abbey. Jacques started working on the
books while working at a school for blind children, and
(47:36):
descriptions in the book are always vivid and grounded deeply
in all the senses, to help bring those children into
the story the food of Redwall, all producing the abbey
grounds or forage from moss flower wood would be a
delightful topic for a fictional foods episode. By the time
Aaron and I reached the end of the series, it was,
and we were able to get together and cook a
(47:57):
giant Red Wall feast of our to celebrate Midsummer. We
served several English cheeses, oatcakes with honey cheese and celery scones,
carrot and mushroom turnovers, summer salad, shrimp and hotroot soup,
beloved of otters at Red Ball, the Mole Specialty, Deeper
and Ever turn Up, and tater and beat root pie.
(48:21):
The divins is Red Wall youngsters favorite candy chestnuts, strawberry
cake with clotted cream, and wash it all down with
mint tea and strawberry fizz. It was one of the
happiest meals I've ever enjoyed. Needless to say, if you
need a consultant on that fictional foods episode, I'm slightly obsessed.
If you ever need to be reminded that good can
(48:42):
triumph over evil, you can't go wrong with a Red
Wall book. Oh that's so beautiful and lovely. Oh inhandent
pictures and it all looks amazing. I loved these books
as a kid. Oh yeah, I've never read any of them.
Oh yeah, I loved um for some reason. The one
that stands out is there's one of like a mouse
(49:04):
on top of a motorcycle and a leather sacket, And
as a kid, I was like, I needed to read
this book. But yeah, that just sounds so lovely. It
sounds so kind of like what we were talking about
in several past Fictional Foods episodes. We've talked about that
of kind of this like homeliness, like Narnia is coming
(49:26):
to a mind of what you can find and having
that really it being such a comforting meal. And I
can see how during the pandemic like listening to that
and then making that so comforting and just lovely it is.
Oh and that sounds that sounds really nice. Um. I
(49:47):
want one of each of all of those things immediately.
Um goodness, Ashley wrote, Um, I loved your recent Tater
Tot episode. It was a lot of fun to listen to.
Every morning, I do a drive through coffee around with
my dogs and they get pappuccinos sometimes called pup cups
and more often than not because of how much the
baristas love my dogs. They garnish the pappuccinos with tater tots, bacon,
(50:12):
and a dog treat. Today, August is my dog Hanks
got you anniversary and was incredibly happy to get a
pappuccino with the works. I mean, I wippy to heck
right and on on top of a cup of whipped cream.
I would eat that, Honestly, I would do. And I
(50:34):
don't want to feel about that. I feel like I
need to consider something. It's adventurous, you're having fun, you're
living living life to the fullest. You're right, I do
have ripped cream now. As I said earlier, my birthdays out,
(50:58):
perhaps it's time for thing to be adventurous, to follow
in Hanks with steps. Oh goodness. Well, thanks to both
of those listeners for writing to us. If you would
like to write to us, you can or email us
hello at savorpod dot com. We're also on social media.
You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at
(51:21):
savor pod, and we do hope to hear from you.
Savor is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts
my heart Radio, you can visit the I Heart Radio
app Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard, with special thanks this week to j. J. Pasway.
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots
more good things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to Savor Protection of I Heart Radio.
I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Bogglebaum, and today we
have an episode for you about corn dogs, and it's
a fun one. It is. This one gets wacky and
uh you know, I feel like we've We've got a
lot of competing origin stories and a lot of these
but wof I love how many people are scrambling so
(00:35):
fiercely to claim the corn dog. You should there's no
judge on my part. Yeah, I mean, but but like,
but like, not since the Sunday have we had such
fierce competition. Yes, yes, you are correct. We have a
lot of contenders in this one. Which is a phrase
I'm going to use a lot. And also every time
(00:57):
I use it, I think of the word Ragnarok. So
just put that in her mind. When Tessa Thompson says
he's a contender, That's what I mean. That's what I'm
going for every time. Yes, exactly, love it. Um. I
I'm not really into corn dogs. I can't even remember
(01:19):
the last time I had one. Uh My mom did
by the Frozen Kind one time, and that's like my
most recent memory in that one time, like in middle school. Yeah,
but I do have a friend who was going through
a huge corn dog kick. Um. She says it's mostly
(01:41):
because she wants to have a vessel to transport mustard
and catch up to her mouth, which I know some
of you will judge, but no, I'm I'm into that. Yeah,
I think the catchup part which we're going to go into, yes,
but it seems like a very very joyous thing for her.
(02:02):
So it makes me really happy every time I hear
like say like, oh, for lunch, I had this turkey
corn dog, and like, oh, I'm glad. Yeah, yeah, I
don't to be To be honest, y'all, I don't really
understand corn dogs. I'm like, You've got a perfectly good
hot dog and a perfectly good like Johnny Cake pancake mix,
and then you ruin them by putting them together. Why
(02:24):
would you do that? They're they're fine, they're doing fine.
They didn't need your intervention. Um. I'm like, I'm I'm
I'm going to be unpopular this episode. I can already.
I can, like like a million keyboards. We're being tacked
out with hate mail, um, and then more suddenly silenced.
(02:49):
I feel like we've done this a lot recently where
the is kind of an Americana food with like tater
tots also which we didn't we just were not super
fans of um. And now again with corn dogs, people
are people who love them, love them. Oh yeah yeah
(03:09):
uh we We also asked a super producer JJ who
is helping us out this week, and he says that
he is like kind of corn dog agnostic um and
so you know, I mean, but but that's only a
quorum of three. If you like him, I'm happy for you.
Like like Annie's friend go for it. Um. A bunch
of Atlanta restaurants have them on the menu, like kind
(03:30):
of as like an upscale uh bar food nostalgia throwback
sort of thing. Um. We were just talking before we
started recording about Pelucaville, which was an Atlanta restaurant kind
of famous for him for a minute. Uh you know,
it makes me happy to see him on menus. But
I will never, unto myself, order them. Yeah, I'm not
(03:50):
sure I will either, although um, researching this episode, I
will say, I think and I'm gonna make now I'm
gonna make enemies think. As I've said even in the
tear Toks episode, I think I have a thing about
like old oil where I can it's not a thing
that I like. But I also when I think of
(04:11):
corn dogs, I think of a sweetness. But apparently that's
not the case a lot of times, but in some
specific cases it is. So I'm wondering if I had
one that didn't have that sweetness, I would be more
into it. Maybe you have a lot of tasting things
that were we've built up. We've got the root beer waiting.
(04:33):
I still have the dairy and ice cream years ago. Yes,
I'm sure it's still good, Lord positive it is. Uh heck, um,
didn't we didn't we have a corn dog at the
at the rent Fast though, when we went and had
a bunch of fried foods at the rent Fast. Okay,
So for listeners who don't remember that, this is back
(04:56):
when we had a video series as food Stuff. One
time we got to go to the rent Fest and
we recorded a video on mead that was great, um,
and then we did one on they just brought us
all these foods on sticks, so it was it was
(05:17):
glorious and horrifying. It was just like all of the ridiculous,
over the top fair food that you can get at
a rent Fest. And this was at Georgia Renaissance Festival specifically, UM,
and we were just like, what have we gotten ourselves into? UM?
This was also what like pen thirty am, UM justin
over at Monk's Mead UM, which just opened a new
(05:40):
bar location in the Highlands for anyone else in Atlanta.
UM had had kindly brought us samplers. And by samplers,
I mean full bottles. Different rush in movies where they
opened the like like Jurassic Park when all the fog
(06:01):
comes out and there's just bottles, or like Mary Poppins
bag like he like he just kept pulling bottles out
and I was like, it's nine thirty in the morning
and I have not had breakfast. It was delightful. UM.
I don't know if the video is still online anywhere,
but if it is, I don't know, UM Google like
(06:23):
like food stuff mead, yeah, or honey because it was
part of our honey right, thank you, thank you. I
forgot why we were even there. The meat and the
food on sticks, you know, gets in your head especially.
I think we were done by like noon, oh easily, easily. Yeah,
(06:48):
that was a day. It was. It was quite a day. UM.
Speaking of days, every year. The first Saturday of the
NBA's March Madness is National corn Dog Day. Um. I
think that's a generally The third Saturday of March. Um,
National corn Dog Day also does celebrate tater tots and beer.
(07:11):
Oh wow. Okay, so there's a kind of connection between
tater tots and corn dogs. Oh. I would say spiritually certainly, um,
but but literally also yeah, uh yeah, we've previously done
an episode on hot dogs. Um, that was the July
(07:32):
four food Stuff Gets Frank about hot dogs. Yeah, um
maybe uh uh maybe see that. Maybe see our corn
bread episode from January of this year if you want
to options option scalore as there are with corn dogs,
which I guess question corn dogs, what are they? Well?
(08:00):
A corn dog is a hot dog that has been
speared through lengthwise on a stick, then dipped into a
thick corn meal based batter and deep fried or air fried,
perhaps until the batter is crisp on the outside and
fluffy on the inside and the hot dog is hot
all the way through. It's meant to be picked up
(08:20):
by the stick and eaten out of hand, um, and
is sometimes served with sauces or other toppings drizzled over it.
For for dipping. UM. So yeah, it's like a like
a handheld hot dog, Johnny cake. Um, it's a it's
a whole sausage fritteran a stick. It's it's salty and
sweet and crisp and cakey and like springy, chewy and
(08:43):
highly nostalgic for a lot of Americans, I think. But
for something that I might describe as a tiny bit basic,
I'm making enemies. I'm sorry. There is there is a
lot going on here. So let's break. Let's take all
this down. As as I said in our hot dog episode, UM,
(09:05):
A hot dog is a type of sausage made of
a fine ground meat, usually beef or beef and pork,
seasoned with stuff like coriander, mustard, seed, pepper, nutmeg, clove, paprika, garlic, sugar,
and salt. It's usually cured, sometimes smoked UM and then
pre cooked during manufacturing. UM hot dogs used for corn
dogs are usually skinless. That is, they're they're manufactured without
(09:27):
a without a containing membrane, and so they're they're savory
and salty and spiced in a little bit sweet, really tender.
The type of corn meal batter used for corn dogs
is um I've always had a very specific way, which Annie,
like you said, is kind of sweet. Um. But uh,
but I've seen a bunch of different recipes for it.
So it's usually about equal parts of yellow corn meal
(09:48):
and all purpose wheat flour um seasoned with them sugars,
maybe some stuff like powdered onion or chili pepper, leavened
with baking powder and uh made into like a like
a sticky, heavy self rising batter with buttermilk. So it's
a it's basically just like a corn pancake batter. Uh.
The sticks whole different episode. I had to stop myself
(10:13):
from going down a food grade wooden stick rabbit hole,
um as as you do, I suppose, yeah, but uh
so so soft woods like like birch and basswood are
pressed out into sheets and then die cut into the
food grade sticks that are used for stuff like corn
dogs and ice pops um because they're economical and disposable
(10:37):
and more eco friendly and temperature safe than than plastic.
There is a site on on this our internet called
corn dog blog dot com um that contains a diagram
of corn dog anatomy, and it refers to the stick
as the human corn dog interface. I love that. That
(10:58):
sounds like aliens coming to Earth and trying to figure
out how to please subdue the human race. We need
a human corn dog interferes. Yeah yeah, so that's that's
(11:23):
the basic rate anatomy of a corn dog. Um. But
there are all kinds of variations you can use, like
a miniature cocktail sausage in order to make a corn pup. UM.
You can add stuff to the batter, like like cooked
corn or diced hot peppers, or like French fry chunks
or I don't know, like like anything that you want.
(11:44):
You can put bacon in there or wrap it around.
There's infinite variations that people have and will continue to do. UM.
Hot dog multiverse right Oh yeah is is um. And
these were originally like an outdoor festival food, but you
(12:05):
can make them from various levels of scratch at home.
Um if you if you really wanted to make your
own hot dog style sausages, you certainly could um. And
deep frying is a thing that I understand some humans
are not terrified of. UM, not us not us yeah um.
(12:28):
But you can also pretty easily, like you know, like
make the batter and coat some store bought hot dogs
and pan fry them the way that you would fry chicken. Um.
Alton Brown has a pretty good recipe for that. Um.
They're also, as Annie mentioned, sold like pre cooked and
frozen for reheating at home. Yeah yeah, um. One more,
(12:48):
one more quote from corn dog blog dot com. Yes, okay,
corn dogs are like geodes, but younger geologically speak in there,
like the whole Earth, but younger. If only the Earth's
core were sausage and not iron nickel, were fortunate because
we can take a journey to the center of the
corn dog and not die. That's beautiful. It's beautiful. It's
(13:14):
so beautiful. Oh my goodness, I love that so much.
It's a really high quality website. You guys, this makes
you want to I want to sit down and write
so beautiful deep literature food. You should. I think I might. Okay,
(13:40):
but we'll let us know. Oh oh, I'm ready in
the meantime. Why not? The nutrition? Uh, corn dog is
a calorically dense food, especially if you buy them or
make them fresh dipped and deep fried. The batter soaks
up a bunch of oil. Hot dogs are a fatty
type of sausage to begin with. Um, there's a lot
(14:02):
of carbs involved. They do contain a good bit of
protein and as smattering of minerals. Um. So they'll help
fill you up and sort of keep you going. But
like seriously pleased a vegetable sometimes just just any time.
What the corn and corn dog does not count as
that does not count as a vegetable anymore. No, no, um.
(14:27):
But we do have some numbers for you. We do
not too many, but a few a couple. Um. Yeah, alright,
So in corn dogs polled as americans favorite regional type
of hot dog um, with forty of respondents picking this
style of hot dog over New York style at in
(14:49):
Chicago style. And this is Annie is making a very
confused face, and I agree with it. I don't. I've
never considered a corn dog to be a style yole
of hot dog. I'm like, it's a different food at
that juncture, Yeah, I got a lot of confusion. But
apparently as the eighteen to thirty four year old set
(15:10):
Um was like, like, no, corn dogs are my favorite
style hot dog. That's what it is. So dame, if
any of your listeners are among that set, I I
would like to hear from you, because I feel like
the corn dog is really relegated, as we're about to
talk about festivals unless you get them frozen or maybe
(15:36):
at a bar that has a corn dog on the menu.
So I'm just curious about Yeah, to me, there are
a lot less like ubiquitous than other styles of hot dog.
But I don't know. Maybe maybe it's a regional thing.
That's true. And speaking of as of the Pronto Pup
(15:57):
Minnesota Fair franchise, which is the largest Pronto franchise in
the country and the world, Like, there were some caveats
where people are like and probably in the world. I'm
gonna go ahead and say I if it's the biggest
in the US, I strongly suspect me too. Like where
else maybe Canada, but there were some numbers from Canada
(16:21):
they weren't called maybe South Korea. Yes, oh, I can't
wait to talk about that, Okay, But yes, this franchise
in the Minnesota State Fair was heading towards selling the
twenty five million pup Wow. Yes, and this is a
fair that takes place over a twelve day period and
(16:43):
during those days the company goes through twenty four tons
of sausage and one hundred and fifteen tons of batter
and another State Fair and annual six hundred and thirty
thousand corny dogs are old over twenty four days at
Texas State Fair, which we're going to be talking about
(17:04):
more in a minute. Huh um. There are even corn
dog eating contests at some state fairs. UM at the
California State Fair brand Milo frank holds or or perhaps
held I couldn't find more recent numbers for it um
an annual corn dog contest, and I think that the
standing record maybe from when with Molly Skyler eight thirty
(17:28):
three corn dogs in eight minutes. Three. Okay, okay, Annie
just like clutched her pearls, y'all, Like wow, I'm like
I'm torn between impressed and like horrified. Yeah, there's no
(17:49):
judgment involved personally, I ate a lot of cheese for
lunch and like that's I pushed the limit, so all right,
yeah yeah, I will I will say impressive. It was
because she almost doubled the previous record of eighteen corn
dogs in eight minutes. Um. They do hold this competition
(18:11):
over two days. There's a qualifying rounds the first day,
and then the finals, which so delightfully serious. At the
Iowa State Fair in two thousand eight, a world record
was set for the most people simultaneously eating corn dogs.
That was eight thousand, four hundred people. And this sounds
(18:32):
like it was wild. They called it the corn Dog Chomp.
They offered free admission and a free corn dog to
anybody who wanted to come out and participate and who
could show up between five am and eight thirty am.
They were prepared, They were prepared to make eight thousand
corn dogs. They had to like scramble, and they scrambled
and made another four hundred. But y'all, forty two thousand
(18:56):
people showed up. Oh my gosh, I I can't imagine. Like,
you know, you set your alarm four in the morning,
you pop your knuckles, stretch, Yeah, have your coffee, you know,
feed your pets, you know, uh, get your son screen on,
(19:18):
head out of the house. Yes, go eat some corn dogs.
Five Yeah yeah, well yeah it was so so it
was it was like I think that I don't remember
what a clock at which they like they were like
okay and chump um. But but yeah, so like they
they opened the gates at five, and when they did,
there was already a line of cars like down the
(19:38):
interstate of people like waiting to get in people. I
couldn't Okay, I could not independently corroborate that number, but um,
but I believe it. People love corn dogs and they
love any kind of competition. Yeah, you know, yeah, and
I think it was for Guinness and people. People really
(20:00):
get into those, so sure. Yeah. Um. As of as
of twenty nineteen, the Iowa State Fair offered eleven different
styles of corn dog and uh and it was at
that point the fairs best selling food. Um. Also that year,
a local brewer called Court Avenue Brewing Company offered a
corn dog ale that I could find no further information.
(20:24):
It could be a reason reason for that judgment, no judgment.
People were like it tasted kind of smoky. I'm like,
I don't know, I couldn't anyway anyway. Um. Yes, Korean
corn dogs also called hot dogs. Very confusing, but got
(20:44):
it so many coadings. There was a whole new world
for me. Oh yeah yeah. Um. And they and they
put other fillings in them too, like apparently mazzarella and
cheddar are the most popular, like bonus fillings. UM. A
crust of sugar on the outside is a popular like
like topping. UM. Garnishes can include anything from ram and
crumbles to like a squid ink sauce two crushed peanuts.
(21:07):
You can also get them with stuff like right like
a like like bacon or shrimp wrapped around either the
sausage or on the outside of the dough. Yeah. I
really recommend going and looking at menus if you haven't before. Yeah,
because it's so many options. It's glorious, it really is, honestly,
as is the history of the corn dog. Oh it is.
(21:31):
And we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from a quick break. For a
word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes,
thank you. Okay. So the question of who invented the
(21:52):
corn dog is often answered with the mysteries history vibe.
As we said at the top, so many contenders. Again,
Tessa Thompson is the inspiration for this this episode, so
please keep that in mind. Um. There are a few
popular contenders in the mix, though, and one is the
story of the Pronto pup. And yes, I know people
(22:16):
like to argue that Pronto pups don't count as a
corn dog, but the consensus seems to be that it
is indeed a type of corn dog. It's kind of
a square rhombas situation. From what I understand, like, not
every corn dog is a Pronto pup, but a Pronto
pup is a corn dog. Just reporting the facts, Okay, yes, alright,
(22:39):
So the story goes that over Labor Day weekend in
ninety nine and Rockaway, Oregon concession vendor George Boyington was
trying to find a solution after rain had literally rained
on his parade had ruined his hot dog bums. Boyington
was looking for a bit of a new start. He's
spent previous years the Bootlegger smuggling liquor into Michigan, so
(23:02):
he was really really trying to come up with a
way to cook up hot dog buns on demand that
was portable for vendors and customers. This led to him
creating a deep fried solution of dipping hot dogs and batter,
frying them, and serving them on a stick. Because this
whole process took place over a short amount of time,
(23:23):
he called the whole thing Pronto Pup, a name he
and his wife Versa trademarked in nineteen forty two. The
couple started selling Pronto franchises pretty quickly after that, and
franchise Ease would receive some proprietary flour mixed for the batter.
Strict rule to only serve them plain or with mustard,
(23:47):
and that was pretty much all they got um At carnivals.
The Pronto pup was sometimes called a banquet on a stick,
and one of the first slogans for this product was
done in a bun with John spelled do you and yes?
And the whole venture was very successful, very quickly. The
Boyington's son, Baxter, grew up helping the family business and
(24:09):
remembers the family going from barely scraping by to being
able to afford a nice house in Portland. In Boston's
Christian Science Monitor published this quote, if you have never
heard of Pronto pups, prepare yourself. They show signs of
becoming as ubiquitous as tom thumb golf, at least in
(24:31):
the West. A man named G. M. Boyington of Salem,
Oregon invented and patented a special type of domex that
looks like waffle batter. He impales a hot dog on
a stick, dips the dog in the batter, thrust it
for a couple of moments into boiling deep fat, and presto,
you have a Pronto pup and it remains hot for
(24:53):
forty five minutes or more. Hints will probably be seen
on many picnics. Um. Yeah, the scare quotes around hot dog.
That's one of my very favorites. Yes, the Pronto Pup
did make it out a east, of course. Um Jack
(25:13):
Carness of the Merchant Marines opened the first franchise east
of the Rockies. According to his son, he used a
ferris wheel like device so each dog could be cooked
for two minutes and fifteen seconds exactly. In. A Minnesota
businessman named William Breed flew to Chicago to meet up
(25:34):
with Carness and they had this meeting, but Breed ended
up missing it. Um when he'd seen the line outside
of Carness's Pronto Pup restaurant, he got in eager to
see what the fuss is about and wondering if he
could capitalize on it. So he's like, forget this meeting,
what's this line about? And when the moment finally came,
(25:56):
Breed loved the Pronto Pup and wasted no time and
asking Carnas if he'd go in with him if they
were able to secure spots at the Minnesota State Fair.
But Carnas wasn't into the idea. He'd gotten several offers
that were similar to that that didn't seem well thought out.
He was like, you know, you're just into this right now,
(26:17):
but do you have a business plan. But Breed was undeterred.
He went back to Minnesota and secured six concession spots
for the Toronto Pup at the fair. With this done,
he flew back to Chicago, got back in line at
Carnass's restaurant, and tried again offered it to him again.
(26:38):
Carnass's wife, in particular, was hesitant. She allegedly asked where
even is Minnesota and did not relent until Breed offered
to match Carnass's restaurant earnings for one year. Yes, the
Pronto pup debut at the Minnesota Fair, and this was
(26:59):
a big year for the fair because it had been
canceled in nineteen forty five because of World War Two
and in nineteen forty six because of polio. The Carnas
has sold one hundred and six thousand Pronto pups that year,
and they've been a staple at the fair ever since.
The business has stayed in the Carnas family. Now, despite
(27:19):
the fact that Pronto Pups are officially advertised by the
company at Minnesota State Fair as America's original corn dogs.
The president of Pronto Pups hates to even say the
word core dog, and the owner of the Pronto Pup
franchise at the fair calls it the c D word wow,
(27:40):
which I read was a point of pride, like they're
just we're our own things like no, like we are.
We are a brand unto ourselves. Do not confuse us
with those other things that call themselves corn dogs or
CD words. I suppose we're not like those other corn dos. Yeah. Also,
(28:00):
of note, the no ketchup rule wasn't relaxed for several decades.
Now you can get catchup, but not the case for
many years. Um. But okay, let's look at another Okay. Yes,
Around the same time that Pronto Pup was taking off,
the flesher brothers out of Texas were also entering the
(28:23):
corn dog game. The brothers, who were actors, were working
on coming up with a batter that wasn't too thick
or slippery to coat sausage our hot dogs in, and
after several experiments, they finally arrived at the recipe or
sip that hasn't really changed since they arrived at it
and is now kept in a locked safe. Um. They
(28:45):
introduced their product at the Texas State Fairgrounds that same year,
calling it a corny dog, which I know, Like, to me,
I've never heard that term, but two people from Texas,
that's like, that's an every day it's called a corny dog. Yeah, yeah,
to me it sounds funny. But yes, but we're not
(29:06):
making fun just new to our Yes. Yes, Um. While
There's is arguably the most well known in the state,
I would say yes, it is the most well known state.
A few years earlier, in nineteen forty, a corn dog
with mysterious origins was hugely popular. Here's the quote from
(29:29):
the Monroe News Star that year. It is destined to
be one of the fastest selling sandwiches ever introduced, said
Mr Sam C. Brown. Proof of its fine ingredients and
flavorful combination is found in the fact that in New
Orleans more than seventy corn dog sandwiches were sold in
a period of three weeks. Uh huh. And in nineteen
(29:53):
thirty nine, Alice Hughes wrote in a piece called a
Woman's New York and she was describing a visit to
a friend in da US and she wrote one of
their hometown delicacies the corn dog, which is a Frankfurter
baked in corn bread. So now I shall have another
excuse to pay them a visit in Texas. So corn
(30:13):
dogs have been around in Texas before the Fletcher brothers
came along, but they definitely are the big name. Yeah. Yeah,
helped popularize for sure. Yes, and corny dogs have stayed
in the Fletcher family, but not without difficulties. When the
original Fletcher brothers died in the nineteen eighties, the business
was taken over by their two sons, who ran the
(30:34):
business the same way that their fathers had. In two
thousand eight, then twenty one year old Amber Fletcher, who
at that time was sometimes called the Corny Dog Heiress,
was kidnapped. Yeah. She called her mother and informed her
that her captors were demanding one thousand dollars in ransom
(30:55):
or that they'd kill her. All sorts of law enforcement
got involved, including the Texas Rangers in the FBI. Like
just a bunch um, they were eventually able to recover
Amber Fletcher unharmed. Essentially, they like arranged a drop and
then we're watching the drop and call the guy and yeah,
I know. Then in twenty nineteen, Jason Fletcher Christiansen uh
(31:19):
started a legal battle when she declared she was planning
to open a pop up called Fletch, and this led
to Fletcher's original State Fair Corny Dogs to file a
lawsuit to the United States District Court over trademark protection,
kicking off a legal battle and a family feud because yes,
Fletcher Christiansen is a member of this family. Um. Christiansen
(31:42):
opened her restaurant anyway, covering any instance of Fletch on
the menu with tape and calling it the Restaurant with
No Name. Wow. Wow. Yeah. The judge ultimately ruled and
Fletcher's original State Fair Corny Dogs favor. I'm awful it
(32:03):
is um Okay, But all right, there's yet another story.
Let us explore the tale of the Cozy Dog. Uh. So.
In one Ed Waldmeyer was talking to a friend of
his in college, Don Strand, and he was talking about
this unusual sandwich that he had encountered out in Oklahoma, UM,
(32:27):
which was composed of a hot dog baked in corn
bread and so uh. The story goes that wald Meyer
had liked this product but thought it took too long
to cook and then they both graduated. They both moved on.
Five years later, to his complete surprise, wald Meyer was
contacted by Strand, and Strand was like, Hey, remember that
(32:48):
unusual sandwich. Well, I developed this cornbread mix so that
you can just dip a hot dog in it and
then French fry it. Do you want me to send
you some of this mix? And wald Meyer was like yes.
Waldmeyer was in the Air Force at the time, and
so using the USO kitchen, he developed what he called
a Krusty kerr which was a corn dog. UM. After
(33:12):
being honorably discharged that year UM and accepting the fact
that his wife hated the name Krusty Kerr UM, Waldemeyer
and his family launched the brand Cozy Dogs in Illinois
and it is still a family business. UM. They've had
several locations over the years. There's still a drive in
(33:33):
location in Springfield, Illinois. Oh, I love that unusual sandwiches
scountered uh, and I did see that when I was
researching there was you probably ran across this team, but
there was an article about lamenting Chicago and specifically where
have all the corn dogs called? Yeah, okay, let's step
(34:00):
back to another contender. The crusty corn dog spelled with
the K yes. I was like, is this Simpsons related
unless time travel is really who? In an advertisement and
a wholesale catalog for the crusty corn sausage dog pan
(34:24):
red a big money maker for use on gas gasoline
oral are coal stoves, crusty corn dogs are novel and delicious.
The hot dog is baked inside the corn batter, which
as it bakes, molds itself to resemble an ear of
corn um. So a bit different than what we think
of today, but pretty close. A few years previously, yeah,
(34:48):
in Francis Mattson was working on a way to wrap
meat and bread, and he filed a patent for a
quote method of producing a food product that read, in part,
having the enclosing casing of baked batter of such a
character that the same will not be injuriously affected by
the grease from the cooked sausash. I love patent language.
(35:11):
I it's fantastic, But again, you know, pretty close, but
still a baked product without a stick, so not quite
yeah yeah, which brings us to another contender, Stanley as
Jenkins out of Buffalo, New York. He successfully acquired a
(35:33):
patent for an American staple fried food on a stick.
In the patent he Wroote, I have discovered that articles
of food such for instance as wieners, boiled ham, hard bullet, eggs, cheese,
sliced peaches, pineapples, banana, and like fruit and cherries, dates, fig, strawberries,
et cetera, wind and paled on sticks and dipped in
(35:54):
a batter which includes in its ingredients of self rising
flour and then deep fried in a vegetable oil at
a temperature of around degrees fahrenheit. The result of food
product on a stick for a handle is a clean,
wholesome and tasty refreshment. There are sweet food items on
there that I'm like, right, I'm like, I have never
(36:17):
had a deep fried fig on a stick, and now
I'm mad about it. Hard for old eggs, pineapple. I
just American ingenuity. But yeah, so stories do abound about
who came up with the corn dog, which is it's
(36:41):
lovely that so many people are like, yeah, no, I
and I and I appreciate I appreciate anything that was
just clearly like a like a Zeitgeist kind of situation
where like America just as a whole came together sometime
and what is that like the late twenties to the
early forties, and was like, let us coat this hot
dog in vaguely corn meally batter, and let's deep fry it.
(37:06):
What could go wrong? It will be perfect? You know
what we should come back and do. Because we've touched
on this in several episodes, but we've never really dealt
into it. But like state Fair the foods that arose
from that kind of thing, because it sounds like this
was a very state Fair food, and we talked about
candy corn, which is also kind of that way. Yes, alright,
(37:33):
future episode. The Korean hot dog slush corn dog because
it is kind of confusing the terminology that's used, but
I think in our American parlance we would call it
a corn dog. First started appearing as a popular street
food in the nineteen eighties. Yeah, um and the version
that's battered that that includes chunks of French fries and
(37:54):
the batter dates from the nineties, so this is not
a new thing. During particularly the economic downturn of the
mid to late teens, a lot of startups of these
Korean hot dogs corn dogs, um and and a bunch
of sales were just skyrocketing. Yes, and as Korean culture
and cuisine has become more popular United States, some Korean
(38:16):
restaurants and chains have introduced this product to the US
at large. There's been a lot of recent write ups
and reviews of restaurants offering them. I saw a bunch
when I did a quick search. Yeah, really recent. Oh
have you tried this place in l A or New
York or d c um people people into them. Yeah, yeah,
(38:37):
it's all I mean, it's one of those like very
instagrammable kind of kind of foods. So definitely um uh
in uh. In twenty nineteen, this piece published on eater
and and forgive me I didn't I didn't take note
of the author's name, but it was arguing that the
consumption of corn dogs at state fairs has become political,
(38:57):
specifically for for candidates who are running or office for
for specifically for president. Um because the eating of corn
dogs is seen as like as like humble and joyful
and relatable. Um so uh So that year nineteen, at
the Iowa State Fair, like most of the Democratic nominee
hopefuls either eight one or we're photographed holding one. Apparently
(39:24):
Hillary did not eat hers, but was seen carrying the
uneaten corn dog back into her van. Um. But yeah,
back back in back in two thousand three, they point out, Um,
when John Kerry was was running Um, he he was
(39:46):
at the Iowa State Fair and he was photographed ordering
a strawberry smoothie. And upon upon getting wind of this,
one of his campaign operatives by the name of Robert
Gibbs reportedly called a staff member on site and said,
somebody get a fucking corn dog in his hand. Now
(40:08):
this was after Carry had already like ordered Swiss cheese
on a philly instead of cheese. Was so like, there
was already, there's already something like, oh what a food
snob like, And so we ordered the smoothie and yeah,
Gibbs was like, no, no, sir. Carry did shape up
and and have a corn dog at the Minnesota State
Fair the following year. So probably didn't want to cause
(40:31):
another Robert Gibbs break. Now she's s I would never
make it as a politician. Oh no, it's way too stressful,
very stressful. I can't just drink my smoothie okay. Um oh,
speaking of stress. Recently, there have been arguments about whether
(40:55):
a corn dog is a popsicle or a sandwich because,
of course, of course there half I think it's a
lollipop sandwich. Oh, I mean that makes sense. I mean
a popsicle is cold. Mm hmm gotta okay, this is
this is I believe. Actually I was. I was reading
(41:15):
about this. There was an article in Mel magazine that
came out and our buddy Julius Skinner was cited as
being I know right, as being like, well, it's not cold,
so it's clearly not a popsicle. She was talking about
corn dogs. Yeah, during this whole corn dog sandwich versus
popsicle debate. Oh well, I have to reach out to
(41:36):
her and get her expert opinion. Yeah. Mel Magazine was like,
noted food historian Julius Skinner said this thing on Twitter,
and I was like, yeah, she did. Cheez, She's awesome.
Um okay. Also recently, Disneyland caused a food stir when
it introduced the Pickle dollar um, a hot dog on
(42:02):
a stick in cased by a hauled up pickle, coated
in a corn meal batter and crusted with panco, deep fried,
and served with the peanut butter dip. People are deeply
divided over it. They are oh my goodness. They are.
Corn dogs in general are very popular item at Disneyland,
and I read reviews of people who tried it, and
(42:23):
it seemed to be the ones I read it seemed
to be generally positive. They thought the panco was a
little bit over overboard, people were mixing peanut butter. Some
people loved it, some people really didn't like it, but
some people really digged it. Um not very farm Also
in California, near near Disneyland offered something similar in called
(42:44):
the Dilly Dilly Dog. I mean I can see it
being good. I mean, you know, like like a chopped
pickle relish is a good hot dog topping. Um, you know,
I feel like at the point that you're adding extra salt,
like you're not really hurting anything. Honestly, the pickles sounds nice. Yeah,
(43:04):
it's like the other stuff. I'm a little but yeah,
the part sounds good to me. Yeah, I'm like, is
the pankoa gonna like cut up the inside of my mouth?
Is the because peanut butter and pickles is pretty good
in a weird way, but with the hot dog? H yeah,
I say maybe one day we'll get our food stuff reviews.
(43:29):
Oh goodness, yes, yes, um and uh this is this
is not technically a news item. But but just this
year The Onion, which is still satire um, published a
piece celebrating new research that that reveals that modern corn
dogs are the descendants of ancient aquatic sausages taxonomical name
(43:52):
but tell us rat worstis UM. There's a quote from
one of the lead researchers on this paper that this
article is talking about. UM. She's quoted as saying living
in such a competitive environment likely drove the ancient sausage
to adapt to land where resources like ketchups and mustards
were far more abundant. Though the modern corn dog has
since shed its casing and developed a thick, deep fried
(44:14):
coat of batter, it still contains approximately six ground pork.
I love stuff like this. I love the kind of
scientific speculation and language around something that is quite silly. Yeah, honestly,
it lends itself very well to parody. UM. Oh wow,
(44:37):
and we have gone on quite a journey in this
corn dog episode. I really want to hear from international
listeners if this is a thing anywhere else. I mean
obviously Korea, but like you gotta let us know, Yeah,
like have you have? Is this the first time you've
(44:58):
heard of this, are you like, does that sound disgusting?
Like I mean like like let me, yeah, tell tell us,
tell us please. And speaking of we do have some
listener mail for you. We do, but first we got
one more quick break for a word from our sponsor
(45:23):
and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, and
we're back with Carrol deep Frog. Okay, okay. I was like,
is this an exploding zombie? Like? What's happening? Also because
(45:43):
I have been playing a lot of the Last of
Us as Laura knows, because it a mini freak out earlier,
because she made a sound that reminded me of sorry,
I'll try not to never again again, Lauren, my heart
my art would just something I usually shot when I
played those games. They're very sad um, but this is
(46:07):
something very happy. Hannah wrote back at the beginning of
the pandemic, my friend Aaron and I started listening through
all of the Red Wall audio books by Brian Jacques
are Jake. We tried to look it up and we
got multiple different pronunciations. So Hannah, you probably know you
can you can write in and let us know. Um,
(46:30):
but continued, they are charming, uplifting, in a time of crisis,
and the audio books especially are utterly delightful. They are
narrated by the author in a strong Scouse accent, with
the character's voiced by a small recurring cast of voice actors,
including his son. The songs, of which there many, are
actually set to music and sung by the cast with
(46:51):
instrumental accompaniment, unlike the sad, spoken renditions you often get
so much. For why the audio books are delightful, you
are a food show. And the important thing that anyone
who has ever read a Red Wall book knows is
they are the ultimate food porn. I believe Brian Jacques
said that when he was going through World War two
(47:14):
rashing as a child, reading his grandmother's Victorian Eric cookbooks
kept him going. I can't find the actual quote right now,
so I guess don't take my word for that, And
that love of food carries through into the books, which
always include at least one massive, yet homey feast served
up at red Wall Abbey. Jacques started working on the
books while working at a school for blind children, and
(47:36):
descriptions in the book are always vivid and grounded deeply
in all the senses, to help bring those children into
the story the food of Redwall, all producing the abbey
grounds or forage from moss flower wood would be a
delightful topic for a fictional foods episode. By the time
Aaron and I reached the end of the series, it was,
and we were able to get together and cook a
(47:57):
giant Red Wall feast of our to celebrate Midsummer. We
served several English cheeses, oatcakes with honey cheese and celery scones,
carrot and mushroom turnovers, summer salad, shrimp and hotroot soup,
beloved of otters at Red Ball, the Mole Specialty, Deeper
and Ever turn Up, and tater and beat root pie.
(48:21):
The divins is Red Wall youngsters favorite candy chestnuts, strawberry
cake with clotted cream, and wash it all down with
mint tea and strawberry fizz. It was one of the
happiest meals I've ever enjoyed. Needless to say, if you
need a consultant on that fictional foods episode, I'm slightly obsessed.
If you ever need to be reminded that good can
(48:42):
triumph over evil, you can't go wrong with a Red
Wall book. Oh that's so beautiful and lovely. Oh inhandent
pictures and it all looks amazing. I loved these books
as a kid. Oh yeah, I've never read any of them.
Oh yeah, I loved um for some reason. The one
that stands out is there's one of like a mouse
(49:04):
on top of a motorcycle and a leather sacket, And
as a kid, I was like, I needed to read
this book. But yeah, that just sounds so lovely. It
sounds so kind of like what we were talking about
in several past Fictional Foods episodes. We've talked about that
of kind of this like homeliness, like Narnia is coming
(49:26):
to a mind of what you can find and having
that really it being such a comforting meal. And I
can see how during the pandemic like listening to that
and then making that so comforting and just lovely it is.
Oh and that sounds that sounds really nice. Um. I
(49:47):
want one of each of all of those things immediately.
Um goodness, Ashley wrote, Um, I loved your recent Tater
Tot episode. It was a lot of fun to listen to.
Every morning, I do a drive through coffee around with
my dogs and they get pappuccinos sometimes called pup cups
and more often than not because of how much the
baristas love my dogs. They garnish the pappuccinos with tater tots, bacon,
(50:12):
and a dog treat. Today, August is my dog Hanks
got you anniversary and was incredibly happy to get a
pappuccino with the works. I mean, I wippy to heck
right and on on top of a cup of whipped cream.
I would eat that, Honestly, I would do. And I
(50:34):
don't want to feel about that. I feel like I
need to consider something. It's adventurous, you're having fun, you're
living living life to the fullest. You're right, I do
have ripped cream now. As I said earlier, my birthdays out,
(50:58):
perhaps it's time for thing to be adventurous, to follow
in Hanks with steps. Oh goodness. Well, thanks to both
of those listeners for writing to us. If you would
like to write to us, you can or email us
hello at savorpod dot com. We're also on social media.
You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at
(51:21):
savor pod, and we do hope to hear from you.
Savor is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts
my heart Radio, you can visit the I Heart Radio
app Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and
Andrew Howard, with special thanks this week to j. J. Pasway.
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots
more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.