Summertime Treats: Corn Dogs

When you’re ready to grab life by the handle.

I’m not really sure why so many treats we enjoy in the summer are so greasy – hamburgers on the grill, funnel cake, chili cheese fries at the ballgame. You’d think that with the hot temperatures summer days can bring, we’d want something a little easier on our stomachs. But, I guess the heart wants what it wants. And my heart (or stomach, I guess) wants corn dogs in the summer.

A corn dog is simple enough: a hot dog, dipped in cornmeal batter and deep-fried on a stick. But tracing the history of this summertime treat is a lot more complicated. At least twenty people across the US are credited with inventing the corn dog. As early as 1910 you could buy a Krusty Korn Sausage Pan for baking your own corn dogs at home. Back then it was served without a stick and was cut into slices. In 1946, Hot Dog on a Stick opened at Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, California, and by the 1950s and 1960s corn dogs were everywhere.

With their handy stick, corn dogs are perfect for summer venues like county or state fairs, amusement parks or boardwalks – anyplace where you might want a snack while you stroll around. So naturally, corn dogs come to mind whenever I think of summer vacation. Summer just seems to be a time when you want to relax the rules and take things a little easier. Going barefoot, sleeping under the stars, eating out on a picnic blanket instead of at the table. And like an ice cream cone, corn dogs release you from the necessity of a plate and allow for more freedom with your meals.

Some people eat them with ketchup, some with mustard, and some with both. The Arizona Diamondbacks serve a $25 version at their stadiums that’s a foot long and stuffed with bacon and cheese. However you like it, a corn dog is one snack that’s really got a handle on summer.