Mexican Hot Dogs (August 2009)

This will be a quick post about something we can hopefully elaborate on sometime soon. 

In July, my sister and her kids visited New York from Arizona for about a week.  During that time, I did my best to share with them some of the great food in New York, including a current New York favorite food, the banh mi.  My sister asked, half-seriously, if “Mexican” (or “Sonoran”) hot dogs would be the next big thing in New York.  Then, just over a month later, the New York Times ran an article about “Mexican” hot dogs — entitled “In Praise of the All-American Mexican Hot Dog.”  I was impressed by my sister’s prescience.

A few weeks ago, inspired by the article and my sister, we whipped up our own version of the “Mexican” hot dog on a Sunday evening.  We sliced and grilled the bacon-wrapped dogs, then piled them into a bun “pocket” filled melted cheddar cheese, mayonnaise and refried pinto beans with jalapeno.  After that, we covered them in a fresh mango and papaya salsa and guacamole.  They were really something special.  So good, in fact, that we’re thinking of opening our own food cart.

Carousel Bakery (Toronto)

Home of a pretty damn good peameal bacon sandwich.  I think this is what people in the US refer to as Canadian bacon.

Peameal bacon is a slightly pickled/cured piece of pork loin that is rolled in peameal.  Its then sliced and cooked up on a griddle.  And, its damn good.  Carousel Bakery is at the St. Lawrence Market.  They make a pretty solid peameal bacon sandwich on a pillowy roll.  They also have whole grilled jalapeno peppers which you can throw in there.

I had a medical exam for my greencard nearby this morning so afterward I swung by on my way up to my office.  I skipped the peppers but I did put some very spicy (in the front of the nose wasabi kind of way) maple mustard. Here are some photos.