Hot Dogs in a Thermos

If you are going on a hike or a long drive and want instant lunch, try this. Boil some water in the morning. Fill a Thermos with hot dog wieners and pour boiling water over them. Close the lid tightly. Spread the buns with mustard/ketchup/relish (relish may make it a bit soggy) or supply with those little paks and wrap up. Pack your thermos away till lunch time. Be very careful when opening the lid of the thermos. SAFETY COUNTS HERE. Pour out the water making sure not to lose the dogs. Add them to the prepared bun and voila! - instant dogs!! This is great for hiking, long distance drives, picnics where you can't BBQ but want hot dogs. # of dogs depends on size and how many thermos' used.
Note: I used to send my boys to school with this lunch and they loved the idea. Depending on how old your kids are, you will have to remind them to be careful when opening the thermos. Better yet, send a note to their teacher asking them to open up the thermos and dump out the water for your child. It WILL BE HOT!! ENJOY!!
Karen

Karen
.....this idea sounds O.K. but for my liking, I'd think any dogs soaked in water THAT length of time might tend to make them (the weiners) too soggy for my liking.

Do you think if you preheated the thermos with boiling water, precooked the weiners, then dumped the water and quickly added the weiners, sealed (closed) the lid and wrapped the thermos as you mentioned might solve the 'soggy dog' issue? This way it might also preclude the warning about opening the hot water thermos too?!

I like that adaption too Doug. The only way I can tolerate hot dogs is fried/broiled/roasted, I can't quite stomach them boiled, so this would be an idea. I am sure the boiled ones would be a big hit with kids though, I know mine used to eat them like that before they grew up.

Especially when on canoe, or backcountry ski trips, I often make up something to put in a thermos to have quickly without having to break out a stove. Soups, chilli, Sloppy Joe mix, pulled pork, and stews are just some of the things I take. They can even be nice on a road trip where you are eating on the go.

RAW is a great way to eat these beasts, being sure to peel back that skin IF so endowed!!!

Supper here last night consisted of a Grande sized can (used only helf, saving remaining for 'another fette') with half a doz 'dorks' as they are jokingly called by 'rodder types' and a fair dose of garlic powder (NOT salt), a whopping tablespoonful of chilli flakes, a jigger of 'Professor Phardtpounders 'Colon Cleaner Hot Sause", the elixer of capsaicin extremus, topped with 1/2 a Walla Walla Sweet and garnished with a hearty serving of freshly grated habanero flavored cheeze.

The weenies, speaking of the MEAT Of the Gods, I sliced them into about 3/4 inch slices cut on the bias and used a fancy-schmancy slicer that the Trailer Goddess uses for fancy slicing carrots.... Couldn't figure out what that CLOUD was around the bed in the morning!!!

Doug, The wieners don't really go soggy, they just plump up. They are raw when they go into the thermos and it is the boiling water that cooks them over the time. It is the bun that gets soggy from the juice of the relish. We haven't had a problem with the mustard & ketchup but the relish is what does it to the bun. Believe me...I'm not big on boiled wieners either but my kids loved this idea and asked for these at least once a week when they were young. We've done the hiking thing with them and they turned out great for a quick lunch. I have never tried to make this any other way so if you try your idea, let me know. I'm a BBQ kind a girl when it comes to hot dogs and even then, they usually aren't my first choice. Have you ever cooked a whole fish in the dishwasher??

*silently hoping this is not Doug's contribution to the potluck in May*

I have heard of that Karen. Is is just wrapped in foil with fixiin's, then placed in the running dishwasher? I know fish cooks with minimal heat, and many dishwashers heat can be quite hot.

Jim, it looks like the May meet MAY just be your lucky day, ...that day in May!!
The Trailer Goddess, myself and many others opt NOT to partake of the potluck. Instead, we 'order in' right to our site(s) from a local Italian restaurant. Usually delivered hot within 20 minutes. We do this to help make clean up just a l'il easier that Saturday night (no cookin mess to clean up and IF you order pizza, its finger food, so no cutlery clean up involved either. Your call which ever way you plan to go that night!!

BTW!!! The potluck has ALWAYS turned out GREAT, no complaints from any of the hungry Eggers!!!

Cooking tip:
Flip meats only once and do not compress the food while cooking, not like our l'il smiley faced chef here...

Hi: All...What's a hot dog weiner... bologna only smaller???
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

May or June? BTW Doug, our condolences to the Trailer Goddess on the hot dog thing..!

Alf... would you boil the bologna before ya made a peanut butter n bologny sanni ....???

Mike >>> May in B.C. June in WA.

You would put mustard and pickles on that, right?

This is a great idea.

Of course, did you know that you can cook rice this way too? So if you're hankering for hot rice while on the road that'll work too

Jim, I have never tried the dishwasher fish, it was mentioned in an old cottage cook book that I had but I believe that...yes, you do dress the fish then wrap and secure it really good in tinfoil. Put it in the top rack of the dishwasher - (without soap or Rinse ajent of course - that would be a ) and put it on for a shorter cycle.

If you try it..let us know if it works for you. I just filled my dishwasher up with Jet Dry last week so I have a few more weeks to go before I can even contemplate it..if I do. Hubby not really that big on fish but who knows?


As far as the rice in the thermos, I never thought of that. Oh, how I love this site. So many great ideas.

My dad used to roast the weiners on our engine block. Wrapped in foil of course.
I think they were done in 5 mins. One day he almost exploded a can of beans he was heating. He also used to heat bricks to keep us warm on really cold nights...ah the old days.

Careful Pat, you're telling your age I remember from my childhood (the smell of a greasy/oily Army tent) my mom wrapping a firebrick that was warmed in a campfire in a towel and placed in our (thin) sleeping bags for overnight warmth. She wouldn't use any rocks from the stream/river because they had a tendency to explode. Now, I realize this doesn't have anything to do with cooking... but it does give folks a different perspective of doing the same ole thing just a different way.

now that is an idea. Diced up hotdogs raw (or spam?) rice, some of your fav. flavoring addativies all mixed together in that thermos.

When I was a kid growing up on a farm in Alberta my Mom would fill the thermos with soup and drop in a hotdog. Always a great lunch on a winter day.

I remember how much trouble we would get in if (OK... when) I broke the glass lined thermos!