Relishing football dogs

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For Super Bowl Sunday, what could be more appropriate than a hot dog? Not just any hot dog. The American hot dog.

This staple of children's menus and scourge of health fanatics has undergone a metamorphosis that should please fans and foes. It has gone gourmet to include high-quality ingredients and fussy toppings.

"Taking the familiar and making it outstanding has happened in sandwiches, ice cream, burgers and pizza. Hot dogs were next on the comfort food list," says Mark Sobczak, who, as hot dog chef for Vienna Beef, maker of red hots in Chicago, spends his days dreaming up super dogs along the lines of the Caribbean hot dog -- wrapped in a tomato basil tortilla with bacon, pineapple salsa, balsamic onion and pepper Monterey Jack cheese -- for restaurants that serve the all-beef Vienna.

"Hot dogs aren't just the old standard anymore," says Becky Mercuri, author of "The Great American Hot Dog," to be published by Gibbs Smith in spring. "More creative combinations are defining the term 'hot dog' in a way that's more akin to sausages when you think about turkey dogs and chicken dogs. It's very exciting."

According to Miss Mercuri, the haute dog has come a long way from its inception, an American offshoot of sausages imported by immigrants and termed "hot dog" in 1895 as a derogatory to describe the fare served at late-night lunch wagons. Since then the name has defined a particular kind of sausagelike sandwich in which the meat is highly processed to smoothly fill a casing.

Determinedly American, the hot dog quickly became a regional favorite, topped with red chili in New Mexico, pepper relish in New Orleans and smothered with pizza toppings in a pizza crust in New Jersey. In 2005, Americans ate 1.5 billion hot dogs purchased from supermarkets alone, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.

"A hot dog consists of the bread, the filling and the topping, and each element is an important part of the whole," says Miss Mercuri.

With the advent of premium franks such as the American Kobe beef hot dogs from Snake River Farms (www.snakeriverfarms.com), grass-fed beef sausages from Panorama Meat (www.panoramameats.com), and veggie dogs from Morningstar Farms (www.morningstarfarms.com), diners have a much improved selection over traditional mystery meats.

Hot Doug's in Chicago dishes wild game wieners, and the minichain Frankitude in Miami recently introduced the salmon dog. Top chefs gone to the dogs include David Burke at David Burke at Bloomingdale's in New York, with a Kobe beef frank topped with mustard oil and angry (or spicy) onion relish, and Janos Wilder of the J Bar in Tucson, who tops the J Dawg with crema poblano, pickled cactus, whole-grain mustard and black beans.

As restaurants have proved, the hot dog is a versatile food, which should be the starting point for the creativity of home cooks aiming to grill up franks for a classic Super Bowl feed.