The Fourth: Living high on the dog

There’s even an industry group, the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, headquartered in Washington, no less, that puts out hot dog statistics.

According to the council, Americans will eat some 150 million hot dogs on the Fourth of July, enough to stretch from D.C. to L.A. more than five times — which is a good thing, because more hot dogs are devoured in Los Angeles than any other U.S. city.

Though Atlanta doesn’t rank among the top hot dog-consuming places, hot dogs have shown up on menus at several recently opened restaurants and bars.

Hobnob Neighborhood Tavern in Midtown features a “one-dollar-make-you-holler” hot dog on its Midnight Special bar menu. At Young Augustine’s near Grant Park, the Chicago-style Wrigley Dog is a big hit.

Yeah Burger on the burgeoning West side may be chef Shaun Doty’s new take on the fast casual burger joint, but there are three hot dogs on the menu. Doty offers Let’s Be Frank brand grass-fed beef dogs from California on organic buns with a variety of toppings, including beef and red bean chili and cheese. But his Southern Dog, topped with creamy pimento cheese, chopped Vidalia onions and sweet-hot Wickles relish, is a revelation of hot dog creativity with a down-home twist.

Across the street from Yeah Burger, in the basement of the White Provision building, Ormsby’s is a speakeasy-style tavern doing fun stuff with pub grub. The beef dogs come from Usinger’s, a traditional Milwaukee sausage maker. Chef Andrew Smith loads his knife-and-fork chili-cheese dog with house-made chili and cheese sauce. Smith’s carefully constructed Chicago-style dog is named the Abe Froman, for the “Sausage King of Chicago” from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

Putting your own Chicago, chili or Southern dog together can be as easy as gathering the right condiments and lighting the grill. But for more taste, seek out traditional or handcrafted beef or beef and pork hot dogs. And if you like them snappy, look for natural casings.

You can order Let's Be Frank (www.letsbefrankdogs.com ) and Usinger's (www.usinger.com ) hot dogs online. Or get an entire Chicago-style hot dog kit with beef franks, poppy seed buns and all the fixings from Vienna Beef (www.viennabeef.com ).

Locally, Barker's Red Hots in Marietta (3000 Windy Hill Road, 770-272-0407, www.barkersredhots .com ) sells its red hots by the pound and offers party packs with sides, condiments and lump charcoal.

Patak Meat Products in Austell (4107 Ewing Road, 770-941-7993 www.patakmeats.com ) produces wonderful old- world-style wieners and frankfurters with natural casings, sold weekdays in its retail shop.

Whole Foods has a large selection of organic and natural hot dogs, including the popular Applegate Farms organic beef dogs.

Even more exciting, Whole Foods and Harry’s Farmers Markets offer two very tasty locally produced hot dogs from Weinerz in Marietta.

One is made with grass-fed beef from White Oak Pastures in Buffton and the other is made with White Oak beef and pork from Thompson Farms in Dixie. Both have natural casings, a snappy texture and mildly smoky flavor, but the beef and pork dog is a bit plumper and juicer.

--------------------

Recipes

These homemade condiment recipes are easy to prepare and make a great start to a variety of hot dog combos, such as sweet onion slaw and spicy relish or robust beer mustard, chili and cheese.

--------------------

Robust Rosemary Beer Mustard

Hands on: 15 minutes Total time: Up to 6 days, including time for soaking and curing Makes: 1 1/4 cups

This spicy beer mustard gets an extra burst of flavor from fresh minced rosemary and green onions. It makes a perfect topping for snappy natural casing hot dogs or brats.

1/4 cup brown mustard seeds

1/4 cup yellow mustard seeds

3/4 cup pale ale, such as Sweetwater 420

1 tablespoon ground mustard

2 tablespoons minced green onions

2 tablespoons minced rosemary

1/2 cup cider vinegar

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

In a nonreactive bowl, combine brown and yellow mustard seeds and ale and allow to soak overnight.

In a blender or food processor, combine the ale-seed mixture with ground mustard, green onions, rosemary, vinegar, brown sugar and salt. Blend or process on high until a paste forms, with some seeds remaining whole. Scrape mixture into a sterile glass jar, cover and refrigerate for 4 to 5 days before using. Use within 3 weeks.

Adapted from “Grilling With Beer” by Lucy Saunders (F&B Communications, $22.95)

Per tablespoon: 29 calories (percent of calories from fat, 38), 1 gram protein, 4 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 1 gram fat (no saturated), no cholesterol, 108 milligrams sodium.

--------------------

Barker’s Red Hots Sweet Onion Slaw

Hands on: 15 minutes Total time: 3 hours, including time cooling and resting Serves: 8

This recipe from Atlanta’s Barker’s Red Hots owner Glenn Robins is tangy and sweet and makes a great topping for a charcoal-grilled red hot.

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard powder

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 Vidalia or other sweet onion, grated

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1 head green cabbage, shredded

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, salt, mustard powder and celery seed. Add the sweet onion, oil and vinegar. Heat until the sugar is melted. Cool and refrigerate for 1 hour.

In a large bowl, mix the dressing with the cabbage. Let rest for several hours, stir and serve.

Adapted from “Atlanta Kitchens” by Krista Reese (Gibbs Smith, $30)

Per serving: 164 calories (percent of calories from fat, 20), 2 grams protein, 33 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 4 grams fat (trace saturated), no cholesterol, 288 milligrams sodium.

--------------------

The Real Deal Chili

Hands on: 15 minutes Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes Serves: 8

Think of this thick, meaty hot dog chili as a condiment, not a meal. Make it with grass-fed ground beef and put it on a grass-fed beef hot dog for an extra tasty Coney Island dog.

3/4 pound grass-fed ground beef, such as White Oak Pastures

1/2 onion, chopped

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

1/2 cup water

3/4 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/2 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, brown the ground beef using a spatula to break the meat into fine pieces. Drain the fat and add the onion. Cook until soft. Stir in tomato paste, water, sugar, chili powder, oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Let mixture come to a boil, cover and reduce the heat. Simmer for 1 hour.

Adapted from “Grilling with Gas” by Fred Thompson (Taunton Press, $19.95)

Per serving: 117 calories (percent of calories from fat, 48), 9 grams protein, 6 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 6 grams fat (2 grams saturated), 26 milligrams cholesterol, 194 milligrams sodium.