A hot dog bun is a type of soft

bun A bun is a type of bread roll, typically filled with savory fillings (for example hamburger). A bun may also refer to a sweet cake in certain parts of the world. Though they come in many shapes and sizes, buns are most commonly round, and are g ...

shaped specifically to contain a

hot dog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced Hot dog bun, bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener (Vienna sausag ...

or another type of sausage. The side-loading bun is common in most of the United States, while the top-loading

New England-style hot dog bun New England-style hot dog buns, also often known as New England hot dog buns or top-loading hot dog buns, are the hot dog buns most commonly used in the United States region of New England and its cuisine. They may also be called split-top, top-s ...

is popular in that region. Other regional variations include the addition of

poppy seed Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum''). The tiny, kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countries, ...

s to the buns of

Chicago-style hot dog A Chicago-style hot dog, Chicago Dog, or Chicago Red Hot is an all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun, originating from the city of Chicago, Illinois. The hot dog is topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, bright green sweet pick ...

History

Hot dog historian and professor emeritus at

Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a private university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The unive ...

Bruce Kraig believes the term "hot dog" was invented in the late 19th century by American observers of German immigrants, who ate sausages on buns. The Americans joked that the sausages looked suspiciously like the Germans'

dachshund The dachshund ( or ; German: "badger dog"), also known as the wiener dog, badger dog, and sausage dog, is a short-legged, long-bodied, hound-type dog breed. The dog may be smooth-haired, wire-haired, or long-haired, and comes in a variety of c ...

Charles Feltman __FORCETOC__ Charles Feltman (1841–1910) was a German-American restaurateur. He is one of several claimed inventors of the hot dog. From pushcart to restaurant mogul Feltman was born in 1841 in Germany and emigrated to America in 1856, at the ag ...

invented an elongated hot dog bun on

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

in 1871 according to writer Jefferey Stanton. According to an obituary of Austrian immigrant baker Ignatz Frischmann published in 1904, the "Vienna roll" supplied to Coney Island hot dog vendors was invented by Frischmann and made him a rich man sometime before his death. At the 1904

Louisiana Purchase Exposition The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...

, in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Missouri, a German concessionaire, Antoine Feuchtwanger, served hot sausages called ' frankfurters', after his birthplace,

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, in

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

. At first he loaned gloves for his customers to hold his sausages. When many were not returned, he asked his brother, who was a

baker A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Since grains ha ...

, to invent a solution. Thus, the hot dog bun was born."History of the Hot Dog"
accessed January 29, 2011.

Regional variations

Split-top hot dog buns are popular in New England for lobster rolls and clam sandwiches. In

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where poppy-seed buns are popularly served with

s, the buns are made with high-

gluten Gluten is a structural protein naturally found in certain cereal grains. Although "gluten" often only refers to wheat proteins, in medical literature it refers to the combination of prolamin and glutelin proteins naturally occurring in all grain ...

flour to hold up to steaming. In Austria, Poland, and throughout

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

a "hot dog" is a baguette which is hollowed out by cutting off the end and impaling it on a spike so a sausage can be inserted. In Denmark this variation is known as a "French Hot Dog" because of the use of baguette, and a "French Hot Dog Dressing" which contains

Dijon Mustard Dijon mustard (french: Moutarde de Dijon) is a traditional mustard of France, named after the town of Dijon in Burgundy, France, which was the center of mustard making in the late Middle Ages and was granted exclusive rights in France in the 17t ...

. Specially prepared baguettes are made for this popular food.

References

{{Authority control Buns Hot dogs

History

Regional variations

See also

References