This Food in History #22 Corn Dogs

Apr 24

Apr 24 This Food in History #22 Corn Dogs

Hello and welcome to this episode of This Food in History! Today we’ll be back in American Fair food with this handheld delight: Corn dogs!

I love a good corn dog, or mini corn dog though I rarely get to have them. A hot dog skewered with a popsicle stick, dipped in dough and deep fried, they are an easy to eat meal that transports so you can walk around a fair or carnival and take in the booths while munching down. I wanted to know how this treat came to be. I was betting that it had to do with pigs in a blanket. So let’s dive in!

Every article I looked at all said the same thing about the invention of corn dogs. They just kept popping up all over the United States over the years by different people with no through line between them.

We have the introduction of corny dogs by Neil and Carl Fletch at the Texas State Fair in 1942. They were Vaudeville Performers and their recipe is still served today.

1941 however has two separate places that got call outs. One from Oregon came from a fountain shop, Pronto Pup. George and Vera Boyington sold Pronto Pups which are pretty identical to corn dogs. Their website lays the claim that corndogs are just off brand pronto pups. Lore has it that George had his stock of hot dog buns ruined during a labor day weekend in 1939 and this reformed bootlegger came up with his Pronto Pup corndog. George and Vera trademarked Pronto Pup in 1942 and sold a proprietary flour mix for carnival vendors with the solidary rule that it was to be served with mustard and never ketchup.

They spread east as far as Chicago when Jack Karnis opened a restaurant franchise for Pronto Pup. Pronto Pups have also been a mainstay at the Minnesota State Fair since 1947.

The Cozy Dog Drive-In also tosses their hat in the ring for the modern corndog. In 1941, Ed Waldmire claims to have seen a hot dog baked inside cornbread at a roadside diner in Muskogee but he had some feedback about it. After telling his friend, Don Strand, whose family were bakers, Don helped him come up with the battered and deep fried cozy dog. They didn’t launch until 1946.

1940 newspapers also had some headlines about corndogs such as Monroe News-Star and Alice Hughes from New York City said in her column "A Woman's New York." about meeting friends in Dallas, “"one of their home-town delicacies, 'the corn-dog,' which is a frankfurter baked in corn bread. So now I shall have another excuse to pay them a visit in Texas."

A 1929 Pick-Barth wholesale catalog sold a cast-iron "Krusty Korn Sausage Dog Pan"

Looking just further back at Stanley Jenkins from Buffalo, New York we can find a patent filed in 1927 for an invention that would prepare what seems like a corndog and mentions other foods as well. It was for impaling foods, battering them, and deep frying.

Though none seem to influence the other, we can definitely say corn dogs are an easy dish to invent. We do also see versions of them in other countries.

Canada has a version called Pogos.

Australia sells Pluto Pups, dagwood dogs, and dippy dogs. Also Pronto pups.

France has their beignet de saucisse (sausage donut)

And Japan has an American dog it seems.

South Africa sells a Yankee and in Argentina, a panchucker uses sausage and waffle like pastry.

When looking at these variants everyone states they have just as mysterious backgrounds except for a post saying Canada got them from the states. It seems we won’t be able to give anyone else credit for the creation.

I did still wonder about pigs in a blanket though. Are they not just mini corn dogs, while covered slightly differently? Are they not just a precursor or adapted version?

Officially it does seem like they are just a completely distinct dish. I found a couple competing posts about when it first appeared. America is said to get credit for appearing in cookbooks like the Joy of Cooking in the 1930s, Army Recipes for the U.S. Military in the 1940s, and a 1957 cookbook called Cooking for Boys and Girls by Betty Crocker.

Pigs in a blanket are quoted as being the most popular hors d'oeuvre according to Liz Neumark, the CEO of Great Performances, a catering company in New York City.

The part where it gets interesting is that the name is stolen from a British dish, but the food itself is stolen from a different British dish. Pigs in a blanket in England is actually sausage wrapped in bacon and a breakfast item, most popular at Christmas. The first written record of them for the British seems to be in 1957.

The dish that actually resembles pigs in a blanket is the sausage roll. Ancient Greeks and Romans are credited with being the first to wrap meat in pastry dough and we’ve talked about variations in my empanada and pastry videos for various versions but the version that gives us sausage roll and eventually pigs in a blanket is said to have started in France before being popularized by the British.

The Napoleonic Wars brought a popular street treat as a pork filled version that really connected the dish to the British. But many countries have their versions of sausage rolls.

Czech immigrants in Texas started savory kolaches. The authentic version is sweet but thanks to Texas palates, immigrants in the 19th century started filling the pastry with sausage and other meats for a savory treat. This makes them closer to klobasnet which most wouldn’t be able to differentiate with the fillings.

Parts in Asia have a version with fish that travelled the Silk Road. Anglo-Saxons replaced the fish with red meat.

China, Korea, and Japan all serve hotdog buns that are rolls stuffed with hotdogs, and other toppings.

Israel has Moses in the ark or Moshe B’Tayva which uses kosher hotdogs and puff pastry.

Germany has Würstchen im Schlafrock with sausage and sometimes cheese in the puff pastry.

America actually used pig in a blanket for a while to describe an oyster dish with oysters drained, pickled, and wrapped in bacon. This is closest to the British pig in a blanket, through today it is known as Angels on horseback.

Some of the earliest mentions of sausage rolls can also be found in 1809 in a post about a vendor listing a sausage roll. The Times mentions it in 1864 when a sausage roll maker, William Johnstone, was fined for what were basically health violations.

At the end of the day, pigs in a blanket and sausage rolls have variants all over and can be found throughout history but neither of them directly influenced the corn dog. Corn dogs sprung up all over the states in various versions that all kept the same basic method of dog or sausage, batter/dough and a stick. It’s an easy thing to invent as evidenced by how many unconnected places came up with the same idea throughout history.

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