The Hot Dog Condiment Tip That'll Keep Eating More Mess-Free

If you have ever eaten a Chicago-style hot dog (or any condiment-laden dog), you better grab a handful of napkins to wipe your mouth because odds are you'll be sporting smears of yellow mustard, ketchup, and relish. And that's not even the messiest hot dog: No matter how hard they try, neat-eaters will have a hard time keeping their fingers and face clean when sinking their teeth into a chili cheese dog.

Whether eaten at the ballpark or in the backyard, hot dogs are generally topped with one or more condiments, depending on personal taste. While ketchup and mustard are the go-to condiments, cooks love getting creative with their hot dogs, adding kimchi, pickled purple cabbage, fried egg, and wherever their imaginations take them. But often, this results in a messy sausage. While eating a messy hot dog is a sign of summer, there are times when getting condiments on your hands isn't ideal. In those cases, with one simple step the mess can be reduced or even eliminated.

Crafting a neater-to-eat hot dog may be as easy as placing the condiments on the bun first. Simply squirt a little or a lot of ketchup, mustard, or other condiment of your choice on the bun. To help with more even distribution, use a butter knife to spread it on the side of the bun. This also helps if too much ketchup is squirted onto the bun because the excess can simply be scraped off with the knife. 

This method of putting hot dog toppings on the bun first, works for more than just condiments. Relish, coleslaw, and sauerkraut will all create a nice little nest to cradle the hot dog. In this case, spoon the topping onto the bun and create a slight indentation in the center, in which you'll place the frankfurter.  You may want to grab a napkin just in case when you eat your hot dog, but you likely won't need a bib to catch any condiment mess with this new trick to show off at your summer barbecue.