07/07/2026
Pints, Pretzels, & Prairie Tales: Hot Dogs and their Wurst Roots
As the ultimate American holiday, the Fourth of July is celebrated in so many ways – fireworks, grilling, lake trips, and of course, hot dogs. Have you ever wondered how those smooth, pink, meaty tubes came to be though? Of course you haven’t, but if you’re weird like our brewer, you did a competitive informative speech on the subject in high school. Here’s a brief history of the modern-day hot dog:
While sausages have been around since ancient times, Frankfurt, Germany claims today’s sausages were invented there in the 1400s, which is where the name “frankfurter” comes from. Alternatively, Vienna, Austria claims to be the birthplace with the use of both beef and pork (as opposed to just pork), and “wiener” comes from the name Vienna (Wien in German).
Either way, German immigrants can claim the fame for making them popular in the USA. Entrepreneurs sold sausages at street carts in the late 1800s, but it quickly became apparent that sausages were not an easy street food. One vendor even tried loaning customers gloves! Eventually a problem solver decided to put the dog on a split roll. Who exactly was the first to do so is debated, but generally the origin of the hot dog + bun combo is attributed to a concessionaire in New York or St. Louis. Exactly how spicy German sausages became pink and mild is also unclear, but it’s thought that industrial processing and the desire to make a universally-liked sausage, which was also a blank slate for toppings, contributed to creation of what we know today as hot dogs.
At The Frontier Frau, we appreciate a good hot dog, but in keeping with the German spirit we serve traditional sausages the traditional way. Bratwursts, polish sausages, weisswursts, and knackwursts have made their place on our menu and we are happy to provide something that it difficult to get in the area. So difficult, that we buy them from a specialty German sausage maker out of state! We’ll dive into the different types of sausages we serve in another post, but for now, if you get a hankering for some wursts, drop into The Frontier Frau on a Wednesday - Saturday, 11am - 10pm.
