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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Chicago
Beef sausage in a soft poppy-seed bun, topped with yellow mustard, bright green relish, chopped onion, tomato, pickle spear, pickled peppers and celery salt — “dragged through the garden,” as they say in Chicago. Ketchup is not included.
Traditional dish from Chicago, Illinois
Also known as: Chicago hot dog, Chicago dog
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
Chicago-style hot dog — Chicago, the United States
The Chicago-style hot dog is always assembled the same way: a beef hot dog, steamed or simmered, in a soft poppy-seed bun that is also steamed. Toppings are yellow mustard, a very bright green pickle relish, chopped white onion, tomato slices, a dill pickle spear, small pickled peppers (sport peppers), and a pinch of celery salt. In Chicago, people say this hot dog was “dragged through the garden.”
The sausage arrived with German and Central European immigrants in the late 19th century. The vegetable-heavy assembly is linked to street vendors of the 1930s: during the Great Depression they piled vegetables onto the sausage to offer a cheap, complete meal and stand out from competitors. The recipe became established in neighborhood stands and lunch counters across the city.
Ketchup is not part of the Chicago hot dog, and asking for ketchup at a counter in the city often draws comments. The hot dog is sold at neighborhood lunch spots, stands and roadside joints, almost always served with French fries.
Chicago , Illinois
Hot dog assembled in the Chicago style, with the topping locals call “dragged through the garden.”
Beef sausage, poppy-seed bun, yellow mustard, green relish, chopped onion, tomato, pickle spear, pickled sport peppers, celery salt.
By hand, hot, with French fries; no ketchup.
Snack or quick lunch, year-round.
Your questions
Beef sausage in a poppy-seed bun, with yellow mustard, green relish, onion, tomato, pickle spear, sport peppers and celery salt.
Because of local tradition: the classic assembly doesn’t include ketchup, and many locals say it masks the flavors of the other ingredients.
It’s the expression used in Chicago for the hot dog with all the recipe’s toppings: dragged through the garden.
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