The Pickled Hot Dog Jar

When I was around twelve years old my family bought a pecan orchard on the Colorado River just north of San Saba, Texas. I was to spend many years roaming that place while honing my skills as a hunter and fisherman. I learned to cowboy, farm and most of the other skills it takes to run a large ranch and orchard. Many lessons of life were learned on that place along the Colorado. It is so funny the childhood memories that make an impression and come back to haunt you in your later years. I can remember during the school year we would leave every Friday afternoon and head south to the ranch. We would often stop at a small hamburger joint on the way, to eat and play pinball. If we didn’t go down until Saturday we would stop at a small country store, not far from the Colorado river, where we would buy snacks and a soda pop. They had strange brands of soda pop that I can not remember getting anywhere else. One of my favorites was called “Iron Hammer”. It was a grape soda made from wild mustang grapes. They had a big wheel of cheese and there were always several big glass jars on the counter with things like dill pickles, pickled eggs, pickled sausage links and pickled hot dogs. We would all get something to go with our pop and then we would sit down by the river and eat our snacks while watching the turtles and gars come up for air and break the surface of the murky river. I ran across a recipe the other day for old-time pickled hot dogs or sausage links and just had to try it. It brought back a flood of memories and the taste is authentic. There is a jar in my refrigerator right now. If you remember these things and would like to try and make these at home, here is the recipe. Feel free to adjust it as you want.

Enjoy your old-time junk food, Wild Ed

Pickled Hot Dogs or Sausage Links.

4 cups water

4 cups vinegar (I used cider vinegar)

2 TBS salt1 TBS Louisiana Hot Sauce

10 drops red food coloring

Crushed red pepper flakes to taste (I used one TBS)

1 tsp cayenne powder (optional)

2 garlic cloves

enough hot dogs or sausage links to fit in the jar

Put hot dogs or link sausages in a sterile jar, mix other ingredients and boil for a few minutes. Pour over links, and put in refrigerator for 7 days before eating. The longer they are in the jar the hotter they get. I used HEB classic hot dogs but plan on trying the jalapeño and cheese hot dogs in the next batch.

PS: They taste great with a big hunk of cheddar cheese, crackers and a grape pop.

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