Your HopDogs are fully cooked before being packaged, so technically you could grab one out of the fridge and just eat it cold (and we won’t say that we’ve never done that) – but we don’t recommend that unless you want to slice it up and serve it in something like a wurstsalat.
Our usual way to do a hop dog is to heat it in a pan with a little butter or butterschmalz. Put the heat on medium and let it go for a few minutes, turning it so it gets crispy on each side. If you’re making lots of hot dogs for lots of folks, you can heat them in warm water first and then just put them in a really hot pan for a few seconds on each side to crisp them up.
If it’s summer, of course you can grill them – the smoke from the fire and the marks from the grill practically ensure a great dog!
If you’re feeling extra fancy, you can butterfly the hot dog – splitting it in half the long way and then cooking it in butter in a hot pan. This gives you more of that great crispy snap you’re looking for and gives you more room to fit toppings!
Or, you can drop it in the deep fryer until the hot dog tears open (which is why in some areas, that’s called a “Ripper”).
Grab a fluffy hot dog bun, toast the inside, put in your hot dog and top it how you want. It’s not your Omas wurst and it’s certainly not just a wurst in semmel.