The Seattle Dog: When Hot Dogs Meet Cream Cheese

Seemingly every major town has its own take on the hot dog. Seattle is no exception.

Invented in 1989 by one Hadley Long, the Seattle-style hot dog comes from unexpected origins. Long operated a late-night vegetarian bagel cart, but as demand for hot dogs grew, he decided to follow marketplace realities and added a sausage to his signature cream-cheese bagel. The name: Hadley’s Bagel Dog.

Things evolved, and as hot-dog carts grew in prominence, Long’s invention became omnipresent and iterrated upon – buns substituted the bagel, and sautéd onions became a common topping. Today, only the cream cheese is left from what is now colloquially known as the Seattle Dog.

I’m generally not a huge hot dog fan – pølse med lompe aside – but the Seattle Dog holds its own. The cream cheese is more of a differentiator than you might expect. There isn’t a strict science behind this type of dog, but here’s a quick recipe for the baseline variety.

• Cream cheese, softened

  • Optionally, a ziplock bag – see assembly instructions for more

• Sausage of your choice

• Bun

• Onion, thinly sliced, sautéed (optional-ish)

• Jalapeño slices from a jar (optional – I prefer the canned diced variety)

• Very optional:

  • Sauerkraut

  • Barbecue sauce, Sriracha, any sauce of your choice

  • Mustard

Make sure to char both sides of the sausages – in this case, that also includes a vegetarian sausage. On the right is a fully assembled Seattle Dog. Not pretty, but you get the point.

1. Preheat oven to broil.

2. Split hot dogs lengthwise – make sure they don’t fully split apart.

3. Over high heat, sauté onions in a pan until browned.

4. When done, throw the buns in the oven and broil on both sides.

5. Meanwhile, sear the sausages for about 2 minutes per lengthwise side. (Keep an eye on the buns so they don’t char.)

Add the dog to the bun and schmear cream cheese into the split. Top with onions and jalapeños.

For a more highfalutin presentation, you can throw the softened cream cheese into a ziplock bag, cut the bottom corner of it open with scissors, and precision-squeeze the cream cheese over the dog. Frankly, I don’t see any great advantage to this, bragging rights aside.

And that’s it: Seattle’s signature meat-based dish, some would claim, is one that came from a vegetarian cart.

Wikipedia: Seattle Style Hot Dog