I don’t want to go grill it outside because it is cloudy today.

And boiling it makes it kinda flobby.

Has anyone grilled a hotdog in a bread toaster before? any hints?

Edit 1:

Pan fried following this advice!

I had a delicious meal!!!

Thank you @tokookah@discuss.tchncs.de!

The hotdog fits in my frying pan! Hot dog in tiny frying pan

Completed dog

Mayonnaise on English bread, Lettuce ontop, dog on lettuce, Ketchup, Mustard, delicious!

  • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    If you are talking about the vertical style bread toaster, don’t cook anything that isn’t bread in those. If you are talking about a toaster oven, you can wrap it in foil and bake it.

    A solid alternative, and what makes a hotdog’s flavor really pop, is cutting it into 6-10 pieces and pan frying it.

      • RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Grease from the hot dog could short the heating elements and cause a fire.

        If you really want a grilled dog, your best bet is to stick it under the broiler for a few minutes.

      • over_clox@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        You don’t want the juices dripping down into an electric appliance do you? That risks burning the toaster up, or even getting electrocuted.

      • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        Please don’t experiment with cooking anything but bread in the toaster. They’re extremely dangerous to fuck around with. Please also keep anything conductive out of a toaster when it’s plugged in (even when it’s not plunged down) if you use some soft metal like tinfoil there’s a chance some gets stuck in the toaster and bridges a section of the heating element.

        As for using a fork to fish it out that’s generally not actually a problem - just unplug it first and make sure you’re not scraping the element in any way (I occasionally toast home made irregular bread so I often use a knife, carefully, to extract it).

        Toasters, especially old ones, oftentimes don’t have an integrated fuse so you can really fuck shit up with one.

      • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        If this post is serious and not trolling, then you are more than welcome to post in my community for cooking discussions: \

        https://sh.itjust.works/c/allthingsfoodandcooking

        You sound like you maybe have very little culinary experience, and I would be happy to assist, as this is one of my hobbies (and I have worked in kitchens professionally as well). And my community could sure use more content! 😅

        • can@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          Thank you for the link! I have more appliances at my disposal than OP but I still feel I’m under utilizing them.

      • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Why wouldn’t it cook a non-bread?

        • You will almost certainly have to stick a fork down into the vertical style bread toaster to retrieve the hotdog, which is hella unsafe.
        • It’s also almost impossible to clean the vertical style ones, which isn’t a problem for bread since the extra bits just burn off, but it is a problem for other foods like meats, as bits can easily rot in there.
        • Meats can also drip grease onto the elements, which will cause a fire.

        I’m not sure what cookware you have, but it sounds like you may be pretty limited on choices/space. I would highly recommend swapping the vertical toaster for a toaster oven. As they are basically little ovens that you can cook almost anything in, including toast and hotdogs.

        • Clocks [They/Them]@lemmy.mlOP
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          2 months ago
          • I suppose I could turn it off then use the fork.
          • Would tinfoil be an acceptable alternative? the tin would transfer the heat to the hotdog as to prevent the juices from staining the inside. this would also subtract the issue of the hotdog needing a fork.
          • Do vegan dogs change this situations?

          I do have to consider a toaster oven, they are far more convenient compared to my full sized oven.

            • Clocks [They/Them]@lemmy.mlOP
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              2 months ago

              WAIT-

              I didn’t think about this!

              I’ll totally experiment with that method.

              I don’t have a big enough pan, but a pot should do.

              • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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                2 months ago

                You can always slice the hotdog up if your pan isn’t large enough - unlike sausage the casing on a hotdog is more for appearance than to keep all the bits inside (hotdogs are basically solid tubes of stuff) so if you slice it in half to reduce its length you probably won’t notice when eating it.

              • Fondots@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                You need to do yourself a favor and go get yourself a proper frying pan/skillet. It doesn’t need to be an expensive or nice one, but if you don’t have one that can fit a few hot dogs, your kitchen is way under equipped.

              • proudblond@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                I pan fry hotdogs all the time. I put a little water in the pan to help the hotdogs heat all the way through and then let it burn off and fry them a bit to get them slightly crispy.

            • megane-kun@lemm.ee
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              2 months ago

              That’s similar to the way my mom usually cooks hotdogs and sausages.

              1. In a frying pan or skillet, put a little bit of water just enough to submerge the pan in like a couple of millimeters.
              2. Put the hotdogs (or sausages) and cook over a low fire.
              3. When the water has all boiled off, there should be some fat that remains, and that could be enough for a bit of frying. If not, add some bit of oil. The oil should just be enough to cover the frying pan in a thin film.
              4. Fry to the level of desired doneness/crispiness.

              My method, however, since I’m lazy, is to:

              1. Microwave the hotdogs (or sausages) for a couple of minutes (I usually do two minutes in high)
              2. Remove the hotdogs (or sausages) and pat dry them with a paper towel.
              3. Collect the fat drippings (if any).
              4. Pour the collected fat drippings (if any) or some cooking oil into a frying pan. Again, there should just be enough oil to coat the pan’s surface in a thin layer.
              5. Add the dried hotdogs (or sausages) and fry to the desired level of doneness or crispness.

              It’s usually the same result, but in less time and less worrying that the water has already boiled off and I’m already starting to burn the hotdogs (or sausages).

        • Clocks [They/Them]@lemmy.mlOP
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          2 months ago

          Perhaps it might not be apparent for you, but forming and discussing subjects like this are necessary to developing how “lived in” a platform is. With the death of the internet search due to AI, it simply increases the need of these answers to be written on a platform that hopefully will help spread these subjects for far longer and more ethically; rather then the closed silos of the past.

          I am not “struggling”, and to try and assert that based on some cursory readings feels extremely presumptuous.

          In other words, don’t assume things and enjoy silly and fun subjects like these a bit more.

          • braindefragger@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            death of the internet search because of ai.

            Dramatic much? Yes. I’m sure it’s simply impossible now to find out how to reheat a hotdog using a search engine or the AI that has consumed all of that data.

            IMPOSSIBLE!

  • edric@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Like another comment said, if it’s a vertical toaster, probably a bad idea. You can simply just fry it on a pan if you have one. Make cuts along the hotdog and fry it in some oil. It just turn out nice and juicy.

      • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 months ago

        If it has fat in it (it probably does) it can drip out and start a fire. I’d microwave it or boil it before putting it in a toaster. A toaster oven with a pan is fine, if that’s what you mean? Some people call them the same thing.

      • aramis87@fedia.io
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        2 months ago

        Do you have a microwave? I put lightlife’s in my microwave for 90 seconds on rotate and they come out okay. Or you can boil and then pan-fry to make the skin crispier, or you could just pan-fry.

  • j4k3@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    You need to clean out the crumbs tray before you do this, and then wash it after. Make sure that the inner grating does not have anything stuck after too.

    Toasters are only intended for dry bread. Inside they are usually just a very simple timer chip and a small 2 piece transformer. When the lever is pulled, part of that transformer is connected using a piece of steel. There is a momentary switch that powers the timer circuit which then connects the transformer holding the steel in place due to the magnetism. When the timer stops powering the transformer, it releases the steel when the magnetic field collapses.

    When the circuit is connected, the power through this small transformer is traveling through a nickel-chromium ribbon wire on both sides of the slots for bread. This wire is just wound around some mica sheets that can handle high temperatures. As far as the mica and nicrome wire, this construction style is used in most consumer quality devices. You’ll find this in hotplates, hair driers, curling irons, and toasters.

    Note that, the transformers used in the timing circuit of toasters are not the isolated type. The nichrome wire is connected to the live mains circuit when powered.

    I say all of this to make the statement: fundamentally, it is just a heating element. The fact that the element is inside a form factor is rather irrelevant. The relevant part is that the wiener likely contains fat and liquids that will come out with heat. If these were to squirt onto the mica or nichome wire it would be a problem that must be remedied with a tremendous amount of work or it could leave traces that might cause a fire later. If these juices got into the circuitry, it will likely destroy them and ruin the toaster. The placement of this circuitry is likely somewhere where an issue is unlikely, but all I can do is speculate. The engineers that designed the thing likely were not given a if-wiener-insertion constraint, and I don’t think that is a UL listed thing.

    Ultimately, you have to play the engineer and determine the cost to risk given the known and potential factors; it is just a simple heating element. This is only slightly more complex of a situation as a cave person’s if-campfire wiener insertion conundrum. The plastic molding and appliance form factor aesthetics are irrelevant.

  • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I tried microwaving a hot dog recently (I had a microwave for 30 years and never thought to try!) and it works surprisingly well. The skin was even browned.

  • Brkdncr@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    A toaster oven? Sure. Use the broil setting and a broil pan or a normal pan, turning occasionally. Broil is just an upside down grill.

  • deegeese@sopuli.xyz
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    2 months ago

    It would probably work in a pinch, but do not use the darkness settings, keep a very close eye on it.