How Hot Dogs Are Made: The Real StoryThere are many stories about how hot dogs are made. I remember when I was a kid my dad telling us that hot dogs were fetal pigs and other byproducts picked up off the ground and thrown into the grinder. To tell you the truth, that's what I've thought since I first heard it. It wasn't until I decided to do some research on this before a horrible and now enjoyable process. First, specially selected beef and/or pork trimmings (just like the meat you buy at the grocery store) are cut or ground into small pieces and placed in a blender. Poultry hot dogs will obviously use poultry trimmings. High-speed stainless steel grinders blend meat, spices, ice chunks and curing ingredients into a creamy, meaty paste. The dough is constantly weighed to ensure that the correct amount of each ingredient is used. The mixture is then pumped into an automatic binding machine, where it flows into hoses. Popular hot dog brands such as Oscar Meyer or Ball Park use cellulose casings, which are then removed. Some smoked sausages use natural casings that remain on the sausage when it is eaten. These smoked sausages are considered more traditional and are usually made by smaller manufacturers and tend to cost a little more. Once the casings are filled, they are tied into long hot dog strands and moved to the smoker; there they are fully cooked under controlled temperature and humidity conditions. They can be hardwood smoked for added color and flavor. After going through the smoke and cook cycle, the hot dogs are placed in cold water. If the hot dogs were made with cellulose casings, they are sent to an automatic peeler, where the cellulose skin is removed. The individual links are then transmitted to the packaging equipment. When cellulose casings are used, hot dogs have a precise size and weight. They are vacuum-packed in plastic films to protect the freshness and flavor of the hot dog. Since the casings of natural casing sausages are made from cleaned and processed animal intestines, they are similar in size, but not exact. Every package of hot dogs has an ingredients declaration, which lists everything it contains. Nowadays, it is less common to use various meats like hearts in hot dogs..