PHILADELPHIA, July 7, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Aramark (NYSE: ARMK), the award-winning food and hospitality partner for nine Major League Baseball teams, is celebrating National Hot Dog Month (July) with a delicious roster of gourmet hot dogs. Selling nearly four and a half million hot dogs at MLB ballparks last season, Aramark’s lineup of ballpark hot dogs ranges from the classics, like the Fenway Frank, to the extreme, like the Canteen Dog, from celebrity chef, Andrew Zimmern.

Ketchup, mustard, relish and sauerkraut are standard hot dog toppings, but times are changing, and so is the ballpark experience. Toppings now range from roasted red peppers and pickled jalapenos, to sriracha and pulled pork. This season, Aramark’s culinary team took a swing at spicing up the classic hot dog, while also celebrating the fan favorites.

“Hot dogs are, and always will be, the bestselling food item at the ballpark,” said Carl Mittleman, president of Aramark’s sports and entertainment division. “What makes the hot dog the perfect ballpark food, is its portability and the ability to make it your own. Our chefs have created some innovative dogs this season, using toppings most fans never would have thought to use. There’s something for every taste on our menus this season.”

Fresh Takes on Fan Favorites
Flavorful ballpark food continues to evolve, and Aramark’s culinary team is using ingredients that tap into local flavors and current food trends. Check out these unique hot dogs and give them a try next time you’re at a ball game.

• Andrew Zimmern’s Canteen Dog* (Kauffman Stadium)- Piedmontese all beef hot dog topped with grain mustard, homemade roasted vegetable mayo, cabbage slaw, pickled jalapenos and spices, on a Martin’s long potato roll.
• Blazin’ Buffalo Chicken Dog (Kauffman Stadium)- Beef hot dog topped with pulled chicken in buffalo sauce and coleslaw.
• Cuban Pretzel Dog* (PNC Park)- Foot-long, all-beef hot dog topped with slices of ham, pulled pork, Swiss cheese, Dijon mustard and pickles, on a pretzel hoagie roll.
• Dixie Dog (Turner Field)- Half pound, foot-long, all beef, national deli hot dog, flash-fried, pulled barbecue pork, coleslaw and homemade barbecue sauce.
• Pastrami Dog (Citi Field)- Two New York classics in one bite – Nathan’s Famous all beef hot dog topped with house-braised pastrami
• Philly Cheese Steak Dog (Citizens Bank Park)- Philly Frank topped with Philadelphia cheese steak, served ‘wit or wit out’ onions.
• Polish Hill Dog (PNC Park)- Hebrew National foot long topped with mini potato pierogies, coleslaw and homemade onion straws.
• South Philly Dog* (Citizens Bank Park)- Philly Frank topped with roasted red peppers, sharp provolone and broccoli rabe.

*Denotes hot dogs that are new to the ballpark this season.

Not Your Average Dog
As baseball fans’ taste preferences have changed, so has the ballpark dog. Aramark has looked beyond the beef frank to expand hot dog offerings available for adventurous fans who are hungry for something different. Take a look at some hot dogs that leave the beef behind.

• Elk Brat (Coors Field)- Ground elk and jalapenos, locally made by Gold Star, served with customer’s choice of peppers and onions or sauerkraut, on a hearty, white bread coney bun, with sesame seeds.
• Freddy Fender (Minute Maid Park)- From celebrity Chef Bryan Caswell, chorizo sausage, wrapped in a corn tortilla and deep fried, topped with tequila braised onions, pico de gallo, cotija cheese and a cilantro sour cream.
• Peameal Bacon Sausage* (Rogers Centre)- Peameal bacon sausage topped with caramelized onions and honey mustard, on a cornmeal bun
• Taco Dog* (Coors Field)- Chorizo dog topped with cheese, lettuce and pico de gallo.

*Denotes hot dogs that are new to the ballpark this season.

Classic Dogs
For those hungry fans who don’t like to stray from tradition, the classics are always available. Tried and true favorites, like the Fenway Frank at Fenway Park, or Nathan’s Famous at Citi Field, remain top sellers. In fact, hungry Red Sox fans ate 815,000 Fenway Frankslast season, and hungry Mets fans consumed 350,000 Nathan’s hot dogs, while cheering on the Mets in 2014.

Vegetarian fans are not to worry, veggie dogs are sold at all nine of the ballparks where Aramark is the food and beverage provider. In fact, Aramark sold more than 23,000 veggie dogs last season!

Hot Dog Fun Facts
Dishing out ballpark dogs to fans in their seats is a tough job:

• An Aramark hot dog “hawker” sells an average of 150 hot dogs per game.
• A fully loaded ballpark hot dog vendor’s bin weighs 30 pounds.
• Depending on the game, it typically takes a hot dog vendor less than two innings to sell all the hot dogs in his/her bin.
• On average, Aramark hot dog “hawkers” walk 4-5 miles per game, up and down stairs.
• Hot dog bins are arranged left to right: Rolls – Condiments and wax paper – Hot Dogs.

Aramark partners with 11 Major League baseball teams to provide food and beverage, retail and/or facilities services — Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays.

Recipe
Bring the taste of the ballpark home, with two New York classics in one bite. The Pastrami Dog from Citi Field is a Nathan’s Famous all beef hot dog topped with house-braised pastrami.

CITI FIELD PASTRAMI DOG

Makes one hot dog

Ingredients:

• Nathan’s hot dog, one
• Hot dog bun, standard size, one
• Pastrami, Diced, 2 ounces
• Yellow mustard, 1 ounce

Preparation:

1. Steam Pastrami until it reaches an internal temperature of 155 degrees (roughly 2-3 hours).
2. Boil hot dog until it reaches in internal temperature of 155 degrees (roughly 5-7 minutes).
3. Once the pastrami is heated, small dice into ¼ pieces,
4. When hot dog is ready, place in bun.
5. Top hot dog with diced pastrami, 2 ounces.
6. Garnish with Gold’s spicy yellow mustard.

The 4th of July parade in Lexington, MI features pickles in addition to candy and other items that are more traditionally seen handed out at parades.  This has to be one of the few parades in the country where pickles are featured and it seems like a great idea.  In addition to the kids and other pickle lovers who enjoy receiving the pickles those who are lucky enough to get asked to throw pickles into the crowd also enjoy their duties.  No word yet as to if these pickles being handed out are individually wrapped or what form of packaging they may be in.  This seems like an idea worth getting on board with and perhaps Texas Tito’s will bring this unique 4th of July tradition to New Braunfels, Texas and distribute individually packaged dill pickles to the large crowd that gathers every fourth of July for the parade.

The following is an excerpt from Becky Krystal’s article “When in a pickling pickle, how D.C. food businesses get around shortages,” appearing April 15 at www.washingtonpost.com

“The world was full of panic — and mock panic — early this year when Chipotle pulled carnitas from some of its restaurants after a pork supplier was found to be violating the chain’s animal-treatment standards. The shortage continues, with no end in sight.

What if that had happened to a small business? What do you do when even the slightest fluctuation in ingredient supplies can have an outsize impact on your bottom line? 

That is the kind of dilemma local restaurateurs and food business owners run into regularly. Weather can wreak particular havoc, as we all learned in last year’s margarita-threatening lime shortage.

Yi Wah Roberts, co-founder of fermented foods business Number 1 Sons, also got a firsthand lesson in the power of Mother Nature last year.

When it came to formulating their pickles, Roberts and his sister Caitlin decided that cucumbers from several West Virginia farms made superior half-sours, dills and more. “The cucumber pickles make up probably two-thirds of our sales,” Roberts said.

So imagine their dismay when Number 1 Sons ran out them last year, a development Roberts attributed to both their popularity and a shortage of cucumbers from growers. He would have preferred to have stocked up on cucumbers to cure and sell over the winter, but that wasn’t possible. Roberts said the farmers typically do two cucumber plantings, and the second planting did not yield the expected amount of produce.

Could such a thing be avoided in the future? Roberts’s light-bulb moment came recently when he attended a sustainable agriculture conference, where he learned what affected the second harvest: downy mildew. Because it can’t survive cold temperatures, the mildew surfaces late in the growing season after it blows north from Florida. It can take out cucumber plants in days, he said.

Roberts has talked to a scientist at Cornell University who is developing a mildew-resistant version of a pickling cucumber. (Most research so far has focused on slicing cucumbers, he said.) Number 1 Sons is also working with a seed grower in Virginia who will provide Roberts with mildew-resistant seeds to share at farmers markets with growers and customers. Both Bigg Riggs Farm and Spring Valley Farm and Orchard have agreed to try growing the in- development variety of cucumber.

“That is a potential success,” Roberts said. “The payoff’s a little further down the road, but it’s worth it.”

Knowing that the cucumber supply is at risk prompted Roberts to look at other ways to diversify and experiment. When he started polling fellow farmers-market vendors for ideas, he learned that they’re frequently left with extra chili peppers, which look great on the sales table but don’t always get cleared out by shoppers. Now Roberts plans to make hot sauce to sell this season.”

Krystal, Becky. “When in a Pickling Pickle, How D.C. Food Business Get Around Shortages.”  The Washington Post.  Washington Post, 15 April 2015.  Web.

Read the whole article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/how-local-food-businesses-handle-ingredient-shortages-and-challenges/2015/04/13/bcd777bc-d706-11e4-b3f2-607bd612aeac_story.html