Hot dog

Nagi Maehashi’s selected hot dog is a chilli dog: a smoked sausage in a soft bun, covered with a thick beef chilli sauce and melted cheese. She credits the half-smoke chilli dogs at Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington, DC, as inspiration for this version.

Onion, garlic and red capsicum soften in olive oil before ground beef is browned and tomato paste is stirred through. Crushed tomatoes, water, beef bouillon, salt and a homemade blend of eight spices turn the mixture into the chilli sauce.

A long, gentle simmer reduces the sauce until the beef is tender. A portion is blended smooth and returned to the same pot, giving the sauce a finer texture that mounds on the sausage rather than running out of the bun.

The selected smoked sausage is browned in a pan and placed in a bun. Yellow mustard and finely chopped white onion are optional additions before the warm chilli sauce and shredded Colby cheese are layered over it.

The assembled hot dogs bake briefly until the cheese melts and are served immediately. Maehashi suggests plain crinkle-cut potato chips alongside them; the soft bun, smoked sausage, spicy sauce and melted cheese provide the main contrasts in this particular version.