Ghostbusters

After being kicked out of Columbia University, three odd scientists start a business called Ghostbusters. Their job is to locate and remove ghosts of all types for people who are having a supernatural problem. One of the scientists, Venkman, is sent to Dana Barrett's apartment where an entity named Zuul is living in her fridge, when he gets there he finds nothing but tries to impress Dana. The Environmental Protection Agency decides that the Ghostbuster's spectral housing unit is unsafe and decides to turn off the power to the unit causing all of the ghouls to escape into New York City causing havoc. The Ghostbusters convice the Mayor of the city that they are the only ones who can stop the ancient god Gozer the Gozerian who has already transformed Dana and her neighbor Louis into monsters and threatens all of New York.

One of the most popular characters in this movie and later in the animated series was the neon green spectre called "Slimer." The last we see of Slimer in the first film was he was engorging himself at a hot dog vendor. As scary as a ghost might seem it is also quite scary to wonder what exactly is in a hot dog. The basic ingredients of a hot dog are the following: meat, meat fat, a cereal filler such as bread crumbs or oatmeal, a little egg white, preservatives and some spices all contained within a synthetic collegen casing. In the United States if a hot dog has multiple types of meat, cereal, or soy fillers then the named must be changed to "links". Also hot dogs with the term "weiners" tend to contain more pork and are generally less bland then other hot dogs with the term "franks" which are made with mostly beef and are seasoned more. The meat that is used in hot dogs tends to be of low quality and the chicken or turkey dogs are cheapest because of the low cost of mechanically seperated poultry. The beef hot dogs do not use mechanically seperated meat paste since 2004 to keep people safe from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad Cow Disease. This was done because using machines to remove meat from the bones often would result in getting some spinal cord in the meat which is a part that carries BSE. Some of the hot dogs have byproducts within them such as fat, heart, kidney or liver but they must not exceed 15% of the total ingredients. Though hot dogs are high in sodium, fat and nitrate content they cannot contain more then 30% fat.

Sadly, I did this article after having eaten two hot dogs for dinner. They were quite yummy but I am not sure just how good for me they really are. If this information hasn't deterred you from eating hot dogs then try the Sweet Beer-Simmered Hot Dog Bites. Enjoy!


Sweet Beer-Simmered Hot Dog Bites

Ingredients

2 Pounds hot dogs cut into bite-sized pieces
2 Cups brown sugar
2 Cups ketchup
1 Can of beer (12ounce)

Preparation

Place all ingredients into a large sauce pan and mix. Cover and place on low heat, simmer for about 45 minutes.