$25,000 Backyard Giveaway – Hot Diggity Dog!

I recently received an email from Hebrew National – the hot dog folks “who answer to a higher authority”, highlighting their “$25,000 Ultimate Backyard Upgrade” contest. Instantly, my mind began to wander, how would I upgrade the backyard with $25,000 grand? A few months ago, I saw this really cool outdoor kitchen that got my culinary juices flowing, here is a picture of what I would call an ultimate grill set-up!

Complete with refrigerator, oven and a killer grill, this would look so great by the pool and the whole set-up is around $2,000, which would leave another $23,000!!!

Perhaps we would redo the pool area and bring it a bit more into the 21st century, something like this would be nice.













Or maybe perhaps something like this.

Anyway, I realized that I could easily spend the entire $25,000 grand if in fact I won the contest.
And my chances of winning would probably be better if I didn’t tell ALL of you about the contest, but I’m too much of a softy to do that so I am not only telling you about it, in addition I’m going to give you the link so you can register for yourself.

What would you do to your backyard? I’d love to know your thoughts and dreams.

Obviously, Hebrew National would love for us to use more of their products, which all happen to be great, they only use the front cuts of beef and have never used any fillers, by-products, artificial colors or flavors in any of their beef hot dogs. I particularly enjoy the Hebrew National Jumbo Beef Franks as an easy summer supper, so I thought that I would share my hot dog cooking technique with you and also my recipe for Spicy Horseradish Mustard, which just takes a hot dog and makes it a supper sensation.

I’ll give you the link to the $25,000 Ultimate Backyard Upgrade after the recipe and cooking technique… so no peeking ahead!!!


This mustard recipe goes great with burgers, grilled fish, chicken or on your favorite deli sandwich just as well as on a Hebrew National Frank. Making the mustard a day or two ahead will only bring out more of the spiciness.

Spicy Horseradish Mustard
(Yields about 2 cups)

2 ounces - Coleman’s Dry Mustard (The quality is worth the price)
½ cup - Boiling Spring Water or Filtered Tap Water
1 Tablespoon - Mustard Seeds, toasted (I’ll explain below)
½ cup - Cider Vinegar
1 Tablespoon - Prepared Horseradish
2 each - Garlic Clove, sliced
1 teaspoon - Organic Cane Sugar
2 teaspoons - Sea Salt, ground
3 each - Large Egg Yolks, slightly beaten
To taste – Cracked Black Pepper

Combine the ground mustard and the boiling water in a measuring cup and mix into a soft paste, let stand for 15 minutes uncovered.

Meanwhile, heat a small saute pan over medium-low heat and toss the mustard seeds into the pan, moving the seeds continuously until the seeds begin to jump in the pan like dried kernels of corn, about 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and allow the seeds to cool completely.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the cider vinegar, horseradish, garlic, sea salt and sugar. Process the ingredients until well incorporated, about 1-2 minutes.



Using a double boiler set over medium heat with about 1 inch of water in the bottom pan, combine the horseradish mixture, the mustard mixture and the egg yolks.

Stir constantly to ensure that the egg yolks don’t scramble, until the mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of a spoon when run through the liquid, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the toasted mustard seeds and allow to cool to room temperature. Adjust seasoning with cracked black pepper. Place in an air-tight container and refrigerate for up to 2 months.

John’s Delicious Hot Dog Cooking Tip
It’s all in the technique isn’t it?

(For 4 Hot Dogs)

Using a heavy cast iron skillet set over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of organic butter.

When the butter is melted, gently coat both sides of 4 hot dog buns with the butter.
Toast the buns until just golden brown, remove from the pan and set aside.

Turn heat up to medium-high heat and add the hot dogs.
Let the dogs sit in the pan undisturbed for about 2 minutes to get a nice brown color on the bottom edge (don’t let them burn).

Turn the dogs over and continue to brown all four sides.

Turn the pan up to high heat and with the dogs still in the pan add 1/2 cup of your favorite beer to the pan.

Continue to cook the dogs in the beer, shaking the pan frequently until almost all of the beer has evaporated away.

Turn off the heat and place a wonderfully toasted/steamed dogs into each of the golden toasted buns.

Garnish with the Spicy Horseradish Mustard and any other condiment you prefer and enjoy with the rest of the nice chilled beer.

Enjoy!!!

Was I going to tell you something else? Oh yeah, to enter into the Hebrew National $25,000 Ultimate Backyard Upgrade, simply follow this link:

http://conagra.eprize.net/upgrade08/index.tbapp

Good luck…let me know what you’d do to your backyard. If I win, I’ll invite ALL of you over for some Hot Dogs and a dip in the pool.

Until next time,

Chef John

COOK with JOHN

http://www.cookwithjohn.com/

john@cookwithjohn.com