The Impatient Chef Traveling Survival Tip: Coffee Pot Hot Dogs

 

A Dog in Every Pot

The Impatient Chef occasionally travels (and will again once the pandemic is over), and food on the road can be difficult if a restaurant for every meal is financially out of the question.  Long time readers of this blog know that The Impatient Chef is not a food snob, but does like finer foods when available.  When not available, what will fill the stomach can be just what the doctor held his/her nose and ordered.  

In that vein, The Impatient Chef was traveling across the country in 2014 in a car full of camera equipment and a cooler filled with food that came along because A) it would have spoiled if left behind, or B) it would be convenient.  Once such convenience was a pack of Trader Joe's hot dogs.  The trip was done on a tight budget, so "economy" was the word when booking rooms.  Desperation being the stepmother of innovation, thinking outside of the wrapper is a good skill to have.  

One innovation that still makes The Impatient Chef and wife chuckle is the Coffee pot hot dog.  After arriving to a hotel room very late and very hungry, we put out heads together, and rummaged through the cooler, emerging with a pack of hot dogs, cheddar cheese, and some mustard, while eyeing the drip coffee pot menacingly.  

The process was simple.   Fill the pot with water, and pour it into the coffee maker's reservoir.  Add hot dogs to the pot.  Turn on the pot.  It is good form to not allow any of the hot dogs to burn onto the bottom of the pot.  Once the water has dripped into the pot, let it sit for about 5-10 minutes, and serve.  

IMPORTANT!  Clean the pot afterward.  Be a considerate traveler, and make it nice for the next person.

Thanks for looking!

--The Impatient Chef