Swanky Franky Winners: Dressed Sausage Dishes

Hawaiian Hot Dogs

The Hawaii-style Hot Dog, Hawaiian Hot Dog, or Red Hot Dog had originated from the area of Waipahu, Oahu, Hawaii at Redondo's and has become a state staple of Hawaii's affordable and comfortable taste of home Hawaii Hot Dog. The way Hawaiian Winners became the de facto hot dog was that it was preferred by Hawaii hot dog aficionados for its taste that was unique and the color of red, but to find out more Redondo's has the origin story in their locked away cabinets in their office. The Hawaiian-style Hot Dog called "Hawaiian Winners" would separate itself with its name and from how it was made: the Franks (1.6 oz), Dinner Franks (2 oz), and Wieners have one filler, but the Hawaiian Winners used Soy-Protein as a filler. While places around the world see Soy-Protein as a filler of cuisines that try to avoid meat, this was not the case for Redondo's as they were looking for a distinct taste. 

"Hawaiian Winners is our best selling hot dog. So we never did change the formula." -Redondo's

The name Swanky Franky is a nod to the original Hot Dog Cart that popularized the Hot Dog in Hawaii by a company named Spencecliff, but what about the other Hawaii Winners on other islands you might ask? There is more than one story about its origins as each island has its own red hot dogs with other islands having origin stories of their own. Uncle Louie's and Akahi brand red hot dogs are considered the "Real" Maui Red hot dogs while differentiating them from Redondo's brand being the Oahu Red Hot Dog. Hot Dog aficionados note that the Smoke Flavoring and Paprika (extract) are part of the seasoning taste of a true Hawaii Hot Dog that's in every seasoning mixture. 

"The smoked paprika, the soy-protein, more salt, the taste is light, but its still there. It reminds me of portuguese sausage, so maybe some red hot dogs have vinegar, sugar, garlic, but if its hot some dry mustard. The flavor of coleman's dry mustard is in the Hot Maui ones for sure." -Hot Dog Eating Regular

Costco Dogs vs Hawaiian Dogs

Speaking of Winners there are those that dare to compete against the cheap, affordable, and the tasty to become just that and not a Loser. Just what sort of rivalries are there? this comes from the place that made so many people in Hawaii make hot dogs their go to staple food in times when food is hard to come by was the big box window. Costco and Sam's club have for years provided the perfect pricing and a guaranteed line for their hot dogs that come with a drink and that is by design as they don't make a profit on them. They both however have to be credited to bringing it as a key food from the American palettes over to Hawaii as a must have meat between a bun.

The Hot Dog Combo Retail Business Strategy is known around the world for its attractive pricing. The Costco hot dog combo ($1.50 for a quarter-pound all-beef hot dog and a 20 oz soda with free refills) is legendary for its unchanging price since 1985. Costco uses Kirkland Signature for its own hot dogs that are made at the Hot dog manufacturing plant in Los Angeles (2008) and Chicago to control costs and supply, so they wouldn't take a loss on the hot dogs themselves. Considering the full cost of ingredients, labor, condiments, soda, and overhead there are losses. As a business strategy it is to drive overall value perception of the brand and membership, increasing store traffic, the feeling of an attractive unbeatable bargain. 

Hawaii has some of the most busiest Big Box Stores in the nation like Costco Iwilei with a estimate of 1,000-1,500 hot dogs on a average day. The guest cost of a hot dog, bun, condiments, soda, cup/lid/straw, labor, and overhead the cost could be about $2.26. The selling price is $1.50 and that is -$0.76 of losses with 1,500 hot dog losses per day -$1,140 (per month/ -$34,690 | per year/ -$416,100). These "loss" figures are conceptual, but it is still interesting to see the possibly losses from costs of what's publicly available, but, since the example of the gust cost was from the mainland there are most likely many uniquely to Hawaii costs like the shipping and how much more expensive Hawaii is, so it might be a low-estimate at best. Luckily these unique costs could give local hot dog makers a better chance, since the products are manufactured away from the islands and have to cross the vast ocean.

The battle against the mainland Hot Dog would be from the homely Hot Dog place in Haiku Maui of all places and it was called "Fukushimas - Home of the Famous Hot Dogs". During World War II, Tadashi Fukushima and Yoshie (wife), owned and operated a small hot dog stand in Lower Paia before moving to 815 Haiku Road. Hawaii has Manufacturers of Hot Dogs like Redondos, Franks Foods, and Kukui Sausage Company are some of the largest. A opportunity had happened when Costco stopped selling Polish Dogs in July 2018 and that disappointment had people starting to make their own polish hot dogs and trying other hot dogs at their own family gatherings. While the situation about the amount of hot dogs consumed did not change from people going to big box stores, people started to explore more local hot dog carts and hot dog specialty shops like Hank's Haute Dogs.

Discussions at sunday family gatherings would have people discussing foods and one of these would be the Costco Dogs (Kirkland Beef Hot Dogs) vs Hawaiian Dogs (Redondo Red Hot Winners). Then another conversation would be the All Beef Polish Sausage vs All Pork Pukikī Dogs aka the "Portuguese Sausage Hot Dog" that originated from Purity (Purity Foods Hawaii Inc). At this point the Hot Dog was a sausage integral to Hawaii food culture and people who enjoyed big delicious hot dogs would try to see how things could become more to local tastes. These are why such discussions are important and people would have a night of Redondo Winner's and Purity Portuguese Hot Dogs. While it is more expensive than getting a hot dog at a big box story, those who are unsure at first try it, and they start to have a interest in these local options. Knowing Hawaii has its own dogs of choice.

A Iconic Snap on Mu'umu'u dressed Hot Dog: People say the legendary man of Hot Dogs "Hank Adaniya" had a Chicago point of view as his hot dogs were often compared as a way to make Hawaii Hot Dogs elevated to the same level and have a comparable hot dog of its own. The Chicago dog is known to originate from Emil Reichel and Samuel Ladany (Founders of Vienna Beef), two Austrian-Hungarian immigrants who introduced their all-beef frankfurter recipe at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, where the key take away would be a iconic snappy casing. Hank has been credited for the preferred plethora of elements in hot dogs being brought to the forefront being the new norm: Lobster Sausage, Lamb Sausage, and a Chicago-like All-Beef Hot Dog Hawaiian-Snap style "Snapper Dogs".

"His hot dogs really gave me a taste of snappy sausage. I couldn't get enough, so I always wondered if it was a Hawaii thing, because I have had Chicago dogs and it just tastes different in Hawaii. Snapper Hot Dogs is what I call them, because it doesn't taste like a Chicago-dog, but it's snappy like one, you know?" -Hank's Customer, Kakaako

No Kamaboko Sausage, The Sea Dog: Traditional Japanese Kamaboko (pronounced kah-mah-BOH-koh) is particularly popular in Hawaii due to the islands' rich Japanese cultural heritage and access to seafood. It is made with Surimi Base (擂り身), ground meat of deboned white fish, with salt, sugar, egg whites, fish sauce, potato starch or cornstarch (firm-bouncy texture), and sometimes alcohol or mirin are added. A sausage that was not a fish cake in its looks, nor its taste, but one born of Haute cuisine. What else could fend off the "Lobster Roll" invades from Maine (State) and Connecticut (State) of New England with its version of Lobster Sandwich Colonialism. The answer to this was the Lobster Hot Dog. There is still a lot of battling to be done as Hawaii is working on its own competitor to the Lobster Roll in its sandwich culture with: Kapa Hale, Livestock Tavern, Earl Kaka'ako, and Feast by Jon Matsubara.

The Sea Dog, Seafood Hot Dog, or the nicknamed "Sea Winner" was originally a "Lobster Dog". The lobster was aloud to shine and have texture as the lobster-claws were visible-chunks while the filler was fine-paste of shrimp and white fish. The binder would be a delicate "mousse" style that used eggs and savory-cream (maybe heavy cream) to emulsify the sausage. The seasoning mix was simple with salt, white pepper, and garlic. This process had to be done quick, since it would have to poached and then immediately cooled quickly after poaching would firm them up would be the way it contained the moisture and snap inside the casing. It could not only make use of many seafoods that were crustaceans to its advantage like: All-Lobster Dogs, Pork Hash Dogs, Bēbē Shrimp Dogs (shrimp, crawfish, white fish), and Samoan Crab Dogs.

"We use lobster, a fish paste, and shrimp, seafood mousse stuffed inside pork casing. It's poached in butter afterwards. Garlic Aioli, lettuce, tomato, pickled radish, it's the perfect match." -Hank Adaniya

Broader Category for Seafood Hot Dogs: At first people didn't know what was inside and when they tried to fit it in a category it didn't really fit the description of a Po'boy, because its fried, it wasn't a fish cake (Japan), and it wasn't a crab cake (maryland). But the fan named "Sea Dog" from seafood and hot dog would be based off of its binder with many people speculating exactly what it could be. It gained the nickname "Sea Winner" (hawaii seafood hot dog with soy-protein) as a seafood hot dog that could have possibly used soy-protein. But one thing was for sure is that it was not a kamaboko.