Hot dogs are quintessential BBQ and camp favorites – easy and convenient, tasty and filling. But we stepped the fun up a notch at our latest beach camping adventure with a recipe culled from a most excellent camping prep book called Camp Out! The Ultimate Kid’s Guide by Lynn Brunelle.
Called Spider Dogs by Brunelle (and Octo-Dogs by us when we are making them at the beach) they are skewered hot dogs skewered, sliced and cooked so that they become eight-legged spiders (or in our recent case of camping: octopii).
Your kids will really dig them, you will raise your cool quotient and they are still as easy as throwing a few dogs on the grill.
(Note: There is quite the fire storm about the relative healthfulness of hot dogs. Nitrates and nitrites may or may not be bad or good for you…I really don’t know. We use Applegate Organic hot dogs, which apparently have as much nitrite and nitrate as conventional brands, but are made with organic meat and “natural” curing sources. Does it make a difference? Who knows? But Leandro likes them. I find the whole thing confusing, so I can’t offer solutions, but here’s a New York Times article that can at least explain the source of the confusion: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/business/02hotdog.html?_r=2&ref=health)
Grilled Spider-Dogs
Packaged hot dogs
1 skewer for each hotdog
You’ll want a hot grill going for this.
Stick a skewer halfway through each hot dog lengthwise.
Carefully cut the free half into quarters, lengthwise.
Lay the sliced ends of the hot dogs on the grill. The slices will curl back away from each other as they cook. When the sliced end is cooked and curled, carefully remove the dogs from their skewers, skewer through the cooked end and slice uncooked half into quarters lengthwise. Lay the uncooked ends of the dogs on the grill and cook until they are also curled back and you have a spider (or octo-) dog!
You may also like:
A Camping Week Come A Cropper – And What We Cooked
Spaghetti A La Carbonara for camp stoves
Spanish-style Tortilla adapted for camp stoves
Quesadillas adapted for camp stoves
Aglio Olio et Peperoncino (simple garlic and hot pepper pasta dish) for camping
Hot, Cheap & Easy 
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Share away! The more the merrier, thanks!
What a fabulous idea! Can’t wait to try it. I know my kids are going to love it!
Thanks Emily…I think they look a bit like a beefy fleur-de-lis in the sky there!
The pictures made me laugh! So cute.