Hot Dog for the King

My wife’s cousin, Geoffrey, visited from Norly, UK and I promised him I’d take him out to get a “hot dog for the King.” When the King and Queen of England visited the USA back in 1939, Franklin Delano Roosevelt had them out to his summer place in Hyde Park, New York for a picnic. He instructed his cooks to make a hot dog for the King and Queen as part of the luncheon. The idea didn’t go over well with FDR’s mother, but Eleanor LOVED hot dogs and was very keen on the idea. A gentleman by the name of Larry Joe serves the same hot dog FDR’s cooks served to King George and Queen Elizabeth, so I took Geoffrey over to his New England Fire Pit to get a dog, and the story.

Southern Black Cooks prepared A Hot Dog for the King and Queen

The cooks in the FDR White House were southern black men and they used a unique technique for preparing hot dogs. They marinated half pound, beef franks in molasses and apple juice, then smoked them until they cracked open. The result is a hearty and flavorful frank that always fills me up!

Larry Joe was apprenticed to Boston Speed, a Boston hot dog man who served this style of hot dog for many years down in Newmarket Square in Boston. Speed learned the technique from some of the cooks who worked in the FDR White House. He worked with the former White House cooks while cooking on the Pullman cars back in the days of fancy train travel.

So you see, Larry Joe continues the tradition of serving a hot dog for the King and Queen every day at his trailer in Mendon, MA! At Larry Joe’s New England Fire Pit, EVERYONE is treated like a King (or Queen) every single day.

Enjoy the video!