Corn dogs (or korn dogs) are typically beef hot dogs on a stick that have been coated in cornmeal and deep-fried.
Precisely who invented them is unknown.
In 1927 Stanley S. Jenkins filed a patent for a “Combined Dipping, Cooking, and Article Holding Apparatus.”
This patent was for impaling “wieners, boiled ham, hard boiled eggs, cheese, sliced peaches, pineapples, bananas and like fruit, and cherries, dates, figs, strawberries, etc.,” on a stick, dipping them in a batter, and deep-frying them.
What initially emerged from this idea was the corn dog, a popular food at fairs and amusement parks.
Corn dogs were popularized during the 1940s, and they quickly became a national “stick food.”
Many variations of corn dogs have emerged. Some corn dogs, for instance, are made from chicken, and not beef.
Their advantage is that they contain less fat and more protein.
Corn dogs are typically deep-fried, but some are baked.
Corn dogs are typically deep-fried just before they are consumed, but frozen corn dogs are available in grocery stores and supermarkets.
Corn dogs were so popular that a number of chains have served versions of them.
The Wienerschnitzel hot dog chain, for instance, offered them when they opened in 1961 and continue to do so today.
The 7-Eleven convenience store chain sells corndog rollers, which are corn dogs without the stick.
Text Source: Fast Food and Junk Food: An Encyclopedia of What We Love to Eat Book
