[0:00] I will never forget the moment I was
[0:01] introduced to LA's most dangerous hot
[0:04] dog. Let me paint you a picture. You're
[0:06] in LA, it's 2:00 a.m. You had a few,
[0:09] three, four, five martinis, and the bars
[0:12] are closing, and nothing is open. As
[0:14] you're leaving, a crowd starts forming
[0:16] around a Mexican lady equipped with the
[0:18] most interesting and questionable
[0:20] cooking rig you've ever seen. A small
[0:23] pushcart topped with a sheet tray filled
[0:26] to the brim with bacon-wrapped hot dogs,
[0:28] onions, and peppers, jalapenos,
[0:30] all powered by one single heat source, a
[0:33] Sterno. And while there are some
[0:35] questionable practices associated
[0:37] historically with the [music] LA danger
[0:39] dog, it is the iconic, undisputed
[0:42] late-night food of LA. And while there
[0:44] are operations all over the city, there
[0:46] is one guy that I am particularly
[0:49] obsessed with.
[0:51] Today, I take inspiration from him.
[0:53] >> You are not him. You are not him.
[0:55] >> This is the LA danger dog, and I assure
[0:58] you it's safer than you think.
[1:01] Now, the basis for our recipe is hot
[1:04] dogs and bacon [music] to make our
[1:06] bacon-wrapped hot dogs. Now, I'm a New
[1:09] Yorker, we're going with Sabrett. This
[1:11] is the undisputed New York hot dog, in
[1:13] my opinion. It's the one found on every
[1:15] cart on every corner in New York.
[1:17] Probably not what they use, but the hot
[1:19] dog itself doesn't really matter. I'm
[1:21] just going to get them out of their
[1:22] package and dry them a little bit. For
[1:24] the bacon, we want to lean on the
[1:26] thinner side. Otherwise, too thick,
[1:29] you're not going to re- render that
[1:30] bacon out the same time of the hot dog
[1:32] cooking. And so, what we're going to do
[1:34] is we're just going to start like this.
[1:35] I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to
[1:37] wrap that bacon around the hot dog. Now,
[1:40] why the name danger? If you know
[1:42] anything about food service, or if
[1:43] you've ever worked in food service, is
[1:45] that when you work with food, you must
[1:48] keep that food either below 40° or above
[1:51] 140°.
[1:53] Anything in between, referred to as the
[1:55] danger zone. And while there was a time
[1:57] when this was highly suspect, this is
[1:59] now actually been legitimized and
[2:01] recognized as a legitimate food option
[2:04] on the streets. And the original
[2:06] Martinez is one of the most popular. But
[2:08] I don't know what it is about this guy.
[2:12] >> [screaming]
[2:13] >> He's kind of a vibe.
[2:17] And I'm a sucker for the theatrics, and
[2:20] this guy knows how to bring the
[2:21] theatrics.
[2:25] This is going to go into the fridge,
[2:27] where it's below 40°, we're going to
[2:29] allow that bacon to kind of firm up and
[2:30] wrap tightly around those hot dogs. Next
[2:33] up, onions and peppers. For the onion,
[2:35] we're just going to take the top, take
[2:37] the bottom off, cut it in half, get
[2:39] those skins off. Now to cut this onion,
[2:42] you can cut it two ways. Orbitally,
[2:43] which is cutting along the lines that
[2:46] run across the surface, or you can cut
[2:48] it across. This way, it's going to cut
[2:52] more of the fibers of the onion, so this
[2:54] will break down more tender, more
[2:56] buttery after cooking. If we cut along
[3:00] the sides, we got less cells cut through
[3:02] in the onion,
[3:03] >> [music]
[3:03] >> so while it'll cook down and soften,
[3:05] it's going to still have a little bit
[3:06] more texture. I want a little texture,
[3:08] so I'm going to cut orbitally along
[3:10] those lines. Not paper thin, but we want
[3:13] them on the thinner side. Make our way
[3:15] across until we no longer have stability
[3:19] in the onion, and then we're just going
[3:20] to push it over, do the same thing.
[3:25] Next up, we've got some red bell
[3:26] peppers. We're just going to slice the
[3:28] cheeks around the pepper, not
[3:30] lengthwise. We're going to turn [music]
[3:31] it,
[3:32] and we're going to cut strips.
[3:38] >> [music]
[3:38] >> Our veg is ready. The last thing to
[3:40] prep,
[3:42] flaming hot Cheetos, bro. This is
[3:44] Martinez's sort of signature move. And
[3:46] while I'm not a flaming hot Cheeto guy
[3:48] myself, there's a time and a place for
[3:50] everything. Bag of flaming Hot Cheetos
[3:52] into a food processor.
[3:54] We're just going to process it into like
[3:56] a dust.
[3:58] Just going to get it in here so I can
[4:00] transfer it into my retrofitted
[4:02] dispenser. Now, I'm not saying this to
[4:05] brag, I have made ravioli dough out of
[4:08] Flaming Hot Cheetos. So, they are while
[4:10] a versatile cooking tool, you don't you
[4:13] don't need it every day. Then we've got
[4:15] our jalapenos, which we're going to just
[4:17] stir up with our veg. We've got our
[4:18] sauces. We're going to take some
[4:21] creative liberties here. We've got our
[4:22] regular ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard. I
[4:25] love Sriracha on a hot dog. So, I'm
[4:27] going to add a little bit of that. Also
[4:29] going to with our veg going to add some
[4:30] cherry peppers. And then of course, the
[4:33] sturdiest bun for something like this in
[4:35] my opinion that I can find, Martin's hot
[4:37] dog rolls. Now, you know I like to
[4:39] recreate things true to form,
[4:41] authentically. And like I said, we're
[4:43] not setting up a pushcart with a sheet
[4:45] tray, but we're going to try and make
[4:46] this very much in the spirit of the
[4:48] Martinez LA dog. Now, while we will not
[4:51] be using a sheet tray to cook these, I
[4:54] am going to need a flat top style
[4:57] griddle to cook our danger dogs. So, I'm
[4:59] going to need our carbon steel griddle
[5:02] and the press from our sponsor today,
[5:04] Made It. And by the look of it, you
[5:05] could tell it's something I use all the
[5:06] time. It sits right on my stove. I
[5:09] flaunted it. The Made In griddle brings
[5:11] restaurant quality cooking right to your
[5:12] home. It's heat safe up to 1,200° so it
[5:15] can be used outdoors on a grill, over an
[5:18] open flame, or indoors on a gas,
[5:20] electric, or induction cooktop. The
[5:22] griddle's pre-seasoned and naturally
[5:24] nonstick, ready to use right out of the
[5:26] box without any chemicals or coatings.
[5:29] And just like cast iron, as you use and
[5:31] season your carbon steel griddle, it'll
[5:33] continue to develop a naturally nonstick
[5:36] surface. And one of the reasons I love
[5:38] it so much is because it covers two
[5:40] burners, it maximizes the cooking space,
[5:43] so I can cook large batches of things
[5:45] without worrying about overcrowding the
[5:47] pan. It really is a great thing to have
[5:49] at home. If you want to pick yourself up
[5:50] one and save on all of the amazing
[5:53] products Made In has to offer, head on
[5:55] down to the link in my description. Now
[5:57] it's time to make LA danger dogs. Now as
[5:59] far as setup goes, if you pay close
[6:02] attention to the actual sheet tray
[6:04] cooking surface, you'll notice a warped
[6:07] dimple at the center where the heat
[6:09] source sits. That's the hot spot and
[6:11] that's where all the fat pools and where
[6:13] everything cooks. With our griddle,
[6:15] we're going to do similar thing. I'm
[6:17] going to have the hot spot be here and
[6:19] turn the front burner on. The back's
[6:21] going to stay warm and I can push
[6:23] everything off to the back and just cook
[6:25] everything sort of right here. While
[6:27] that's slowly heating up, so we can
[6:30] render our bacon nicely, going to place
[6:32] seam side down. Keep that bacon nice and
[6:34] secured right on the griddle.
[6:38] >> [music]
[6:39] >> Then I'm going to place my press on them
[6:40] just to make sure that we keep that
[6:42] bacon nice and sealed and secured to the
[6:45] hot dogs. We're just going to cook these
[6:47] slowly allowing the bacon fat to render.
[6:50] You don't want to cook them too fast,
[6:52] too hard. [music] If it was just hot
[6:53] dogs, it'd be different, but now we're
[6:55] trying to render that fat not only to
[6:57] get the bacon crispy around the hot dog,
[7:01] but to give us a cooking fat to [music]
[7:03] cook the rest of our vegetables with.
[7:05] After about 5 or 6 minutes, once you can
[7:07] tell starting to brown on that first
[7:11] side, but the bacon still holding
[7:12] together, you can rotate them.
[7:14] >> [music]
[7:16] >> And the trick that I found to prevent it
[7:18] from unraveling around the hot dog is
[7:20] not too hot of a temperature to start.
[7:25] Once they start browning and we get
[7:27] close, we're really just turning them
[7:29] and ensuring there is no unrendered fat
[7:31] [music] in the bacon.
[7:34] That's starting to look like what you
[7:36] want to see. Golden brown all over the
[7:38] surface.
[7:42] And you see how the bacon has completely
[7:44] browned. There's no visible white fat
[7:47] present any longer. You've just got
[7:49] crisp bacon wrapping around hot dog. As
[7:52] they sort of finish, we can transfer
[7:54] them back to the holding position.
[7:57] We can get our jalapenos on and you'll
[8:00] notice we have all of this bacon fat and
[8:02] that's what why we cook this first. We
[8:05] want that bacon fat for our vegetables.
[8:07] And you see the jalapenos start
[8:09] blistering. Let's just keep rotating
[8:11] them and I think our dogs are just about
[8:13] done.
[8:14] Now, where we cooked our hot dogs, in
[8:16] with the onions. [music]
[8:18] And now we're cooking like Martinez.
[8:21] Love it. All the bacon fat, all the
[8:24] little bacon bits will be picked up by
[8:27] the moisture of the onions.
[8:29] >> [music]
[8:32] >> After a minute or two, when we've
[8:34] started to get a little bit of color and
[8:36] those onions softening,
[8:38] then we go on with our peppers.
[8:41] Salt as well. Now we're just looking to
[8:43] get a little color, a little char,
[8:44] soften all the vegetables
[8:46] >> [music]
[8:46] >> and we're almost there. Once our
[8:49] jalapenos are roasted, we can kind of
[8:51] keep them warm in the back. We got a
[8:52] little aluminum foil tin here. Now we
[8:55] can start to combine it all.
[8:57] >> [music]
[8:59] >> Finally, in with our cherry peppers.
[9:02] >> [music]
[9:03] >> All those vegetables, the acidity of the
[9:05] cherry peppers, everything cooking in
[9:08] that bacon fat has such an incredible
[9:10] aroma.
[9:12] Once our onions are cooked, we can
[9:13] transfer them to our little tray, keep
[9:16] them warm and then go over to our
[9:19] serving station.
[9:22] Now we're ready for service. I got my
[9:24] real cam. [music] Two with everything?
[9:26] You got it. Just let the buns touch.
[9:29] Give it a gentle warm, barely any heat.
[9:34] Mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, a little
[9:38] Sriracha. Flaming hot Cheetos, bro?
[9:41] Cebollitas.
[9:44] Jalapeno.
[9:45] There you have an LA danger dog.
[9:49] But actually, this is how I prefer to
[9:51] serve it.
[9:52] >> [music]
[9:52] >> The Martinez sauce drizzle is much
[9:54] harder than it looks. I don't even know
[9:56] how he does it. So, this is how we're
[9:57] going to do it.
[9:59] >> [music]
[10:01] >> Sick, bro.
[10:04] There's so much good stuff going on in
[10:05] here. That's a complete meal. It tastes
[10:08] as good as it looks. And if you want to
[10:09] throw together an LA dog set up at your
[10:12] house, recipe's going to be down in the
[10:14] description. That's all that I have
[10:16] today. I'll see you next time. Until
[10:17] then, take care of yourself, stay safe,
[10:20] and go feed yourself.