Inside Coney Island’s Hot Dog Wars

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The setting was Coney Island within the early 1900s. The characters have been creative, shrewd, cutthroat, and aggressive. The story was meaty and juicy, with glitzy and glamorous celebrities influencing the plot. No, this isn’t a pitch for an HBO status drama or Oscar-nominated biopic. Fairly, it was the real-life scene of the (sizzling) canine battle that came about between Charles Feltman and Nathan Handwerker, two names that may not instantly resonate, however whose affect on the planet of sizzling canines is famous.

Whether or not you prime it with a meat chili as is finished in New York’s North Nation—Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, and Lewis Counties—or smother it in nuclear reactive inexperienced relish, yellow mustard, chopped onions, and a dill pickle spear as you may discover in Chicago, there’s one thing satisfying concerning the easy pleasure of consuming a sizzling canine. After all, not all franks are created equally: There are numerous variations, from all-beef kosher, to cased, uncased, cured, and uncured. Take pea and soy protein and extrude it right into a casing, and you’ve got a sausage. Put that very same creation on a bun, and voila, it turns into a sizzling canine—albeit not the one which ignited the fiery encounter between Feltman and Handwerker on Coney Island’s boardwalk.

Like so many meals which are embedded in American delicacies, the new canine got here to the States together with the arrival of immigrants—particularly, teams of German immigrants that arrived in two nice influxes from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. The primary sizzling canines to realize reputation have been bought by pushcart distributors and normally eaten with a knife and fork. As they cooked, the pure casings (sometimes derived from animal intestines) shrank, inflicting the canines to burst out of their skins and create an audible snap after they have been bitten into.

Whereas Manhattan was chowing down on their pushcart sizzling canines, one thing distinctive was occurring on Coney Island. It was 1867, and in response to The Coney Island Historical past Mission (CIHP), Feltman could possibly be seen strolling the seashores of Coney Island with a pie cart. His enterprise morphed from candy to savory when he grew to become a purveyor of sizzling canines and had an aha second. He questioned: Is there a technique to eradicate the necessity for plates and cutlery whereas giving prospects a singular expertise that might take them throughout the boardwalk with one free hand? By nestling the frank in a bun, he realized he may create a wholly new market and revolutionize the hot-dog-eating expertise. He employed a wheelwright—somebody who constructed pushcarts—to develop one for his creation, which resulted in a conveyable charcoal burner for grilling the canines, together with a tin-lined chest to maintain the buns steamy and contemporary. He known as his product “Coney Island crimson hots”, they usually grew to become as ubiquitous because the sand on the seashore under his ft.

With the arrival of a subway line that linked Manhattan and Brooklyn, Coney Island noticed an inflow of patrons, and Feltman’s popularity and enterprise grew. His pushcart gave technique to a brick-and-mortar institution, and by the Nineteen Twenties, Feltman oversaw what was billed because the nation’s largest restaurant, serving 5 million prospects a 12 months. CIHP described his holdings on Coney Island as masking a full metropolis block (within the spot that now homes Luna Park), which consisted of 9 eating places in addition to a carousel, curler coaster, ballroom, out of doors movie show, beer backyard, resort, bathhouse, pavilion, and naturally, a Tyrolean village.

Given his contribution, you may assume that each July 4th we’d be paying homage to Feltman for making our sizzling canines so handy and full. Then why is his not the identify you readily affiliate with America’s favourite barbecued sausage? Enter Handwerker, a easy grill man and bun slicer at one in all Feltman’s eating places. Spurred on by two co-workers, struggling artists Jimmy Durante and Eddie Cantor, Handwerker determined he needed to make the leap from employee to proprietor. He saved his $11-per-week paycheck till he had a whopping $300—sufficient to open his personal sizzling canine stand. Handwerker then used a recipe developed by his nineteen-year-old bride, Ida, that was primarily based on one her grandmother had handed right down to her. (Ida’s recipe, which contains a wide range of spices and garlic, remains to be used to at the present time and stays a carefully guarded secret.) In appreciation for her contribution, you’d assume he named his stand “Ida’s,” proper? As an alternative, he named it after himself, and the empire referred to as Nathan’s was born.

Organising his enterprise only a few blocks from Feltman, Handwerker charged only a nickel for his sizzling canine, undercutting Feltman’s value by 50 %. Individuals have been leery of a product that value so little, so Handwerker, the sharp businessman he was, let medical doctors and nurses from a close-by hospital get pleasure from his sizzling canines freed from cost in the event that they wore their medical uniforms. To drive the message house, he additionally dressed his staff in white lab coats, all for instance the pristine high quality of his franks. And to promote, Handwerker’s cronies, Durante and Cantor, unfold the phrase. Quickly, celebrities reminiscent of Grace Kelly, Lucille Ball, and Jackie Gleason have been photographed consuming the eponymous canine, and in 1925, vaudeville star Sophie Tucker sang somewhat ditty about Nathan’s. His pals seized the second and inspired Handwerker to rebrand, urging him to capitalize on his newfound fame. Sure, that’s how “Nathan’s Well-known” got here to be.

Handwerker continued to dominate the scene, gaining world consideration on the restaurant’s annual Fourth of July Scorching Canine Consuming Contest (nonetheless going sturdy many a long time later), with franchises across the globe, and by promoting packaged franks at supermarkets. Nonetheless, there’s no have to really feel unhealthy for Feltman. At its peak, his empire served 40,000 sizzling canines a day, cementing his legacy because the creator of the primary and authentic Coney Island sizzling canine. And, practically 150 years after Feltman modified the new dog-eating world eternally, a pair of Brooklyn brothers resurrected Feltman’s “boardwalk sensation” as an homage to their brother who died on 9/11. Now, Feltman’s sizzling canines are bought in supermarkets across the nation, occupying the exact same fridge instances as Nathan’s Well-known. So, perhaps the following time you host a household barbecue, attempt grilling franks from each these legends—and tell us who reigns supreme in your personal yard “canine” battle.

What’s your favourite model of sizzling canine? Share your ideas under!