freaky food fun: Insert dried spaghetti into hot dogs, then boil

DrO says: "I wanted to point out to you that some people on LiveJournal came up with an idea of inserting dry spaghetti into hot dogs, then boiling it, and coming out with amusing culinary constructs that kids seem to love."

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Takuan

I am SO going to do this!
Bionicrat2

Weave some chicken fingers in and you’ve got the world’s greatest picky-child-eater meal!
Jake Bullet

Yeah, but what would you put on this dish? Pasta sauce or ketchup, mustard, and relish?
Ted8305

Those are miniature Flying Spaghetti Monsters.
Anonymous

I like the the noodles arranged spokelike: it looks like Salmonella!

http://pathport.vbi.vt.edu/pathinfo/pathogens/Salmonella.html
Anonymous

pighetti FTW!
Noctis

As many kids from Hawai’i seem to know, these are squidogs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/forkableblog/2602280128/in/set-72157605772129444/.
Anonymous

wienerpuss.
Anonymous

I say call them:

Hairy Dogs

tw
Anonymous

http://www.flickr.com/photos/married_in_toronto/sets/72157617223038320/
Anonymous

i vote for
noodledogs
Anonymous

I see no reason why one could not use meatballs instead of hotdogs for this. It would then be possible to create edible FSM sculptures!

Take, eat; this is my body.
Anonymous

Spadoggies
Anonymous

looks like ‘morgellans’ disease.
Anonymous

They named it “hot dogs strikes back” according to the journal
Anonymous

Here I was thinking Hentai meets hotdogs…
Piers W

There’s a joke along the lines of in heaven the French do the cooking, the Italians make the coffee, the British do something or other. In hell it’s all the wrong way round and the British do the food.

America doesn’t figure in the joke because the idea of the Americans doing the food in hell is too close to the bone.
leeshe601

I kind of had to “wing it” when I made these tonight as there are not any real directions to make them and the link that is there brings you to a site that looks to be in Russian which is no help whatsoever… here is how I made mine…
I cut my hotdogs into pieces that were approximately 1 inch long, I bought an 8 ounce pkg(small one) of thin spaghetti ( I made mine using 6 hotdogs as I only had 3 kids to feed, and ended up using less than 1/2 the box of sspaghetti), I broke the spaghetti into thirds then I put the spaghetti into the hotdogs set each aside on a plate til I was ready to boil then. The spaghetti went very easily into the pasta and did not take very long about 1/2 thru I started some hot water in a pan on the stove… by the time I was finished putting the spagheti into the hotdogs the water was boiling and ready to go. I put them in and waited til the noodles were soft about 10-12 min, I recommend going the longer of the 2 as I checked one at the 9 min mark and the pasta inside the hotdog was in need of a little longer cooking. I also made homemade frenchfries to go with it which I cut fresh potatoes into small fries coated them with oil put them on a pan with some salt and pepper and baked it in a 350 degree oven for about 20 min, the potatoes I started before starting the jellyfish as my kids called them so everything would be done about the same time. And about 6-7 min before my french fries were done I used some hot dog rolls to make cheesy garlic bread, I finished out the meal by making a cheese sauce to go under the jellyfish. My kids were thrilled they thought it was a wonderful meal and all together the whole thing including putting the spaghetti into the hotdogs took 25- 30 minutes, it was quick easy and a big hit.
greengardeners1

For Halloween we made severed fingers.Cut the hotdogs in half put katsup on the end that is cut then add fake fingernails to the other end. There great my six year old son and his friends loved them. Some of the boys was really funny using the fingernails as toothpicks. It was FUN!
Anonymous

UUUUGH – that is so disturbing!
monstrinho_do_biscoito

squieners = squid+ weiners

tho i like trailer park calamari perhaps better than my suggestion :)
bjacques

I did the thing with the peppercorns for eyes, but then one of them started walking off. “You’ve got to be f*cking kidding me,” I said, as I reached for a lighter and a can of Pam.
Anonymous

They look like little jellyfish, if you do suspend them in jell-o you could call those “jellies”
ivan256

Needs cheese.

Orange cheese.
pinehead

I am most definitely making these sometime. And I think I’ll call them “trailer park calamari.”
JimXugle

I second Cthulhu bits!
Anonymous

isn’t this sort of like reverse spaghetti-o’s with sliced franks?
doplgangr

#9 — brilliant idea!

then you could have my favorite white trash dessert to finish: twinkies suspended in green jello.

oh yums!
TasteAndShare

I still can’t believe it but it’s a wonderful post.
champney

How about Americans providing the customer service and Swiss managing the foreign policy, versus the alternative?
radiantthought

Seconding Hot Doodles!

I’m thinking this would be good with just some butter and garlic, maybe a little salt and pepper.
Anonymous

Not Swedish banker – SWISS Banker in Heaven. You got the rest right!
Anonymous

Flying Spaghetti Monsters.

logical, whimsical, kid-friendly…

Done.
Anonymous

WTF…
Anonymous

looks like maggots crawling out of rotting flesh
Anonymous

The only thing to call them would be Hotdighettis
Anonymous

“Yum! Cthulhu bits!” ROFLMAO! Classic
Anonymous

remember that movie “Tremors”?…these are the babies…or are they from “Alien”
Anonymous

I’d call them frank-n-noodles!
Anonymous

These are absolutely beautiful! Like pigs with wings. A nice twist on pigs in a blanket. I predict this will become classic, the person who invented it genius.

Ken
Anonymous

The pic has an alien artistic element to it that I find amusing. I hope the hot dogs are vegan…
musability

I was inspired to create flying spaghetti monster sacraments after seeing this. See a picture of it here:
http://www.musability.com/2009/05/i-created-flying-spaghetti-monster.html
Pecola6

Cool hope i can make it.(i think its weird how you boil the hot dogs
ellinoz

Intestinal parasites! Eeeeekkkk!
Anonymous

ok , the twinkies in jello sound like a barf fest
caipirina

@110 .. what? no photos?

I’ll make mine tonight, i did not find green spaghetti .. but red ones (with peppers) .. very curious how it turns out.
SomeGuy

What could one put in them to make eyes? At 1st I thought of sticking in a couple of cloves but that’s not too kid friendly. I has to be something edible that will stay put through the boiling process. Any thoughts?
Anonymous

Sounds cool! with Turkey dogs….Come on, it’s the all american food…Hot dogs! When your kid eats nothing…hot dogs are better than nothing….
Anonymous

Nutritional value = nil
Jenonymous

I’m so ashamed for NOT thinking of this first, AND for wanting to rush right out and try it ANYWAY.
Anonymous

1. This is genius. Bravo.
2. Soak spaghetti noodles in blue food dye first, to create veins!
highlyevolved

Put one of those inside a ravioli, the ravioli inside a meatball and make a meatball sub out of the meatballs. Now we’re cooking with gas…
JIMWICh

This is, hands down, the coolest foodcraft ever.
Anonymous

Oh, I wish my kids were little again! But i think I’ll do it anyway for DH and the adult son in town.

Kosher dogs and cheese sauce.
Anonymous

hot doctopus
Anonymous

Pighetti – that’s what I’m callin’ it. Thanks.
Doing it with meatballs – brilliant.
LOL to Neo & sentinels.
To complete the culinary disaster, insert chocolate chips after boiling and watch them melt. Whole new eeewww factor.
My kids are going to love these!
Anonymous

You could make centipedes by inserting shorter spaghetti noodles in two rows down a whole hot dog…
PENFOLD

I did this last night w/ Hebrew Nationals
http://www.penfold.net/images/Photo_061210_002.jpeg

I get the kids involved. They can slice up the hot dogs with plastic knives & stick the pasta thru the pieces.

boil hot dogs skewered w/ pasta for 5 minutes
(i seasoned the water with a little sesame oil & cilantro)
dump 1# of frozen shelled Edamame into the water
bring back to boil & let boil for another 5 minutes.
drain. dust with Parmesan Cheese.
serve on small platter. eat w/ fingers…..looks best when you grab a hot dog by end of one of the spaghetti strands and dangle it into your mouth!

I’d sauce/bloody this with a simple jar’d sauce
redro32244

stick in raisens for eyes after boiling
Ned613

Does the pasta inside the sausage cook thoroughly?
Anonymous

To the person who is worried about the “crap”-ness of the hot dog: Trader Joe’s sells uncured all beef hot dogs that are very tasty.

MY KIDS WILL LOVE THIS!!
redro32244

the hot dogs look like they were cut into pieces and then the spaghetti pushed thru , so yes , i imagine its cooked all the way thru
Gainclone

>>63

It shall be the host of our savior, and smothered shall it be in the tomato sacrament of his glory.
Anonymous

CTHULHU-O’S!!!
Caitieboo

Make ‘em with Hebrew National 93% fat free dogs and some whole wheat spaghetti and it’ll be far more healthy! :-D
Anonymous

I vote for Spadoggies!
Anonymous

i love it and its tasty
Anonymous

I can haz unicorn chasur nao?
bokodasu

Best thing I’ve ever seen on BoingBoing. And we’re having it for dinner tonight. (Except with not-dogs, which I just happen to have picked up at the store the other day. Yay!)

Also, baked beans, ’cause they go with spaghetti AND hot dogs.
Liz Ditz

Allan @#9:Now you just need to suspend it in jello and you have a triumph of form vs flavor.

Aspic!

Seriously my grandmother had an aspic habit — lots of savory stuff suspended in beef or chicken broth thickened with gelatin.

I make one of the salads from time to time.

Also I used to make cheeseburger surprise (the cheese is inside the burgers) to the delight of my kids.
redro32244

i think that a twinkie suspended in jello should be have a law againest it
Anonymous

i vote squidlies
jccalhoun

This looks awesome.
Anonymous

#21, the joke is:

In the best of all possible worlds….

you will be escorted by the Germans, fed by the French, and entertained by the British.

In the worst of all possible worlds…

you will be escorted by the French, fed by the British, and entertained by the Germans!

Seriously cool foodhack, though.
emvirginia

If you thread the spaghetti in cross-wise (through the width of the hot dog, rather than the length), and do one piece of spaghetti every half inch or so, then when it’s boiled it should come out looking like a nifty meaty-pasta centipede!
Anonymous

@68

boiled meatballs? no thanks.
Mark Dow

Bacon fat eyes would add a touch of flavor.
Anonymous

Dogs on a leash…good name…lol
Borisimo66

I think Hogtopus or Octopups would be suitable names.

Use whole wheat or Spinach noodles and either soy dogs or Hebrew National 93% fat free dogs and the health department will stay off your back.

Be sure to add a bed of veggies for them to swim around in.
Anonymous

disgusting and yet genius
GeekMan

Argh! Neo, sentinels are coming!
wm1

I loved these, they are truly fun food. I had some tomato sauce and Juliet Mae Spice’s Italian Herb blend I got online; kids love it and I can enjoy the herb flavors. I am thinking of using sausage or meatballs and putting just a few of them in a plate of noodles and sauce. A fun yum!
Anonymous

more of this from lj
http://maraz-m-moroz.livejournal.com/258060.html
http://maraz-m-moroz.livejournal.com/257988.html
http://maraz-m-moroz.livejournal.com/254340.html

even if you cannot read russian, the photos are well worth your while.
Anonymous

In Soviet Russia, hotdog eats you!
Anonymous

So gross yet so compelling. How about Chia Dogs?

-Maria
Slizzered

If only there was a non-toxic way to make ‘em glow in the dark, they’d be truly perfect.
Anonymous

#23: Actually, the octodog is big in Japan, there’s even a special slicer you can buy:

http://www.jbox.com/PRODUCT/ZK301

Want to make your own? Directions here:
http://lunchinabox.net/2008/02/22/how-to-make-an-octodog-octopus-hot-dog/
Anonymous

I wonder if this will mean the end of the “OctoDog”? (http://www.octodog.net/)
Anonymous

looks like the heart worm display at the vet
Chris S

Okaaaay…

It doesn’t bother anyone that the whole thing is in Cyrillic and they might be saying that the stuff is atrocious???
simplebot

whole peppercorns could be inserted for eyes.
The link in the post has a photo with some yucky looking black dyed noodles in a hot dog.
Anonymous

FSM!!!! hahahahahahahahaha
dj41327

Throw some chili and sharp cheddar on those badboys and you have a Hot Dog Way (three way). For those of you who have never heard of the Skyline Three Way then check it out here http://www.skylinechili.com/
dbarak

How about dying just a few strands, some red and some blue, and inserting them close to the casing?
starcadia

sentinoodles
Ghede

Hmm,if you could manage to thread the hotdog from one end to the other without breaking the spagetti, it could be a surprise. Hotdog surprise, except the surprise isn’t the source of the meat.

Captcha: an ominous and oddly appropriate “Harvester Everybody”
Anonymous

@#133 JellyDogs?
freshacconci

There’s something unsettling about these.
Anonymous

A quick babelfish-esque translation suggests that at least it’s not horrible:
“Obstacles to the flight of fancy in the good cause “ovolosheniya” myasopodobnyh stores are not quite there. Slightly changing the plane of seams, people receive here a charm: [pics]“
Anonymous

Am I the only one who is weirdly freaked out by these?? Eek. Maybe I’ll make them for Halloween.
TheWillow

@67 – It’s a pasta version of Turducken!
Anonymous

star-spawn of Cthulhu. A little blue and yellow food coloring and maybe spinach pasta.

I was thinking cheese sauce but I like the aspic suggestion if you are going for the squid or jellyfish look.
Anonymous

is there no name for it?
contest: name that junkfood.
I enter Squidlies, as in “Mo-om! We want squidlies with ketchup”
Matt Deckard

Damn, that is creative and pretty cool.
Anonymous

Blasphemy! What will the Flying Spaghetti Monster say?
- Anonymous
  
  He would say it looks like “intelligent design”,,, LOL long live the FSM
Lord Runcible

Yum! Cthulhu bits!
Anonymous

That’s freaking awesome! Even better with spinach pasta – green string dogs!
Anonymous

mmm…if the spaghetti was inserted into those cheesy hotdogs, that’d be yummy, too! – cherry
Anonymous

I vote Doghetti as well
Anonymous

its clearly lots of little jellyfish.
keef

#25 (and #45): I heard a slightly different version -

BEST: You have a French cook, a British policeman, an Italian lover, a German mechanic, and a Swedish banker.

WORST: You have a British cook, a German policeman, a Swedish lover, a French mechanic, and an Italian banker.
Anonymous

Very funny!

You can see my experience with this at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hljWuBGRsOM

About the name, I love “rasta pasta” hehehe :)
Anonymous

looks like jellyfish. Im makin some right now for my daughter lol
GregLondon

I know what’s for dinner tonight!
Anonymous

For those creative namers, if you read the source site on live journal they have a name…just FYI
Johnny Cat

Childish, yes…but I like it too.
Anonymous

Not bad looking, but not incredibly healthy.

‘Regular’ hot dogs are like 93% fat (yes, I know, there’s ‘good’ fat and ‘bad’ fat, but hot dogs are all BAD fat: saturated fats)

Quick lesson: mono- or poly-unsaturated fats are good. Why? UNsaturated means (if you ever took chemistry in high school, or even if you didn’t) means their molecules can be broken down easily (by your stomach acids) to be converted to different types.

SATURATED fat means they’re ‘stable’ (again from chem class) which means they’re very difficult to process, and therefore, well, just remain fat and get stored on your body.

see http://www.healthcastle.com/goodfats-badfats.shtml which also includes trans fats which you should already know about; they’re extremely bad)

And the pasta = carbohydrate, which also turns to fat to be stored on your body if you don’t use the energy it produces within, say, 24 hours.

But these do look good, I’m definitely bookmarking this page, I do wonder what to eat them with, spicy mustard (a la hot dog) or ketchup or marinara/spaghetti sauces, although I just thought ‘franks n beans (n pasta) cuz beans = protein, so there you have your three primary food sources: fat, protein, carbs.

crapcha? Oh yeah… cesspool 26
allen

now you just need to suspend it in jello and you have a triumph of form vs flavor.
cinemajay

Hotdogs + jello = shudder with revulsion.
Anonymous

93% fat is absurd. youd be eating a crisco and gelatin cube. theres filler, lots of filler, some meat, and other bits of stuff.

psht. 93%… ridiculous.
Anonymous

Actually it would be a pretty cool dish to serve on halloween or at a halloween party.
Anonymous

Four hours to prep, five minutes to cook (al dente).
Anonymous

chris s. – the russian dude whose lj is referenced here collects photos of the projects like this and posts them to his blog. on the photos are often the names of the people who did the project. it is all good and all fun.
Clayton Hove

I dub thee Noodledogs.
Anonymous

Sweet, these look sick! I would totally make them for dinner one night… and I’m 20 haha
caipirina

Ok .. done and full report with pics here http://tinyurl.com/dek7pk

observations: break spaghetti in half to fit pot (also makes poking easier) – kid loved it – for unknown reasons, even with an extra minute in the boiling water, it was a bit too al dente.

Great fun idea !!!!
kleer001

Looks like some essential processing unit cluster you’d find in a Weyland-Yutani Android. Possibly auxilary religious simulation unit as it appears to be made of the flesh of our holy FSM.
Anonymous

I am thinking of placing a bowl of cooked spaghetti next to the cooked hot dogs with the photo in the middle..

should keep my sons actively frustrated for hours.. lol

Yes, I am that kind of mom.
mrmopwater

i would like to suggest the name “hot doodle.”
Anonymous

Amazing! We are always looking for more ideas!! Love it.
Anonymous

Spadoggie!
Anonymous

I have the name:

HotDogtopus :)
Anonymous

I agree with the more-jellyfish-than-squid assessment, and therefore suggest “Portuguese Dog o’War.”
There’s also the dreadlock-like aspect. “Rasta Pasta Dogs,” perhaps?
Or… “Squidoggies?”
“Skankfurters?”
“Cephalodogs?”
“Weintacles?”
“Spaghastly?”
“The Squirming Horror?”
Rob Beschizza

That the joke has the British running the police in heaven is a fair sign of its age…
echolocate chocolate

This is magnificent. I’m just thinking of the possibilities… you could use anything in place of the hot-dog. I’m thinking some green vegetable speared by spinach linguine or tagliatelle for an extra-alien-looking dish.
bokodasu

Reporting in – it really is as simple as it looks. The spaghetti inside the dogs cooks just fine without doing anything special. The trickiest bit is getting the uncooked squidghettis into the boiling water – do a few at a time and push them under the water slowly, and even that’s not difficult. (Or I guess use a giant pot, but I don’t have one of those.)

Turns out we were out of baked beans, so I served it with black beans and ketchup. It was yummy.
Anonymous

Rob @ 57 – you british?
Anonymous

Eeewww
Anonymous

SQUIDLIES!
Anonymous

I actually use spicy italian bratwurst for this and call it spider spaghetti…not only is it fun for everyone, but it’s less messy and you are gauranteed to get some meat in every bit! Very yummy!
Anonymous

ahh.. so THIS is how discordians eat their hotdogs on fridays… it all makes sense now.
Anonymous

british bobbies
Bikiniskigirl

So many good names, I must give it a try. Um…Spoodles? For lunch AND worship lol!
Baldhead

great idea… except that the very last thing you should ever do with a hot dog is boil it.

oh you prefer it flavourless as well as nutrientless? my bad.
oneswellfoop

Disgusting…..
The hot dogs I mean.
Hell, I care enough about my NEPHEW not to let him eat that crap.
Anonymous

weineroni?
Anonymous

#74 Actually, they’re finding that polyunsaturated fats, are by far the most oxidizing of any fats, the most unstable, and almost as bad for us as trans-fats.

Eat mono-unsaturated such as nut oils, the occasional avocado, and some plant based saturated fats such as coconut oil are necessary too: neurons (brain cells) rely upon saturated fats.
Mousewrites

Squidlies seconded.

I’m so making these tonight. Roommate suggested spiral pasta (if you could make the bore hole not make the hotdog structurally unstable) and making mac & cheese with it.
ShellyIN

Pighetti!
Bikiniskigirl

@132 Their given name is “tentative” and lame. And it’s fun to think up new ones.
Anonymous

I’m thinking these look more like Jellyfish than Octopi.
jackie31337

@9 & 10 now you just need to suspend it in jello and you have a triumph of form vs flavor.

Instead of fruity jello, you could gel some beef stock (or other stock of your choice) with unflavored gelatin.
Anonymous

“Doghetti”
jackie31337

I see Liz Ditz @43 beat me to the aspic idea.

Also, for a vegetarian version (obviously not with the aspic), you could use soy dogs. I am so totally getting some this weekend and making this for my daughter and me. :)
Anonymous

It might also be interesting if you insert the spaghetti both through the ends and sideways at the same time.
materkb

Squid bits! These are marvellous. If you’re worried about the hot dogs, use kosher dogs or chicken ones. But what it really, really needs is cheese sauce – preferably with green food colouring added.