I have been a vegetarian for about five years. Before I became a vegetarian, I loved hot dogs... and, even better, corn dogs. It may surprise you that I went through my entire childhood without ever tasting a corn dog, because my mom thought they were gross. I just never had the opportunity to try one. As an adult, I eventually tried one. I loved the classic hot dog taste with the sweet corn batter around it. I used to eat them plain, with no ketchup or anything. But once I became a vegetarian, I had to accept that I would never again taste a corn dog.
Until now.
When I came across these Morning Star Farms Veggie Classics Corn Dogs, in the freezer section with the other meatless "meat" products such as Boca Burgers and Chik'n Nuggets, I knew I had to try them!
Here's what they look like straight out of the package. So far, they look just like any other frozen corn dogs from the grocery store.
According to the package, there are two ways to cook them... either in the oven, or in the microwave. The recommended method is always the oven. But the oven method takes a total of 30 minutes, if you include the time it takes to preheat it. And when you live alone, spending 30 minutes to cook two corn dogs that you will consume in less than five minutes seems kind of annoying. So, I chose to use the microwave. The box says to microwave them for about 2 minutes, stopping half way through to turn them over.
While they were in the microwave, I took a look at the box.
Here is the nutrition information.
As you can see, there is a lot of sodium, which is pretty typical for frozen foods. The calorie count is also rather significant. But at least there's no cholesterol! I am not very good at paying attention to nutrition labels, but it is good to take a glance. I also noticed that the serving size is one corn dog. I almost always eat two at a time. It would be hard to get filled up by one corn dog, but I suppose if you're just having it for a snack, or as a side order to a larger lunch or dinner, one would be okay.
I'm a little more interested in the ingredients, so I took a look at those.
I've always heard that if you look at the ingredients of something, you should look for the words that you can't read or aren't familiar with. A few of those jumped out at me.
Methylcellulose? Hmm, that sounds dangerous. It has the word "meth" right in it. When I Googled it, here is the first definition I found:
Methylcellulose is a bulk-forming laxative that increases the amount of water in your stools to help make them softer and easier to pass. Methylcellulose is used to treat constipation and to help maintain regular bowel movements. Methylcellulose may also be used for purposes not listed in this medication guide.Hmmm... gross...
I did a little more Googling, and found out that it is also used as a food additive for thickening purposes. It is also the main ingredient in K-Y Jelly. Fun fact.
Next I looked up carrageenan. It turns out, it is a food additive that comes from red seaweed and is used as a thickener and help the ingredients mix together more nicely without separating. That sounds pretty good. There is a scientist who says carrageenan is linked to all sorts of health problems, though.
By this time, my corn dogs were ready to come out of the microwave.
I know I said I used to eat my corn dogs plain. But recently I've found myself loving ketchup, so I decided to have some with these corn dogs. Did you know that Portland has its own ketchup? It is called Portland Ketchup. It is organic, gluten free, and has only half the sugar and salt of regular ketchup. It gained its local fame when McMenamins, a local restaurant company, started using it in their restaurants and pubs. Some people have told me they think it is too sweet, while I have also heard people say they think it is less sweet than Heinz ketchup. I like it, though. Its my go-to ketchup.
I nibbled the batter first. It tasted just like any other corn dog batter I've ever had, although I think it tastes better when its deep fried, like at the carnival. I love the sweet corn bread taste of the batter. I could eat it all by itself.
Next I took a nibble of the hot dog part. The hot dog part is a little harder to describe. It does taste like a hot dog, more or less, but not quite like the all beef hot dogs you might get in a Chicago hot dog stand. Its more similar to the cheaper mystery hot dogs I remember from my childhood. It also had somewhat of a sweet taste to it. I'm not saying this is a bad thing. One thing you learn as a vegetarian is that you're not going to really get things that taste exactly like meat. I also learned that a big part of what I used to enjoy about meat was actually the other ingredients around the meat. For example, I always loved cheeseburgers, but it turned out it wasn't the beef that I loved. It was the other ingredients in the burger, plus the cheese, lettuce, mayo, pickles, onion, tomato, and sesame seed bun. Similarly, the hot dog in this corn dog didn't taste just like a real hot dog, but it was close enough to make the corn dog enjoyable.
When dipped in ketchup, it was yummy. It was good enough to satisfy my craving for a corn dog. I'm sure it would be even better if I cooked it in the oven... or deep fried it! Mmmmm! I've never deep fried anything, because I don't particularly want to burn my apartment down. But if anyone else tries it, let me know. The bottom line is, it wasn't amazing, but it was good. Googling the ingredients kind of freaked me out, though. This may be an important lesson in eating fewer processed foods. Or avoiding Google at meal times.
Here, you can see the corn dog as part of this full incomplete dinner.
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