Perro Caliente Colombiano (Colombian Hot Dog)

Name: Perro Caliente Colombiano (Colombian Hot Dog)
Prep time: 7 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 2 sausages; 2 brioche hot dog buns; 4 slices bacon, fried; 1 package potato crisps (crushed by hand over the top, not served alongside); Grated cheese; Pink sauce (salsa rosada: mayonnaise and ketchup, roughly two to one)

A hot dog with bacon, grated cheese, pink sauce and crushed potato crisps on top. The crisps are not a garnish, they are the point. Two, in fifteen minutes.

Total: 15

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A hot dog with bacon, grated cheese, pink sauce and a handful of potato crisps crushed over the top. The crisps are the part that makes it Colombian.

The crisps go on top

Not alongside, not in a bowl next to it. Crushed by hand directly onto the assembled hot dog, so that every bite has crunch in it.

This surprises people who have not seen it, and it is completely standard in Colombia: at street carts, at chain restaurants, at home. Papas fritas de bolsa, crushed and piled on.

They go on last, and the hot dog gets eaten immediately. Against a hot sausage and wet sauce they lose their crunch within a couple of minutes, which is also why the original instruction to microwave the finished hot dog for thirty seconds works against the whole idea.

Salsa rosada

Pink sauce, and it is on everything in Colombia: chips, hamburgers, fried plantain, salads.

It is mayonnaise and ketchup mixed roughly two to one. Some people add a squeeze of lime or a splash of Worcestershire sauce. That is the entire recipe and buying it ready-made is not necessary.

How far it can go

This version is restrained by Colombian standards. A street cart will offer, all at once:

Pineapple sauce, which is sweet and genuinely good against the salt.
Cheese sauce as well as grated cheese.
Quail eggs, whole, pushed in along the side.
Mustard, ketchup and salsa rosada, all three.

Nobody considers this excessive. The Colombian hot dog is a maximalist object and understating it misrepresents it.

The bacon

Fry it until properly crisp rather than soft. It has to hold up against sauce and hot sausage, and limp bacon disappears into the assembly.

More street food

Salchipapa — sausage and chips, the other one.
Colombian hamburger — with the same crisps on top.
Patacones — what else the pink sauce goes on.
Empanadas — the classic, with ají.

Colombian Hot Dog FAQ

Why are there potato crisps on a hot dog?

Because that is the Colombian version. Crushed crisps go on top of the assembled hot dog so every bite has crunch. It is standard at street carts, restaurants and homes across the country, not a novelty.

What is pink sauce?

Salsa rosada: mayonnaise and ketchup mixed roughly two to one, sometimes with a squeeze of lime. It is on almost everything in Colombia, from chips to hamburgers, and takes ten seconds to make.

Should I microwave it at the end?

No. The original recipe suggested thirty seconds in the microwave, which softens the crisps and the bun, undoing the crunch that is the whole point. Assemble it and eat it.

What else goes on a Colombian hot dog?

At a street cart: pineapple sauce, cheese sauce, quail eggs, mustard and ketchup, often all together. This version is restrained by comparison. None of it is considered excessive there.

Do I have to use brioche buns?

No, an ordinary hot dog bun is fine. Brioche is softer and slightly sweet, which works well against the salt of the bacon and crisps, but it is not traditional in Colombia either.

📖 Recipe