Sterling Terrell

recovering economist

Dirty Water Hot Dog

Dirty Water Hot Dog

Have you ever had a dirty water hot dog?

I know I have.

I was in Washing DC and my dad and I decided to tour the distance between the Lincoln Memorial and the United States Capitol Building on foot. We even walked the distance up the White House too.

I remember he found a guy he flew with on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall.

For lunch we stopped at a hot-dog stand and scarfed our food down as we walked. I got a Coke too. It was summer and it was hot and humid.

My mom went on a bus tour that day. She wanted to see the city, but avoid the heat and the walking.

We stayed in a Marriott hotel that night and I went for a swim in the indoor pool.

I’ll never forget that day.

With the hot dog, there was always a feeling of implied consent. We always knew—or assumed—that whatever it was inside that snappy tube, it might contain anything, from 100 percent kosher beef to dead zoo animals or parts of missing Gambino family. With a hot dog, especially New York’s famous “dirty-water hot dog,” there was a tacit agreement that you were on your own. They were pre-cooked, anyway, so how bad could it be?

-Anthony Bourdain, Medium Raw

The Great American Hamburger

The Great American Hamburger

Is there anything better than an American hamburger?

It’s so wonderful that it has become universal. There are now few places where the hamburger is not commonly found.

I mean, my number one go-to food at the snack bar in Saudi Arabia was a simple cheeseburger with fries.

America may have invented it and popularized it, but it belongs to the world now.

And now I know what I want for lunch.

I believe that the great American hamburger is a thing of beauty, its simple charms noble, pristine. The basic recipe—ground beef, salt, and pepper, formed into a patty, grilled or seared on a griddle, then nestled between two halves of a bun, usually but not necessarily accompanied by lettuce, a tomato slice, and some ketchup—is, to my mind, un-improvable by man or God. A good burger can be made more complicated, even more interesting by the addition of other ingredients—like good cheese, or bacon … relish perhaps, but it will never be made better.

-Anthony Bourdain, Medium Raw

Sterling Terrell