One of the curiosities in Home Cookin’ with Dave’s Mom is “Dog Jacks”, the brainchild of Late Show writer Steve O’Donnell.  This recipe is tucked away in a short section at the end of the book collected from Late Show staff.  I don’t want to besmirch the memory of Dave’s Mom by giving her any sort of credit for this beyond having the sense of humor to include this in an otherwise great cookbook.

“Dog Jacks” is more concept than recipe.  The original involves liquefying a pack of hot dogs in a blender with a couple of eggs and putting the mixture into a waffle iron.   It’s clearly not kitchen tested, and after wondering about it for twenty years I finally tried to make it – the recipe as written is a crumbly incoherent mess.   It’s very, very salty and has the texture of canned hash.

I changed the egg/hot dog ratio and added some bread crumbs as a binding agent.  Instead of a waffle iron I threw it in hot cast iron and fried it like a pancake.   It’s still godawful but at least realizes the concept properly.  Dorothy’s comment is apt: “I guess he’s better at comedy than cooking”.   Indeed.