Corn batter wrapped around a hot dog on a stick, dunked in the deep fryer long enough for the batter to become a crisp-surfaced blanket of sweet bread: That is a corn dog. The dog can be found in convenience stores everywhere, generally in the same holding box as 1000-year-old wieners and anorexic fried chicken. But not all corn dogs are repulsive. The Cozy Dog of Springfield, Illinois, dating back to 1946, is a noteworthy good one. Any state fair that didn’t have them would be practically Communist. Corn dogs are good at state fairs because the turnover is quick (so they are made just moments before you eat them); they are eminently portable; and in true state-fair spirit, they are a diplomatic union of animal husbandry (swines) and agronomy (corn), at once nutritionally balanced—meat and vegetable in a single foodstuff—yet seductively dissolute.
Cozy Dog, Springfield, Illinois.
Who invented them is up for grabs. It may have been Cozy Dog, but it has been pretty well documented that the Texas State Fair was selling “Corny Dogs” prior to World War II. And “Pronto Pups” were available at the Minnesota State Fair as early as 1941. The history mystery is whether the original Corny Dogs and Pronto Pups were presented on sticks. Being on a stick defines the dish.
Zingerman’s of Ann Arbor, Michigan, offers swanky corn dogs with a trio of interesting mustards.