Review & Recipe: Ye Olde Oak – Hot Dogs*

You know when you just don’t know what to cook, and want something that will be ready in minutes? Well here we have the answer, we are about to review two Ye Olde Oak Frankfurter Style sausages. We are going to show you two quick and easy ways in which you can make them into two delicious evening or lunch time meals. Ye Olde Oak Hot Dogs come in a tin which means that you can have them stocked in your pantry for a quick and easy store cupboard meal.

I don’t know about you but I am always looking for some easy meals to cook in the week. We tend to cook fresh and healthy meals from scratch all through the week, but like everyone, sometimes I just can’t be bothered, and at the moment its really hard to get hold of takeout. So having stuff you can get ready quickly and that only needs minimum prep is perfect for those lazy days.

We start with our classic Hot Dog recipe, where we have created a whole load of fixings (as they would say in the USA) which is basically the sides and toppings to our Hot Dogs. I did also make Hot Dog bread using my mum’s soft roll recipe (note I rolled the bread dough out and cut it into 12 equal parts before doing the second rise) – just because I couldn’t get hold of any at the moment, due to lockdown – otherwise I would normally buy this for my quick and easy meal!

To accompany our Ye Olde Oak Hot Dogs, I made a quick coleslaw (see below for all the full recipes), some pico de, and made a small simple salad. I dished up some pre-grated mozzarella cheese, some American cheese slices, and got out some pickled gherkin slices, along with some mayonnaise and ketchup. I did all this prep whilst the Hot Dogs were cooking in simmering water, I also added two corn on the cobs into the water with the sausages for some extra veg. It was great as it all cooked at the same time in the same pan!

These Hot Dogs were yummy, we dished them up and each helped ourselves to what toppings we wanted. We also did a pizza hot dog which was one of the recipes I found on the Ye Olde Oak website.  See our photos for what they all looked like. Obviously you can mix and match what we did and do whatever toppings suit your family. Have fun with it and see what you can come up with.

Our second recipe was a quick lunch dish, with inspiration taken from Austrian food I’ve had whilst visiting family. The dish is simple to make, although there was a little bit of prep for the dumplings it still only took 20 minutes to put together. The dish consists of broth (we went for chicken) with shredded cabbage and thinly sliced carrot, then you add to it the dumplings and Ye Olde Oak Premium Hot Dog Sausages.

This is basically a one-dish meal and is great for an alternative lunch to a sandwich. You make the dumplings as directed in the recipe below, also see the video on how to shape them, although I am no expert and mine look nothing like the ones on the recipe I used! ha. These premium sausages have a slightly smokier taste than the American Hot Dog ones, which worked great in this stew-like dish.

Our Recipes
For the Ye Olde Oak American Hot Dog – Gourmet style

Easy Coleslaw (for a cereal bowl full)
1/4 of green or red cabbage finely shredded
1 large carrot graded
1 1/2 tbsp of mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste

Method – Mix it all together and leave it to rest in the fridge and it will create its own juice, so no need to add anything else to make the dressing looser.

Pico de gallo (pronounced gayo) 
3 tomatoes finely chopped
2 medium onions finely chopped
1/2 green pepper finely chopped (if you have one – i didn’t so left it out in my meal)
1 tsp of chilli flakes
1 tsp of organic cider vinegar – or any salad vinegar
2 tsp of oil (I used rapeseed/canola)
1 tsp of sugar off sets the acidity in the tomatoes
good pinch of salt and pepper

Method – pop it all into a bowl and give it a good mix – this can also be made beforehand if needed.

Basic Salad 
1 romaine lettuce chopped
1/4 of a large cucumber peeled and cubed

You can pretty much add any additional things you would like to this. I sometimes add tomatoes and spring onions – but you could also add some boiled egg and cheese if you wanted to make it more substantial.

Basic vinaigrette 
1tbsp of vinegar
3 tbsp of oil
1 tsp of mustard (preferably dijon)
salt and pepper to taste
mix really well with a fork until it starts to emulsify and then toss over your salad

Other general ingredients 
You will need 1 – 2 tins of Ye Olde Oak American Hot Dogs (depending on how may people you have eating!)
Sliced pepperoni
Sliced American Cheese
Grated Mozzerala
Ketchup
Mustard
Mayonaise
Sliced Pickled Gherkins
And of course Hot Dog Rolls

Method – once you have all your toppings ready, cook your sausages and pop them into your preprepared hot dog rolls and there you have it.

We especially loved the Pizza Hot Dog one which we did by adding grated mozzarella to the top of the hot dog and a few slices of pepperoni – then just pop it under a hot grill for a few seconds. YUM!

My other favourite was with everything! Sort of! I added a 1/2 slice of American Cheese, a spoonful of coleslaw, a spoon full of pico de gallo, and two slices of gherkin mmmm

But if you are like my eldest son – he loved it the classic way with just American Cheese.

For our Austrian Inspired Ye Olde Oak Premium Sausage and Dumpling Stew 
(this serves around 4 people for a light lunch)

The Stew 
1 tin of Ye Olde Oak Premium Sausages – taken out of the Brine and each sausage chopped into four
1/4 of cabbage shredded
1-2 large carrots finely chopped
2 stock cubes and about 500-750 ml of water (add more stock cubes if you add more water

The Dumplings 
1 cup (120g) of flour or semolina flour
salt and pepper
1/4 (50ml) of butter melted or oil
2 eggs

Method – put the flour in a bowl, make a well in the middle – in another bowl mix the butter/oil eggs and until light and frothy then combine the wet and the dry ingredients. You will in up with a ball of family wet dough, in a pan bring the water to a simmer – take one teaspoon of dough and using a second teaspoons pass them back and forth to form oval quenelles, then add a few at a time to the simmering water and they are cooked once they float to the top.

Once you have made the dumplings put them into a shallow bowl and top with the stew mixture and there you have it! My kids love food like this and cleared their plates, but if you have fussy kids in terms of veg – just add whatever variety they would like best to the stew and if you don’t have the Ye Old Oak Premium sausages the other hot dog varieties would work just as well – what’s great about this dish is you can totally adapt it to your taste.

How much are Ye Old Oak Hot Dog Sausages?
They range between £0.80 per can – £3.75 depending on which Ye Old Hot Dog variety they are.

Where can you buy them? 
You can get them from a variety of supermarkets including, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Aldi and Iceland (amongst others).

About Ye Olde Oak 
Ye Old Oak have been established 1949, making a whole variety of hot dog sausages, and are now proud to be the Nation’s No. 1! They have peri peri dogs, cocktail sausages, jumbo, American, Classic and Premium! All these sausages are made with a continental flavour and have been created to be simple to prepare and fun to eat. Their range stretches from more premium variety hot dog sausages, to more classic and value for money, allowing them to suit every budget and palette.

Review by: Lex Ward

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