The Icelandic-Style Hot Dog Recommended By Anthony Bourdain

In the rankings for the best style of hot dogs, New York and Chicago typically take home the gold. As much as Anthony Bourdain backed the Chicago dog as the best, there is a lesser-known and more niche style of dog that Bourdain loved while visiting Iceland courtesy of Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur.

While Iceland's pylsa (Icelandic for "hot dog") doesn't look as flashy as its stateside cousins, what it might lack in papered appeal it makes up for in dynamic flavor. One of the hallmarks of this hot dog is the use of lamb along with the typical pork seen in classic frankfurters and beef like in Chicago and iconic New York-style dogs. Nestled under the lamb-heavy sausage are both crispy and diced raw onions adding much-needed crunch and zippiness to an otherwise soft and saucy dish. Three different sauces are layered over the hot dog: a spicy yet sweet mustard, a caper and pickle remoulade, and Icelandic ketchup that uses apples for a fun twist on the condiment. Collectively these ingredients create a symphony of flavors and textures from the different onions, the trio of sauces, and the rich lamb in the hot dog.

The use of lamb in Icelandic hot dogs was an innovation on the island. The origins of the modern hot dog go back to Germany circa the 1800s, with pork being the dominant protein for what was initially known as frankfurters via the city of Frankfurt. We won't talk about the unsavory reason the word "dog" is in the colloquial name; use your imagination — or don't, if you want to enjoy the iconic ballpark snack again. It wasn't until the Danish introduced these totally-not-dog-containing sausages to Iceland that the North Atlantic isle realized that in order to make them they'd have to use a different, more readily available protein — lamb. Today, the iconic Icelandic dogs still favor lamb in the build but also feature pork and beef. Other countries have their own spins on hot dogs as well with there being  40 different ways to enjoy them.

In what ended up being Season 1, Episode 1 of his Travel Channel show "No Reservations," the late Anthony Bourdain toured some of the cultural and culinary high points in Reykjavik. During his night out enjoying Iceland's tradition of rúntur (a Saturday night bar crawl) with some of the country's best chefs, Anthony Bourdain appreciated that "even Icelanders seek out the comfort of the good ol' hot dog." Later in the episode, Bourdain went on to quip at the coincidence that shortly after former President Bill Clinton enjoyed the Icelandic hot dog, he required open heart surgery, saying, "That's the mark of quality ... that's one serious dog." Whether you consider the mark of a quality hot dog needing open heart surgery or not, there's no denying the deliciousness of Iceland's "best hotdog in town."