Cut Up Hot Dogs To Make BBQ Burnt Ends On A Budget

Kansas City's burnt ends rose to popularity after barbecue joints — not wanting to waste food and looking for something to do with the fatty, crackly ends of their smoked briskets — ended up slathering them in sauce and turning them into sandwiches at the end of the day. It wasn't long before they stopped being a bonus extra and instead became a main event.

If you have a smoker grill but want to keep your budget down, you're in luck — there's a super inexpensive way to get the same kind of idea but with a much more affordable type of meat. That meat? Hot dogs. That method? Super easy, and it should take no more than two hours.

Just score the dogs lightly with a sharp knife, smother them in mustard or barbecue sauce as a binder, and toss on a good handful of seasonings or your favorite rub. Smoke them, pull them out to add butter and brown sugar, and then put them back on until the sugar caramelizes, giving the hot dog pieces a nice sweet char that pairs beautifully with the smoky richness of the meat and sauce.

One of the most crucial elements to hot dog burnt ends is the seasoning, which emerges from the smoker and forms a delectable crust that is at once crisp and flavorful. There are a variety of ways you can opt to season your hot dog burnt ends, starting with a store-bought rub or seasoning. Different brands sell numerous varieties — with everything from traditional flavors like honey hickory and maple barbecue to modern takes, like bourbon peach to tequila lime. You can even make your own rub by combining seasonings — think brown sugar, mustard powder, cayenne pepper, garlic, and paprika (among others).

You can opt to serve up your hot dog burnt ends with some kind of bread — be it hot dog buns, New England rolls, or with your favorite presliced loaf — and offer all your favorite hot dog condiments and toppings for people to really fill out their sandwiches, like lettuce or pickled onions. Or, set the tray of burnt ends out and put long toothpicks near it, so people can skewer the pieces of meat and eat them like Vienna sausages or cocktail meatballs.

Sometimes called Poor Man's burnt ends, you can turn one of the cheaper cuts of beef — the chuck roast — into a tasty facsimile, and it only takes about six hours to smoke, plus around two to make the burnt ends. This is against brisket's upwards of 12 hours to smoke (depending on how large a haunch you're doing), plus the time it takes to make the burnt ends. Chuck roast is actually more expensive per pound in many cases than brisket, but because it tends to be cut into smaller haunches, it costs less.

However, if you find yourself with extra wiggle room in your budget, and you want your burnt ends to reflect that, you can opt for the luxurious crackling pork belly (which you can still find at big club stores, like Sam's Club or Costco, for a decent price). Because it's mostly fat, pork belly smokes a lot faster than brisket or chuck roast, and it chars like a dream. You'll smoke cut-up pieces of seasoned pork belly first, remove them, douse them in sauce, and then return them to the smoker to finish off and get super caramelized.