Sonoran hot dogs: what goes into Hermosillo's dogos and why they are eaten at night

What a Sonoran hot dog is

If you arrive in Hermosillo expecting tacos on every corner, the night will surprise you. When the sun goes down, carts selling dogos, as hot dogs are called there, light up on many streets of the Sonoran capital. This is not the fairground hot dog you know: the sausage is wrapped in bacon and cooked on the griddle until the fat turns it golden, tucked into a soft, domed roll in the style of a bolillo and topped with beans, onion, tomato, mayonnaise, mustard and jalapeño sauce. Then each customer finishes their own at a toppings bar that can be very long indeed.

The result is a mouthful that is greasy, creamy, tangy and spicy all at once, eaten in Sonora mostly at night, standing by the cart with a cold drink. It is one of those dishes almost nobody associates with Mexico outside the country, yet in the north-west it is as much a part of daily life as carne asada.

An origin nobody is entirely sure of

There is agreement on the place, Hermosillo, but not on the date. The most widely cited popular sources place the current style in the late 1980s, while other accounts take it back to the middle of the twentieth century, to around the 1940s. Several stories also circulate about who was first: one credits an American-style restaurant in the city and another a couple of Americans who sold hot dogs outside a bullring. None of these versions is conclusively documented, so the honest thing to say is that the Sonoran dogo was born in Hermosillo and its exact date is still debated.

What every account does repeat is the setting: the night-time carts. The area near the University of Sonora is famous for its concentration of dogueros, as the people who make them are called, who work for much of the night. For many students and workers, the dogo is the cheap, quick supper after class, after a shift or after a party.

What goes into a Sonoran dogo, layer by layer

Every cart has its signature, but the basic structure is very similar from one to the next. If you want to make it at home, our Sonoran hot dog recipe follows this order:

• The bacon-wrapped sausage. A rasher of bacon is wound round the sausage and cooked on the griddle, turning, until the bacon is crisp and stuck fast.
• The roll. Not the long, dry roll of the factory-made hot dog, but a soft, spongy bread, bolillo-style, often split along the top rather than the side and warmed on the griddle or steamed.
• The beans. Whole or mashed beans, almost always pinto, spooned hot into the bottom of the roll.
• The vegetables. Chopped onion, diced tomato and, in many Hermosillo versions, shredded lettuce or cabbage.
• The sauces. Plenty of mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup to taste, and jalapeño sauce or pickled chiles.

Then comes the part where the customer decides: grated or melted cheese, mushrooms, guacamole, cream, grilled onion, chiles güeros (pale yellow chiles, grilled) and more sauces. Ordering a dogo con todo, "with everything", means accepting a roll that weighs twice as much as the sausage.

The night-time trimmings

A grilled chile güero almost always appears next to the dogo, whole, to be bitten between mouthfuls; it can be mild or surprisingly hot. Onion grilled on the same griddle where the sausages are browned, soaking up the bacon fat, is common too.

Some carts sell variations with the sausage wrapped in a flour tortilla and bacon, which some accounts call momias, "mummies". To drink, the usual choice is an ice-cold soft drink or an agua fresca. The atmosphere counts as much as the food: groups of friends round the cart, music from a nearby car and the smell of bacon drifting several streets.

From Sonora to Arizona

The Sonoran dogo crossed the border with migration between Sonora and Arizona. In Tucson and Phoenix it became so common that it is known there as the Sonoran hot dog, and it appears in American press coverage as a symbol of border culture. A 2009 press estimate spoke of more than two hundred places in Tucson offering it. It is a good example of how a dish born in one Mexican city becomes part of the identity of a whole region, on both sides of the line.

Curiously, outside that strip of the north-west the dogo remains little known even in the rest of Mexico. Mexico City and Guadalajara have hot-dog carts, but rarely with the full combination of bacon, beans, soft roll and chile güero that defines the Sonoran version.

The dogo within northern cooking

The Sonoran hot dog fits into a northern cuisine that revolves around the griddle and the grill. It is the same region as northern carne asada, flour tortillas and beef as the star. The dogo brings the most street-level, late-night side of that tradition, with an ingredient that came from the north, the sausage, and a way of serving it that is completely Mexican: with beans, chiles and salsa.

If you are interested in other street dishes that hardly anyone knows outside Mexico, look at our guide to Mexican tortas by region or the one on street snacks such as tostilocos, which were born not far away, in Baja California.

How to make it well at home

Three details make the difference. The first is the bacon: use thin rashers, which wrap more easily and crisp up before the sausage dries out; secure the ends with a cocktail stick if they come loose. The second is the roll: look for a soft, domed one, not a hard hot-dog bun, and warm it by steaming or in the pan for a few seconds. The third is the order: hot beans at the bottom, sausage on top and vegetables and sauces last, so the bread does not go soggy before it reaches the table.

Set out a small bar with onion, tomato, mayonnaise, mustard, jalapeño sauce and grilled chiles güeros, and let everyone build their own. It is the most faithful way to recreate a Hermosillo night in your kitchen.

Frequently asked questions

Why are they called dogos?

It is the colloquial name for the hot dog in Sonora, taken from the English word. The person who makes them is the doguero.

Is the Sonoran hot dog Mexican or American?

It was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, from a product of American origin, and later caught on in Arizona. In Tucson and Phoenix it is considered part of the local food, but its birthplace is Mexican.

Does it really have beans?

Yes. The beans, usually pinto, are one of the features that set it apart from other hot dogs around the world, along with the bacon and the soft roll.

How spicy is it?

That is up to you. The jalapeño sauce and the grilled chile güero provide the heat; leave them out and the dogo is more creamy than hot.

Sources

• Wikipedia, «Sonoran hot dog» (origin in Hermosillo, date debated between the late 1980s and the 1940s, basic ingredients, dogueros, spread to Tucson and Phoenix, 2009 estimate).
• Chowhound, «Move over tacos: one Mexican street food takes hot dogs to the next level» (Hermosillo versions with beans and lettuce, the square by the University of Sonora, origin stories, "momias").
• Mexico News Daily, «How the world’s best hot dog originated in the Sonoran desert» (context of the dogo in Sonora and its move to Arizona).
• NPR, «The Sonoran hotdog crosses the border» (spread across the border).