The Chicago-style hot dog and the Maxwell Street Polish are two delicious staples of Chicago cuisine that trace their roots to the Maxwell Street Market. I’ll take you through the history of both dishes. But first, here’s a little background on Chicago’s most famous street market.
The Maxwell Street Market, located near Halsted Street and
Roosevelt Road, was originally established as an open-air street market by
Eastern European Jewish immigrants in the late 1800s. The market was officially
recognized by the City of Chicago in 1912. Eventually, other European
immigrants and African Americans started to come to the market. It was known as
a place where you could buy everything from shoelaces to expensive clothes to
ethnic food. It was also known as much for its outdoor musical performances as
its goods for sale. When blues musicians plugged in their amplifiers on Maxwell
Street so that they could be heard above the din of the market, Chicago-style
blues, a forerunner of rock n’ roll, was born.
The Chicago-style hot dog evolved during the 1920s through
the 1950s, while the Maxwell Street Polish was invented in 1943 by the owner of
Jim’s Original hot dog stand. Here’s the history of each one.
The Chicago-style hot dog consists of an all-beef wiener on
a steamed poppy-seed bun topped with mustard, relish, chopped onions, two tomato wedges, a pickle spear, two sport
peppers, and a sprinkling of celery salt. One of the earliest places where the
Chicago-style hot dog was sold was the Maxwell Street Market.
An early version of the Chicago-style hot dog was the
“Depression Dog” sold by Chicago street vendors during the Great Depression of
the 1930s; it consisted of a beef frankfurter topped with mustard, onions,
sport peppers, and maybe relish served on a plain bun or wrapped in fries and
was known to sell for a nickel. When the depression ended, people began to
experiment with adding additional ingredients to the hot dog. Eventually, a
variety of influences would come together to make the Chicago-style hot dog
what we know and love today.
First of all, the sausage, the bun, the mustard, and the
pickle all stem from German cuisine. Jewish influence and the fact that the
Chicago stockyards produced 80% of the country’s beef made the all-beef wiener
a Chicago staple. Sport peppers came from Mexico and likely made their way to
Chicago via the railroad as early as the 1870s. This ingredient became popular
with Chicagoans after tamales were sold at the Columbian Exposition in 1893.
Pickle relish came from England and was first known to appear on hot dogs in
Chicago at a Cubs vs. Sox baseball game in 1928.
Greek and Italian immigrants were probably the first to add
tomato slices to the dog, and poppy seeds were likely added to the bun due to
Jewish Eastern European influence. Finally, celery was widely touted as a
health food during this time, and the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago was once
a major celery-growing area. Many describe the Chicago-style hot dog as being
“dragged through the garden” because of this abundance of veggie toppings.
Finally, there is the notable absence of ketchup on the
Chicago-style dog. Ketchup is believed to overpower the taste of the hot dog
and upset the delicate balance of flavors and textures from the other toppings.
Some local hot dog vendors may offer ketchup to those who ask for it, but many
refuse to put it on the hot dog themselves.
It took many years and many different cultures to create
the Chicago-style hot dog, an inexpensive yet nourishing dish that came out of
the hard times of the Great Depression. Today it continues to serve as a
delicious testament to the resilience and uniqueness of Chicago. The recipe for
this iconic dish appears below.
The Maxwell Street polish sausage sandwich, referred to as
the “Maxwell Street Polish” for short, consists of Polish sausage topped with
yellow mustard and grilled onions served on a steamed bun. It may also be
topped with pickled sport peppers.
Unlike the Chicago-style hot dog, which was created by many
different people, the Maxwell Street Polish was invented by one man. The
sandwich was invented in 1945 by James “Jimmy” Stefanovic, an immigrant from
Macedonia who ran Jim’s Original hot dog stand on the corner of Maxwell and
Halsted streets, right in the heart of the Maxwell Street market.
According to Chicago food historian Bruce Kraig, sausage is
eaten with grilled onions and mustard in Germany, and many Jewish immigrants
who lived in the neighborhood at the time hailed from Germany. Joe Stefanovic,
son of James, thinks his dad grilled the onions for the smell. The sport
peppers may have been added because of the influence of Greek or Italian
vendors at the Maxwell Street Market, or it may have been due to early Mexican
influence.
To make things more interesting, the Express Grill, located
next door to Jim’s Original, also advertised the “original Maxwell St. Polish”
on its marquee, although it opened after Jim’s Original.
The original Maxwell Street Market area has seen new construction
and development with the expansion of the University of Illinois at Chicago
campus and the addition of high-income housing to the area. However, the
outdoor market has since moved to Des Plaines Street, and both Jim’s Original
and the Express Grill have relocated to Union Avenue to continue their
rivalry.
Maxwell Street Polish sandwiches are now served at hot dog
stands across the Chicago area. They can also be found at chains such as
Portillo’s and Brown’s Chicken. It’s no wonder this humble sandwich is so
popular; just a few simple ingredients come together to make something unique
to Chicago and truly delicious.
Here are instructions on how to make your own Chicago-style
hot dog and Maxwell Street Polish, for the times when you’re not able to get them
directly from Maxwell Street.
Chicago-Style Hot Dogs
Ingredients:
Frankfurters of your choice—use Vienna Beef to be extra
authentic
Poppyseed buns
Sliced tomato wedges
Finely chopped onion
Mustard
Relish
Pickle spears
Sport peppers
Celery salt
Instructions:
Heat up the frankfurters following the directions on the
package.
For each hot dog, do the following:
Place the wiener on the bun. Add the mustard and relish.
Sprinkle with chopped onion. Place two tomato wedges on one side of the hot
dog, a pickle spear on the other side, and two sport peppers in the middle.
Shudder at the thought of adding ketchup. Sprinkle with celery salt.
Maxwell Street Polish
*This recipe has been adapted from a recipe found on Carolyn’s Cooking blog.
Yields: 8 sandwiches
Ingredients:
For the onions:
2 tbsp. oil
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
Salt to taste
For the sausages:
2 tbsp. oil
Polish sausage sliced to fit on 8 buns
8 plain hot dog buns
Yellow mustard
Pickled sport peppers (optional)
Instructions:
In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tbsp. of oil over
medium heat. Add the onions and let them sit for a few minutes to develop some
color, then stir. Add salt to taste. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally,
for about 20 minutes, until the onions are browned and translucent but not
quite carmelized. Place the onions in a bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.
In the same skillet, heat the remaining 2 tbsp. of oil and
add the sausages. Cook the sausages for 5 minutes on each side, until browned
and crisp.
Place the buns on a plate and cover with a damp paper
towel. Microwave for 15-20 seconds until steamy. Add a sausage to each bun and
top with onions, mustard, and sport peppers, if desired.
Sources:
“History of the Maxwell Street Market,” City of Chicago
website.
Eng, Monica. “Deconstructing the Chicago-Style Hot Dog: The Origins of a Local Favorite.” WBEZ.org (March 5, 2017).
Hot Dog Chicago Style website.
Eng, Monica, and Leroux, Charles. “The
Original Maxwell Street Market—First with Its…” Chicago
Tribune (October 1, 2004).
Lee, Dennis. “Meet the
Maxwell Street Polish, the Unsung Hero of Chicago’s Hot Dog Stands,” The
Takeout (April 28, 2021).
“Maxwell
Street Polish,” Wikipedia.
Mazzocco, Carolyn. “What Is
A Maxwell Street Polish?” Carolyn’s Cooking
(March 15, 2022).
“The
Original Maxwell Street Polish Sausage Stand,” Jim’s
Original.
Ruzich, Joseph. “The
Maxwell Street Market.” Forgotten Chicago: Examining
Vintage Postcards (April 14, 2020).
Comments
Post a Comment