How New England split with America over hot dog buns

The hot dog is a summertime staple, an easy precooked meat to throw on the grill at the backyard barbecue. And no matter what snobs say, it's endlessly customizable. You can put whatever you want on it — even ketchup. 

Still, people across the U.S are emphatic — perhaps even aggressive — about how to fashion a hot dog. Chicagoans declare weiners bad if they come without sweet onions, relish, hot peppers, pickle spears and fresh tomato; Atlanta styles its dogs with chili and coleslaw; and New Yorkers break out the sauerkraut and spicy brown. New Englanders, meanwhile, might feel a little left out of the hot dog-fighting. 

That is until they learn there's one major feature of the hot dog unique to the region: the bun.

Here in New England the split-top hot dog bun reigns supreme. You might recognize it as the iconic breading used for lobster rolls. Almost everywhere else in the U.S., people pair hot dogs with side-sliced buns.

Call me naive or untraveled, but I thought it was a simple matter of preference.

Many Greater Boston eateries serve side-sliced buns, and you can buy both kinds at local supermarkets. They cost about the same: A recent check at Market Basket revealed a 14 cent per unit difference, with pricier stickers on the side-sliced variety. At Star Market, the competing bags of eight buns were both on sale for $0.99, but typically sell for $1.99.

Foolishly, I assumed the rest of America also had options. You can buy split-tops in many parts of the country, but not as easily. They're often called "New England-style" buns.

"Once you get into these buns and you start appreciating what they are, and not having to deal with a little guy that keeps tipping over or just breaks into a sandwich without hesitation, it's hard to see why these wouldn't be catching on all over the country," said Bryan Roof, executive editor of culinary travel for "Cook's Country," an America's Test Kitchen publication.

One reason they've not caught on could be because making top-sliced buns is more labor intensive, said Michael Cornelis, vice president of international sales and development at American Pan, which manufactures pans used to create split-top buns.

In an industrial bakery, production lines are hyper-specific for buns, breads and cakes. Different buns likely won't share enough similarities for the machines to work.

"It's an aardvark, like its own part of the zoo," he said. "You can't just say, run hamburger buns on this line and then expect to run this top-cut bun on the same line."

Split-top buns came about in the 1940s at the request of Howard Johnson's, the hotel and restaurant chain that spread all over the country as more Americans bought cars and the government built more highways, Cornelis explained. The chain asked Maine bakery J.J. Nissen to create rolls that could stand up on their own easily for the restaurant's popular fried clam strip sandwiches.

And in New England, the buns stuck — especially for hot dogs. Although Cornelis mentioned that in his home state, Ohio, they're quite popular for bratwursts.

For more juicy takes on why New Englanders do not want to split their bun sides, I checked in with a hot dog expert: comedian and podcast host Jamie Loftus, who wrote "Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs." The book is a tome about her journey around the country to try different frankfurters while explaining the rise of hot dogs in American culture.

She grew up in Massachusetts and said she prefers split-top buns, calling them a "very pragmatic bun."

"It's the best kind of bun," she said. "It holds everything in while not being excessively bready, which is my number one criticism of buns."

After living in California for years, Loftus said she didn't know "that they weren't a thing." Her recent hot dog reporting revealed to her how unusual the preference for split-top buns was outside New England — even though she argues they work best for toppings.

"I feel like the top-sliced, you can just keep all the toppings on there," she said. "Nothing's going to fall off. ... The point of the hot dog bun to me, is like to adequately support everything you want on your hot dog and not turn to glue in your hands."

Roof, originally from South Carolina, said he too now prefers top-sliced buns, praising their ability to stay upright and secure your fixings.

"The toppings drip out of the hot dog [on a side-sliced bun], and there's no real magic to it," he said at a recent visit to America's Test Kitchen.

As for Cornelis, he said he likes split-tops for brats — but for his hot dogs, it's side-sliced all the way.

"You know, a hot dog at Yankee Stadium or a hot dog at Wrigley Field, it's just a regular hot dog bun," he said. "Can't beat that."

Of course, at Fenway, your Fenway Frank (made by Chelsea-based Kayem Foods) is "lovingly placed into a classic, New England-style, split-top hot dog roll," writes Chris Burnett for NewEngland.com. And while finding top-sliced buns at the Newton Whole Foods proved impossible, both types of buns were spotted at the Waltham Market Basket and Packard's Corner Star Market.

To get the most out of the top-sliced buns, Roof recommends grilling them, slow and low.

But first, lightly butter it.

"It's perfect for toasting," he said, "and getting that buttery butteriness."

Correction: This story originally had the incorrect home state for Bryan Roof. We regret the error.