If you are a Minnesotan, or you know a Minnesotan, or if you've ever been to the Minnesota State Fair, chances are you know what a pronto pup is. And you probably have very strong feelings about them. Basically, a pronto pup is like a corn dog, but with one major difference. It uses a wheat batter instead of a cornmeal batter. This makes it better.
A couple of years ago my husband wrote a nice, long description about the differences between a corn dog and a pronto pup on his blog, which he has apparently decided to no longer update. He wrote: "For those who don’t know (i.e. non-Minnesotans), the pronto-pup is basically a corndog but the hotdog is dipped into a wheat-based batter rather than a corn-based batter. It is far and away better than the corndog, although many a riot has been started at the fairgrounds over just this issue. Naturally corn-dog people are wrong, but they just don’t listen to reason. It’s a similar argument as to which stand has the best mini-donuts. Some people say Tiny Tim, and the right people say Tom Thumb."
We decided to try to re-create them one day and I think we came really close. Of course, this won't alleviate the need to start out the day with a pronto pup every time we go to the state fair. I know it's not feasible for most of my readers to ever get to the Minnesota State Fair (a.k.a. "The Great Minnesota Get-Together") but if you ever find yourself in Minnesota sometime during the 12 days before Labor Day, try to make it out to the Fairgrounds on Snelling Ave. in St. Paul.
Pronto Pups
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup plus 2 TBSP flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
3 TBSP sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup, plus 3 TBSP milk
canola oil, for frying
hot dogs
wooden skewers
DIRECTIONS
Soak your skewers in water for about 30 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, salt, and baking powder. In another bowl, whisk together the egg and milk. Stir the milk mixture into the dry ingredients slowly. When finished, it should be about the consistency of pancake batter. Maybe a little thicker.
Heat the oil to 375 degrees F.
Pour the batter into a cake pan or something else shallow.
Put the hot dogs on the skewers and coat with the batter and fry until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.
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